Ted Lasso star Brett Goldstein is the cover star of this month's Men's Health, posing shirtless in a towel to show off his physique while also opening up about a past struggle with depression.
The 46-year-old actor, who plays Roy Kent in the Apple TV+ comedy, was photographed lounging by a swimming pool wearing only a terrycloth towel, as well as in underwater shots carrying weights and wearing swimming goggles.
Goldstein joked in the interview about being one of the few men in Hollywood who has not shaved off his body hair, with several of the shirtless images showing off his hairy chest alongside his six-pack and biceps.
Brett Goldstein on his depression
Alongside the physical transformation, Goldstein spoke candidly about a period when he was struggling, particularly after pilot seasons failed to pan out, prompting him to see a therapist.
"I was depressed," he said. "Every day she made me write a list of 10 things that happened that day that I was grateful for. In the beginning, when you're so, so depressed, it's like, 'Nothing.' But you have to put 10 in. 'The sun was up.' That's one. You start so small."
He said that by around day 30 of the exercise, he had started training his brain to look for the positive. "I could write a list of 100 things. I'm the luckiest guy in the world! Everything's f**king amazing!" he said.
"I can't tell you the exact day it was, day 26, let's say. But I really was like, 'Oh, I get to choose how I see the world.' It really had changed me, built new synapses, whatever it is. You can look for the good. It's a f**king skill, or something you have to work at. And I don't always achieve it. I still have darker days. But gratitude helps," he added.
Life before Ted Lasso
Goldstein had a substantial career before Ted Lasso, working for years in stand-up and acting, with roles in Derek, Drifters, Uncle and Hoff the Record, as well as the film SuperBob, which he co-wrote and starred in.
It was his role as Roy Kent that turned him into a household name, and in 2021 he won the Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series. He went on to win the same award again in 2022.
Ted Lasso was initially billed as ending after its third season, but the show has since returned for a fourth run. Goldstein said its return felt like unfinished business.
"I was always like, 'We're not done.' Maybe it was wishful thinking on my part, but it just felt like it's such a lovely world that we've built, it seemed crazy not to go back and do more... I always think it's like Springfield, there are so many characters," he said. "It allows you to do a new thing, not lose all the things you love from the original, but you get to expand the world."
From writer to breakout star
Goldstein was originally hired on Ted Lasso as a writer and executive story editor before becoming the foul-mouthed AFC Richmond captain-turned-coach. He has since taken on a growing number of roles both behind and in front of the camera.
He most recently appeared in the Netflix comedy Office Romance opposite Jennifer Lopez, with whom he was rumoured to be growing close before he confirmed the pair are just friends.
Joking about his sudden fame, Goldstein has described himself as "a 20-year overnight success," adding: "But I get it. Nobody saw me before."
Born in Sutton, in the south London suburbs, into a Jewish family, Goldstein's love of Tottenham Hotspur was instilled by his father, and it inspired Ted Lasso's motto about hope being "the hope that kills you." He graduated from Warwick University with a degree in film studies before briefly relocating to Marbella, Spain, to work at a strip club his father bought during a midlife crisis. He later moved to New York to study acting at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts until 2003.
Building a career on stage and screen
While in New York, Goldstein wrote scripts and later turned his time in Marbella into a stand-up show for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival titled Brett Goldstein Grew Up in A Strip Club. He began acting in short films before landing his first feature role in the self-written thriller Wish You Were Here, and made his television debut in 2009 with two episodes of ITV's The Bill.
He went on to appear in comedy series including the BBC's Uncle and E4's Drifters, but his first major break came in 2013 with a role as Tom in Ricky Gervais' Derek. Speaking to Esquire at the time, Goldstein recalled his nerves working with Gervais on his first day, quoting Gervais telling him: "I trust the force: it looked good, felt good, I liked it. I don't want s**tloads of options in the edit. I trust it, let's move on."
"That's really inspiring, and sometimes I'm like that and sometimes I'm not. At some point you do just have to trust, because you can drive yourself insane," Goldstein said.
Landing the role of Roy Kent
In 2015, Goldstein wrote and starred in the superhero film SuperBob and made a guest appearance on Catherine Tate's Nan. The following year, he won the BIFA for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Brendan in Adult Life Skills. In 2018, he appeared in Doctor Who and launched his podcast, Films To Be Buried.
Ted Lasso producer Bill Lawrence hired Goldstein as a writer for the 2020 Apple TV+ show, though Goldstein almost turned the job down. "I was like, I've got some gigs. I've got some stand-up shows booked," he told Entertainment Weekly, recalling Lawrence's response: "You're f**king mad if you turn this down for some stand-up gigs."
Goldstein secured the role of Roy Kent by submitting an unsolicited audition tape. He told Vulture: "I still can't believe it worked out, and I also can't believe that I did it, basically, as we were writing it, I just started to think I could play Roy; I really get it. So on my last day in the writers' room, the night before, I recorded a tape, five scenes as Roy, without telling anyone, and then I sent an email to Bill and said, 'I've been thinking I could play Roy... but if this is embarrassing, you can pretend you never got this email, and I will never ask you about it.'"
He said Lawrence replied at around three in the morning: "Oh! This is good. Let's see."
Other projects and personal life
Alongside Black Mirror writer Will Bridges, Goldstein created and wrote a six-part science fiction series, Soulmates, for AMC. In 2022, he signed a multi-year deal with Warner Bros. Television and appeared as Hercules in the mid-credits scene of Thor: Love and Thunder. He has an estimated net worth of $5 million.
Goldstein tends to keep his personal life private. In 2021, he confirmed his relationship with comedian Beth Rylance during his acceptance speech for his first Emmy, saying: "I was very, very specifically told I'm not allowed to swear, so this speech is going to be f***ing short. Beth, I love you." The following year, it was reported that the pair had split after he landed his role in Thor.
The full interview with Brett Goldstein appears in the September issue of Men's Health UK, on sale now.
