He was one of the celebrities who came under fire last month after commenting on their approach to bathing as he said he finds ‘bathing to be less necessary.’
It all began last month during an interview with Vanity Fair in which the 40-year-old actor admitted that he had a very lax attitude about keeping himself clean and noted that he had increasingly become disillusioned with modern showering practices.
Specifically, Gyllenhaal stated: ‘More and more I find bathing to be less necessary, at times.’
Setting the record straight: Jake Gyllenhaal has finally addressed those controversial bathing comments after being asked about them at a screening of his film The Guilty in Los Angeles over the weekend
Now the actor has clarified his comments during a recent screening of his film The Guilty in Los Angeles over the weekend as he was asked about them and replied according to Buzzfeed: ‘I don’t know what that was.
‘I answered a question where I was being sarcastic and ironic, and it’s followed me around.
‘Unfortunately, I showered before I came here. So… I’m sorry.’
He certainly seemed to be attempting to scrub away his previous comments on hygiene from the aforementioned Vanity Fair interview last month.
According to Buzzfeed he said: ‘I don’t know what that was. ‘I answered a question where I was being sarcastic and ironic, and it’s followed me around.’
Scrubbing the reputation away: The actor insisted he had just bathed before coming to the event as he said: ‘Unfortunately, I showered before I came here. So… I’m sorry’
At the time, the Donnie Darko star went on to cite one of his favorite musicians as the reason why he does keep certain hygienic and practical routines in place.
‘I do believe, because Elvis Costello is wonderful, that good manners and bad breath get you nowhere. So I do that,’ he said.
The Academy Award-nominated actress also expressed that he believed that humans have a way of self-sanitation that takes care of both hygiene and appearance.
Dirty business: Last month, Gyllenhaal went viral as he stated that he finds ‘bathing to be less necessary’ during an interview with Vanity Fair; he is pictured in 2020
Keeping up appearances: The performer did express that he takes care to mind his ‘good manners and bad breath’; he is seen in 2019
Taking care of it: Gyllenhaal went on to remark that he felt that not bathing was ‘really helpful for skin maintenance’; he is seen with Tom Holland in 2019’s Spider-Man: Far From Home
He expressed, ‘I do also think that there’s a whole world of not bathing that is also really helpful for skin maintenance, and we naturally clean ourselves.’
Gyllenhaal went on to discuss bathing accessories, and spoke about his lifelong fascination with natural implements popularly used for cleaning.
‘I always am baffled that loofahs come from nature. They feel like they’ve been made in a factory but, in fact, it’s just not true. Since I was young, it’s amazed me,’ he said.
Interested: The actor then spoke about bathing tools and pointed out that he had been ‘baffled that loofahs come from nature’ ever since his younger years; he is seen in 2019’s Velvet Buzzsaw
The performer has joined several other entertainment industry figures who have recently admitted that they have taken lax attitudes towards bathing.
Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis spoke about their views on hygiene during an appearance on the Armchair Expert podcast, which premiered last month.
During the conversation, the 37-year-old actress spoke about how her upbringing influenced the hygienic standards she set for her children.
‘I didn’t have hot water growing up as a child so I didn’t shower very much anyway…I wasn’t that parent that bathed my newborns, ever,’ she said.
Parenting skills: Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis recently spoke about their relatively lax methods of keeping their children clean during a podcast appearance; they are seen in 2017
Her 43-year-old husband went on to express that, unless his children are visibly unkempt, he does not make them bathe.
‘If you can see the dirt on them, clean them. Otherwise, there’s no point,’ he said.
The That 70s Show actor also pointed out that he washes his ‘armpits and crotch daily,’ but unless he deems that something requires immediate attention, he does not worry about bathing.
Chris Evans recently weighed in on the debate during an interview for Today, and although he joked that he would not bathe himself at home, he later clarified, ‘I shower all the time…I’m a very clean person!’
A closer look: The That 70s Show star expressed that he and his wife only clean their children if they ‘can see the dirt on them’; they are seen in 2018