The German word “schadenfreude” refers to deriving pleasure at someone else’s misfortune.  While I can’t say I’m guilty of this on a regular basis, there is one exception – when someone with an enviable physique gets fat.  It’s a horrible thing to admit, but it really does give me pleasure.  In some ways, I like the person more because they go up and down like the rest of us – with the exception of Carnie Wilson, who famously said, “What does it matter if I go up and down 20 pounds?”  When does “down” kick in?  One sexy guy who doesn’t seem to care one iota about his enormous weight fluctuation is Channing Tatum.  Between films, he goes on eating binges and stops working out.  And yet, the minute he has to be in shape, poof, the six-pack is back.  I’m fairly confident he’s made a deal with the Devil or perhaps a pharmaceutical company.  Or it could simply be because he’s only 35 (bounce back after 40 and then call me).

Then there’s Wentworth Miller.  This week, he publicly acknowledged a meme which shows him shirtless in his Prison Break prime next to a photo of him a few years later, significantly heavier.  Apparently this meme annoyed Went because at the time of his weight gain, he spiraled downhill mentally and was suicidal.  He says, “In 2010, at the lowest point in my adult life, I was looking everywhere for relief/comfort/distraction.  And I turned to food.  It could have been anything.  Drugs.  Alcohol.  Sex.  But eating became the one thing I could look forward to.”  Why, oh why, didn’t he choose sex?  If he had chosen sex and alcohol, maybe I would have had a chance.  While I don’t wish him pain, it is hard to have too much sympathy for someone who gained weight after a large part of his success came from showing off his once-hot body.  As it turns out, this meme had two positive ramifications for Wentworth: 1) it reminded him that those tough days were behind him, and b) it showed him smiling.  He was happy.  Well, of course he was – he had probably just eaten!