13 musicians who have followed a vegan diet
- Many celebrities, including musicians, currently follow or once adhered to a vegan, or plant-based, diet.
- Singers like Moby and Miley Cyrus said they began following a vegan diet because of how their pets make them feel.
- Musicians like Lizzo, Billie Eilish, and Ariana Grande have also spoken about being vegan.
- Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.
A number of celebrities, including musicians, have chosen to eat a vegan diet for a range of different reasons, from health benefits to environmental ones.
Those following a vegan diet seek to avoid consuming any animal products, including things like meat, seafood, milk, eggs, and cheese.
From Billie Eilish to Stevie Wonder, read on for 13 musicians who you may not know currently adhere to a vegan diet or have followed it in the past.
Lizzo recently celebrated six months following a vegan diet.
In October, Lizzo posted a TikTok to celebrate six months as a vegan. In the video, the singer made a protein shake and shared that she'd previously spent seven years as a vegetarian.
In June, the "Juice" singer shared a TikTok video with a few examples of what she eats in a day, including a breakfast smoothie with coconut water, kale or spinach, and frozen fruit.
She wrote in the caption, "as a new vegan im enjoying exploring flavors from plants & plant based proteins! Every journey is personal & deserves to be celebrated."
Billie Eilish went from a vegetarian diet to a vegan one.
Billie Eilish, who grew up vegetarian and has never eaten meat, has said it wasn't hard for her to transition into veganism.
"Becoming vegan wasn't like a huge deal for me because meat was never a thing in my life. It wasn't like I missed meat — it wasn't like I had something to miss," Eilish said on a 2018 installment of the YouTube series "Montreality."
At the time of this article's initial publication in March 2020, a representative for Eilish confirmed the singer is still following a vegan diet.
Finneas O'Connell has also been vegan for years.
Finneas O'Connell, a producer and singer-songwriter (who is also Billie Eilish's brother), has also followed a vegan diet for years.
In March 2019, he tweeted he's been vegan for five years.
Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker said he went vegan after surviving a plane crash in 2008.
On a 2019 episode of "The Joe Rogan Experience" podcast, Blink-182's drummer Travis Barker discussed his choice to go vegan after surviving a devastating plane crash in 2008, where four people died.
After suffering burns over much of his body, Barker said that, despite being a vegetarian at the time, he had to eat a lot of meat to increase his protein intake while recovering in the hospital.
"After having to eat meat in the hospital, I got out and I never wanted to eat anything that came from an animal again," Barker told Vice in 2015.
In an interview with Men's Journal, Barker also said that veganism gives him "endless amounts of energy" and that, after starting to follow a vegan lifestyle, he could feel other positive effects of the diet.
Ariana Grande has spoken about following a vegan diet.
In November 2013, Ariana Grande took to Twitter to celebrate her first day going 100% vegan. She said it was "joyous" and her "heart feels happy" about her decision to follow this diet.
A year later, she spoke with the UK's Mirror about what it was like going vegan even though she was "raised on meat and cheese."
"I love animals more than I love most people, not kidding," she said. "I am a firm believer in eating a full plant-based, whole-food diet that can expand your life length and make you an all-round happier person."
It's unclear if the singer still follows a vegan diet, as she promoted a Starbucks drink called the Cloud Macchiato in 2019. The drink is not vegan since its foam contains egg whites and the caramel contains dairy.
Notably, when Grande tweeted to promote the drink, she encouraged some users to try the soy version — though Starbucks later clarified that there is no vegan alternative to this drink.
Miley Cyrus has said she went vegan because of her pets, though she no longer follows the diet.
In a September episode of "The Joe Rogan Experience," Miley Cyrus shared she no longer follows a vegan diet because "her brain wasn't functioning properly" after seven years of that lifestyle. She said she's now a pescatarian, essentially a vegetarian who eats fish.
The singer had previously been a public advocate for the vegan lifestyle for a few years.
In a 2015 interview on "The Tonight Show," she explained that she became vegan because of her pet blowfish.
Cyrus told host Jimmy Fallon that she had a pet blowfish who was "highly intelligent" and would recognize her and show excitement when she came home.
"He really knew who I was and really got excited when I was home," Cyrus said. "And one day I went to a sushi restaurant with a few of my friends and they were serving blowfish and I thought, 'You know. This is an intelligent animal.'"
She said she also has an intelligent pet pig, which helped further her decision to go vegan. She said her pig also follows a vegan diet.
In 2019, Cyrus told Vanity Fair that her veganism also influences her fashion choices.
"Choosing to live as a sustainable vegan activist means wearing more vintage (less waste; loving pieces for longer), playing with the newest eco-materials and technology, and making custom vegan pieces with some of my favorite designers," she said.
In a 2016 interview, Stevie Wonder said he went vegan in 2014.
In a 2016 interview with AOL, Stevie Wonder explained that he decided to go vegan for environmental and health reasons.
"I've been a vegan for two years, so that's helped my already good-looking self," the musician joked. "I think that eating healthy is important."
He went on to say that he felt the dietary change helped in his mission to promote environmentally-friendly living.
The musician Moby said he's been a vegan for over 30 years.
In a 2015 interview with the Los Angeles Times, Richard Melville Hall, who is widely known as Moby, explained that his pet cat who he'd rescued during his childhood sparked his wanting to follow a vegan diet.
He said, "I was playing with [my] cat and ... it suddenly dawned on me, if I care about this cat and I want to protect it from suffering — it has two eyes and a central nervous system and feels pain clearly and can suffer — I just simply thought, 'Why am I involved in any action that causes suffering to other creatures?'"
He went on to say that he is vegan for ethical, health, and environmental reasons and that he attributes his abundance of energy to his vegan diet.
In 2018, Ellie Goulding said she was going to try to transition from vegetarianism to veganism.
In a 2018 interview with The Cut, singer Ellie Goulding shared that she was trying to transition to an entirely vegan diet.
"I'm trying to be a full vegan," she told the publication. "I've been a vegetarian for six years. I was a vegetarian all the way through my teens as well. I'll definitely never eat fish or meat again."
In 2018, Ne-Yo spoke about following a vegan diet for health reasons.
On a 2018 episode of "The Real," Ne-Yo said he'd been following a vegan diet for almost a year.
He said he initially started following the diet for health reasons because he has tendonitis in both of his knees, which would cause them to swell and make it difficult for him to walk.
He said the diet has helped him, and he feels like he has "12-year-old knees again."
At the time of this post's publication, a representative for Ne-Yo told Insider that the singer is no longer following a vegan diet.
Over the years, Jason Mraz has been a public advocate for the benefits of veganism.
Per some of his Instagram posts and interviews with vegan- and vegetarian-focused publications, Jason Mraz is a public supporter and advocate for a plant-based lifestyle that consists of plenty of fresh foods.
In a now-deleted blog post, Mraz wrote about the benefits he's experienced from following a vegan diet, including "feeling stronger, fitter, healthier and more productive."
Sia tweeted in 2014 that she is vegan.
Although much of Sia's personal life is shrouded in mystery, the singer shared in 2014 that she was only eating plant-based.
"I'm fully vegan now!" she tweeted in response to a vegan-restaurant owner who wanted her to stop by his eatery again.
Jennifer Lopez said she briefly went vegan in 2008 to help her lose weight after giving birth to twins.
In a 2014 interview with "Extra," Jennifer Lopez said that she began eating a vegan diet after she gave birth to her twins in 2008, explaining it helped her lose weight postpartum.
"I did full vegan for almost four, five weeks and then I just started incorporating a little bit more proteins and things like that," she explained.
She went on to say that, at that time, she also transitioned her household groceries to consist of mostly vegan foods, such as rice milk and greens.
Lopez also championed the diet for others, adding, "Having those vegetables and greens and plant-based stuff is gonna change your life and is gonna change your health and its gonna give you a happy, healthy lifestyle."
Currently, it does not appear that Lopez still follows a vegan diet. In a number of interviews from the mid-2010s, the singer has spoken about eating fish, chicken, and pork.
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