Eddie Vedder And Josh Brolin Swap Master Cleanse Stories

"W" star Josh Brolin graces the cover of the November Interview magazine. Inside he has a length Q&A with singer Eddie Vedder. The conversation is interesting, worth reading and too long to excerpt here. But, the phone interview starts off with talk of the Master Cleanse, which is transcribed below. They both have tried it and swap tales of diet woe.

EDDIE VEDDER: I just finished touring, and I'm on a detox thing. It's a heavy detox, so nothing in my belly except water, salt and cayenne pepper.
JOSH BROLIN: You're drinking the lemon water and the cayenne and all that?
EV: Yeah, I'm doing the master cleanse, which also means I'm not smoking. I haven't smoked for four days. This is probably the first phone conversation I've had in 10 years where I haven't had a smoke. It's like trying to talk without using adverbs.
...
[talk turns to politics and the upcoming election]
EV: Yeah, that's why I'm detoxing this week. It's just to set myself up for next month.
JB: Why are you detoxing?
EV: Well it was a long couple of years, and being on the road a lot... I'm ready to just clean up my act. I don't know how it's all going to come out - this is, like, four days in. In fact, I don't want to talk about it. But it does feel weird. I'm feeling different.
JB: Are you feeling high yet? I've done what you're doing a few times. After the initial period of feeling like you have the flu come these five or six days of speediness. Obviously, that hasn't hit you yet.
EV: No. I'm more kind of walking around in a daze, wondering if this is all really happening.

And at the end, during a conversation of how Brolin had to lick Patricia Arquette's hairy armpit for a scene in "Flirting with Disaster." (She'd grown it out for her character)

JB:I had to lick her armpit with the hair
EV: This is really great for me, man. This is going to keep me from eating for days.
JB: It's the disgusting truth of my profession. Anyway, we saw the footage, and it was disgusting that [the director] David said, 'We can't have the hair. Patricia has to shave the hair'."

Pick up Interview for more Brolin, or read this other new Josh Brolin interview

Comments

[Bitsko]

Just reading the headline was a huge waste of time.

[Pistolopera]

Living in L.A., I know enough actresses to be painfully aware that the "master cleanse" is really just a socially-acceptable cover for starving yourself to lose weight quickly ...

Check out this awesome Obama video!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WN_UsOHpKjM

[heavydrop]

i tried one of these fad- fasts years ago- ended up with over 100 gall stones and the removal of my gall bladder.

[Kevbo68]

I do this wacky thing now and then where I'll walk and cut out junk food. Anyone else do such an insane thing as that?

Want to detox? Stop taking in toxins.

Why do people believe there's this secret cache of toxins and antique fecal matter in your intestines? Unless you're blocked and need surgery, your body does this magical expelling thing and nothing stays in there for more than a few days.

I know! It's crazy!

Ever met a nutritionist, internist, surgeon or proctologist who does the cleanse? Didn't think so.

Brolin? Vedder? Not rocket scientists.

[NoSillyName]

IMO, people who are obsessed with "cleansing" or colonics (enemas) are stuck in the toilet training phase of development.

What could be more gross than having some stranger give you an enema? Unless you're into scat.

[ROBOT8]

master cleanse is a crock!!!!!!!!

[keepacoolhead]

Obviously all of you "critics" of the Master Cleanse don't know what you are talking about. For one, most Americans have too much protein in their system, second a person who detoxifies with fasting will look and feel much better. There is no better way to detoxify your system. Although, eating good foods definitely helps but one of the most effective ways to eliminate toxins from your body is to fast. It is no coincidence that in all major religions fasting has been practiced.

[NoSillyName]

I suppose the LIVER has forgotten its job?

[Kevbo68]

Best wishes with finding liver and kidney donors!

Your body takes care of itself if you eat well. Screw with it and it will screw with you.

[NoSillyName]

Religious practitioners were not "cleansing"; they were sacrificing as penance for their sins. Read any Lives of the Saints book.

[Cybesq]

At one point we used to sit around in caves and pick nits out of each other's backs too but then we discovered fire and the rest of science. Some people flog themselves to bleeding because their religion requires it, but yet to see a double blind study that shows back bleeding is good for you.

Most Americans have too much protein in their systems? That's a gem. Hint: Late night infomercials are not a source of medical knowledge.

[Bitsko]

I don't recall hearing about "all major religions" paying for a product. Besides, the inventor of this wonderous scam, Stanley Burroughs, claimed it was a cure for "every kind of disease," and "the correction of all disorders." A word of advice, whenever you hear the word "cure," run don't walk from the area.

[Bitsko]

I'm afraid many people will forgo a colonoscopy because just buying this product is so much easier and oh how folks just love to self-prescribe these days. Nothing can take the place of that warm feeling after a real internal cleansing like a colonoscopy. And it can save your life too. And if you're of an immature nature like myself, the intense flatulence afterwards is worth the price of admission. Men fifty and over -- get a colonoscopy now! Your family and friends will appreciate the many extra years you may just add to your lives.

[erikdc]

Lord, you'd think with all the money those folks have, they could hire an actual nutritionist to give them actual nutritional advice! Why don't they just stop smoking and drinking, hire a chef who will cook all natural foods and hire a trainer who will work with them at the gym for a couple hours every day? It'd be way more healthy than starving on a liquid diet for two weeks. Because that's all the Master Cleanse is. It's a semi-starvation diet. It deprives the body of any nutritional protein, which is essential to bodily function. Of the 20 amino acids, 8 are essential and must be obtained through food. Maple syrup, cayenne pepper and lemon juice offer no protein. Such deprivation then forces the body to break down it's own fat and muscular tissue to supply for the loss. It's not healthy. With their millions, you'd think they could get a nutritionist to tell them that!

[ScienceLady]

...too science-y. People will jump on almost any loony thing they hear, without getting facts, if it promises them something they want (e.g., I will believe superstitious things because of the promise of an afterlife.) Heck, The Cleveland Clinic offers acupuncture as a service - you would think THEY would know better.

[PopeRatzo]

ScienceLady, most medical schools teach acupuncture nowadays. You can get acupuncture at the Mayo Clinic, Mass Gen, UofC Hospitals.

If you were really a "science lady" you'd know that.

[Ajita]

I agree. The funny thing is that liberals are the ones who often fall for the quackery. And to PopeRatzo below, hospitals will sell you any demands that the popular culture has brainwashed you into thinking works. I'm sure this is going to be controversial, but there is no scientific evidence that acupuncture has any effect beyond a simple placebo effect.

[Bitsko]

It reminds me of how someone will spend more money on a chiropractor than just going to a licensed physical therapist. There's a sucker born every minute.

[Clare53]

Now that's news.

[Budokan]

Garbage in, garbage out. Avoid the first part and you'll be okay.

[auramac]

Trust your body, you don't need no stinkin' cleanse. Just avoid crap in, and crap out naturally.

I myself have ulcerative colitis, so my body is in a perpetually cleansing state. Like the manipulated ones, this is not good for your internal balance of minerals and nutrients. Stop smoking, stop eating crap, exercise, make love, and smile a lot.

"Cleansing" is B.S. Drug addicts- always looking to cheat.

[Clare53]

Too much information auramac.

[TakLoufer]

This is like Creem Magazine's old Backstage section (Where the Stars Tank Up And Let Their Images Down), and I'm thinking of the 1981-era pic of German rocker Nina Hagen's hairy pits which made Patty Arquette's look like belly lint. Disgusting is falling for the detox myth, Eddie, but you're still one of my all-time favorite rock singers and on my list of men to do.

[anisaerah]

Wow, hairy armpits are *so* scary.
I am a huge Pearl Jam fan, but I have a lot less respect for Eddie Vedder now.

[NoSillyName]

What crap.

[Melissa]

What a stupid, stupid, article.

[NoSillyName]

literally.

[KSloan]

The Master Cleanse...that's no joke. But Brolin is right...always around day 6 or day 7...it makes me feel like I'm on psychedelics. LOVE IT!

[Village]

If you want to do a REAL cleanse, use Lactinex. You will be pooping stuff you ate in high school.

[NoSillyName]

Because you're body is in starvation mode.

[Bitsko]

I know quite a few lot of actors and other show biz folks, and I would never take their advice on taking care of myself. The biggest bunch of neurotics you'll ever meet.

[igotid35]

Pearl Jam is awesome, Vedder is a god... but this is an awful excerpt. Hope the rest of the interview doesn't suck this bad...

[newdreams]

Obviously they caught Vedder on a weak day. When somebody has been fasting for a while AND going cold turkey on the stop-smoking thing AT THE SAME TIME - it is not the best time for an enlightened interview.