Famous Vegetarians/Vegans

Bill Clinton

Former U.S. president Bill Clinton has opted for a vegan diet to improve his health since having quadruple bypass surgery in 2004 and stent surgery in 2010, according USA Today. Clinton does not eat beef, chicken or dairy. A big move for someone known for their love of burgers and junk food. USA Today reported Clinton said he lost 24 pounds last year in time for his daughter Chelsea's wedding.

Natalie Portman

Actress Natalie Portman wrote for The Huffington Post in 2009: "Jonathan Safran Foer's book Eating Animals changed me from a twenty-year vegetarian to a vegan activist." In 2011, ABC News reported she returned to her vegetarian diet while pregnant with her first child. "I actually went back to being vegetarian when I became pregnant, just because I felt like I wanted that stuff"

Daryl Hannah

Activist and strict vegan Daryl Hannah toldVegetarian Times in 2010 she converted to vegetarianism at age 11 after bonding with a calf. "I noticed this truck full of calves and bonded with one in particular, who kept kissing me. After about an hour the truck driver came out of the restaurant. I asked him what the calf's name was, and he said, "Veal, tomorrow morning by 7 o'clock." That was it: I could no longer disassociate the creature from what was on my plate," she said in the interview.

Ellen DeGeneres

Talk-show host Ellen DeGeneres has been vegan since 2008. She launched her new website in 2011 to help people who want to stop eating meat and animal products: Going Vegan with Ellen. Last year, DeGeneres was interviewed by Katie Couric about becoming vegan: "I used to love cheeseburgers and steak, I just did what most people do, I had a disconnect. I decided it's more important to taste a cheeseburger and have a steak or have a turkey sandwich and it's easier and I put it out of my mind ... I read Skinny Bitch first and then I forced myself to watch a documentary called 'Earthlings' and it is inside footage of factory farms and dairy farms and you just see that and you go, "I can't participate in that, I can't be a part of something that is suffering and it's 50 billion animals a year that are killed," and I think we all fool ourselves that there is some happy cow and it's a quick death ... and it's a very disturbing reality ... I do it because I love animals and I saw the reality and I just couldn't do it anymore."

Jane Goodall

Primatologist, philanthropist, conservationist and vegetarian Jane Goodall said on Procon.org she switched to a plant-based diet after learning about factory farms in the early 1970s after reading Peter Singer's Animal Liberation. "I thought about the delicious pork chops that I loved, the heavenly smell of frying bacon in the morning. And all the roast chicken, casseroled chicken, fried chicken, and chicken soup that I had enjoyed during my life... When I saw meat on my plate, from that moment on, I should think of pain-fear-death. How horrible. And so it was clear. I would eat no more meat," she says.

Olivia Wilde

Actress Olivia Wilde was crowned 2010's Sexiest Vegetarian Celebrity, along with fitness guru Bob Harper, by PETA. Wilde, previously vegan, abandoned that diet last year following her divorce from filmmaker Tao Ruspoli,haveuheard.com reported. The site writes she told Cosmopolitan magazine: "I was hardcore vegan for years. When everything in my life became a little hectic, going through the divorce and everything afterward, I was like, 'I need some goddamn cheese.' (Yourosksky: cow's milk actually contains a marihuana-like substance to keep close their calves) She feels more healthy and energetic than ever and has even launched a website to support her vegan lifestyle, Wilde Things.

Vegetarian Paul McCartney urged India last year to declare a national Vegetarian Day. The singer sent a letter to Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh suggesting the day to "celebrate meat-free living and a compassion towards animals," a report said. McCartney's letter says, "it would be a celebration of life."

Alicia Silverstone

Hollywood star and vegan Alicia Silverstone bares all in a Veggie PETA testimonial. She writes on their website: "Now when I see a steak, it makes me feel sad and sick because right away, I see my dog or the amazing cows I met at a sanctuary. I've been vegan for 10 years, and it's the single-most important and helpful decision I have ever made." Silverstone -- PETA's Sexiest Vegetarian Celebrity in 2004 -- adds: "I am doing everything I can to reduce animal suffering with simple lifestyle choices like being vegan, never wearing any products made from animals (like wool and leather), and buying only from companies that NEVER test their products or ingredients on animals." She also runs a vegan blog and wrote the book, “The Kind Diet.”

Shania Twain

Country singer Shania Twain was PETA's first Sexiest Vegetarian Celebrity, crowned in 2001.Blog friendseat.com writes Twain kicked meat from her diet after marrying long time vegetarian Mutt Lange in 1993. The blog writes that Twain said she "was never really a fan of meat or a keen meat-eater and her diet does not include meat, fish or eggs."

Alyssa Milano

Animal activist and actor Alyssa Milano launched a PETA ad in 2008 dressed in an outfit made entirely from green vegetables under the slogan "Let Vegetarianism Grow on You." According to Peta2.com, in 2008 Milano said: "The world has so much suffering in it already -- choosing to be vegetarian is one thing you can do to reduce the suffering on a daily basis." Blog friendseat.com says the actress has a green thumb and loves veggies, even sticking to her vegetarian diet during her pregnancy in which she had cravings for broccoli and pickles.

Anne Hathaway

Actress Anne Hathaway has had an on-again/off-again relationship with a meat-free diet, but according to the most recent reports, she is currently a a vegetarian. Realbollywood.com reported the actress had trouble while in the UK in August 2011. In an interview with Metro in December 2010, Hathaway said: "I've actually been a commitment-shy vegetarian since I was about 12. I wasn't all that committed, to be honest, and then when I was in England filming One Day, I don't know what happened but I just didn't want to eat meat any more. But I was still eating fish. And then I was sent a copy of Jonathan Safran Foer's Eating Animals. I read it and that was it for me in terms of being able to eat fish - which is a shame because I really enjoy the taste but I just can't support the way fish are farmed and caught."

Brad Pitt

According to Naked Health, actor Brad Pitt has been identified as a vegetarian throughout the years. There are rumors that his partner, actress Angelina Jolie's meat-eating habits have started to upset Pitt.

Christina Applegate

Actress and animal activist Christina Applegatetold PETA she stopped eating meat when she saw blood on her plate while at a restaurant. I was eating lunch on the Married With Children set, and they served me some kind of meat (I don't even know the names of them all anymore because it's been so long). I looked down and there was blood on my plate, and it was that realization, that I can't eat something that has been alive, I just can't do it," she said in the interview. Applegate was featured in a 2007 PETA Christmas-time campaign reminding shoppers not to buy fur as gifts.

Emmylou Harris

Vegetarian Star writes PETA's Sexiest Vegetarians Over 50 are in good company with vegetarians like Emmylou Harris falling into the category. The 65-year-old runs a dog shelter in Nashville, Tennesee, her hometown and is involved with organizations like Best Friends Animal Society, according to Vegetarian Star.

Betty White

The 90-year-old actress is an animal activist and has been a vegan for years. "They never lie to you. You know when they tell you something, they mean it. They love you unconditionally," White told the women of "The View" about animals.

Bruce Springsteen

Springsteen looks amazing at 63, and it might have something to do with his vegetarian diet!

Michelle Pfeiffer

The same goes for the beautiful actress with a glowing skin!

Emily Deschanel

Zooey Deschanel's sister has been a vegan for 20 years! "Saying no to meat makes me feel stronger inside; I feel aligned with my morals and ethics," she told Ladies Home Journal. "I still have to defend myself because people don’t understand it."

Carl Lewis
The Olympic gold medal winner maintains his belief that the best year of his track and field history is the first year he went vegan.

Chrissie Hynde
Chrissie owns a vegan Italian-Mediterranean restaurant, VegiTerranean, in her hometown of Akron, Ohio.

Erycah Badu
Erycah has been a vegetarian for 10 years and has been a full vegan for the last 11 years.

- You can learn more about celebs who are vegetarians/vegans and their arguments also here. Going Vegan with Ellen. Famous Vegans.