Tom Hanks Has Type II Diabetes

Tom Hanks recently revealed that he is living with type 2 diabetes.

The actor was on The Late Show With David Letterman last night to promote his new movie Captain Phillips. But before Hanks started talking about the amazing true story which the film is based on, he told Letterman that he was recently diagnosed with type 2 diabetes.

Hanks said: “I went to the doctor and he said ‘You know those high blood sugar numbers you’ve been dealing with since you were 36? Well, you’ve graduated. You’ve got type 2 diabetes, young man.'”

Hanks said that he could essentially cure his diabetes if he dropped down to his highschool weight but the actor said that that isn’t going to happen.

Hanks added: “My doctor said ‘If you can weigh as much as you weighed in high school you will essentially be completely healthy and will not have Type 2 diabetes’ and I said, ‘Well, I’m gonna have Type 2 diabetes cause there is no way I can weigh as much as I did in high school.'”

CBS reports that the 57-year-old actor’s frequent weight changes may be responsible for his diabetes. Hanks has frequently put on weight, or lost weight, for his film career and that may have had a negative effect on his health.

CBS News medical contributor Dr. Holly Phillips said: “In dramatic weight gain and dramatic weight loss, the equilibrium of the body is just completely off. So that might predispose him to developing type 2 diabetes later.”

Here’s a video of Tom Hanks on David Letterman.