Billy Bob Thornton reveals an unusual blood type and food allergies are restricting his diet
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Billy Bob Thornton shares his health challenges and how they led to his extreme diet.
During a recent appearance on the “Howie Mandel Do Stuff” podcast, the 70-year-old actor revealed a lifelong battle that has contributed to his unusual snacking choices.
“My diet is very limited. Well, I'm allergic to wheat, milk. I have blood type AB, which is the rarest type in the world. It's like less than 1% of people in the whole world have it,” he explained. “It means you have less digestive enzymes. That's one of the things that goes with it. But I just grew up with a lot of allergies.”
He went on to say that he cannot eat milk, wheat or shellfish, and meat including “pork or beef or any of those things.”
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Thornton shared that she has a very limited diet due to her rare blood type. (Matei Horvath/Getty Images)
The “Bad Santa” actor got a handle on his life and diet, noting that for breakfast that morning he had a bowl of blueberries, and that he planned to enjoy “gluten-free chips and dairy-free cream cheese” when he got home.
“When I was a kid, you know, I grew up in Arkansas and East Texas and I ate everything,” he said. “I just thought everyone felt a— after eating. I didn't know.”
Many of his dietary restrictions led him to indulge in delicious food. During the interview, he discussed being in the greenhouse before the “Landman” Q&A event and not seeing anything safe to eat.
While looking at a plate of deli meat, cheese and crackers, Thornton found a grape he could eat, and after thinking, “Okay, so I'm going to be bored with this,” he found something he couldn't put together.
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Thornton's limited diet has led to some interesting food choices. (Photos by Tommaso Boddi/Getty)
“I soaked this grape in Dijon mustard,” he said. “It was one of the best things I've ever had in my life. So now it's become something for me.”
As a young actress, Thornton was known to change her body dramatically for her roles, but during an audition. “Late Night with Seth Meyers,” in January, he shared that he couldn't anymore “because it doesn't make sense.”
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He recalled gaining 60lbs for roles in “Tombstone” and “U Turn” in the late 1990s, and later doing a movie called “Pushing Tin” where he “got down to 128.”
“It's funny — if I ever see a picture of those days, because this is back … if you're a young actor, you're like, 'Well, I'm going to gain 75 pounds with this, and next time I'm going to do this,' or whatever, 'I'm going to cut my cheek,' you know, that kind of thing,” she said with a laugh. “After a while, as you get older, you stop doing that thing.”
Thornton stars in “Landman” alongside Ali Larter, Demi Moore and Sam Elliot. (Jon Kopaloff/Getty Images)
Thornton is currently starring in the popular Paramount + series “Landman” alongside Ali Larter, Demi Moore and Sam Elliot.
The show focuses on the roughnecks and billionaires of West Texas trying to get rich as the oil industry continues to take over the state.
“I think something I learned that I didn't know before – because I knew something about the oil business – but I knew a lot of people on the suit side of it, you know, in Texas,” he told Fox News Digital in November 2025. “One of the things that surprised me is how many people lost their lives working in the oil fields. You got ex-cons, 100 dollars here and they can make everything from $ $180,000 a year to take care of their families there trying to fix their lives.”
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