AS Hannibal Lecter, he liked human liver washed down with a nice bottle of Chianti — but in real life Sir Anthony Hopkins has shed five stone in weight on a harsh diet.

At the age of 73 the Margam-born actor says he's in the best shape of his life, cutting down to 1800 calories a day and working out in a gym six days a week.

He admitted he is now a "health nut" who carefully watches what he eats while maintaining a strict fitness regime.

The actor, who won an Oscar in 1991 for his portrayal of the Dr Lecter in The Silence Of The Lambs, credits his wife Stella Arroyave for helping him maintain his weight loss.

Two years after starting his extreme diet — which friends say means cutting out meat — he lost 80lbs.

And while he admits to gaining a few pounds while filming in Europe this year, he has maintained his slimline shape thanks to encouragement from his Colombian-born third wife, who is 18 years his junior.

"My wife's no dictator, but she said I must stick to a regimen," he said.

"So I'm in the gym six days a week, I power walk, live on 1800 calories a day. No pasta. No seconds. A sandwich occasionally. Now I'm a health nut."

Sir Anthony, who now lives in Malibu, said he lost so much weight in the past two years that none of his clothes fitted him.

"I can't get back into my wardrobe. I gave it all away to some mission," he said.

The actor said he blamed a fondness for bread and biscuits for his previous ballooning weight.

"I was addicted to bread, cookies, whatnot. I love all the bad stuff," he said.

Earlier this year, Sir Anthony told a U.S. fitness magazine that he hated being overweight.

He did not reveal how much he weighed but is thought to have hit more than 16 stone.

"I got tired of being heavy, so I went on a regime of eating healthily and exercising for an hour a day," he said. "I'm not a nutty, macrobiotic kind of guy, but I enjoy being alive."

The reformed alcoholic spoke about his weight loss in an interview to promote his latest film You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger. He plays a lonely New Yorker in the Woody Allen comedy.

rebecca.davies@swwmedia.co.uk

Michael - I'll be fighting fit within months — page 22