Celebs gone green: 10 vegetarian celebs

       Leona has plans to launch a vegetarian clothing line.  Photo:Courtesy

Bill Gates

Billionaire Bill Gates is a vegetarian and a vocal advocate for a plant-based diet. He argues that a vegetarian diet is healthier and more environmentally friendly, noting that the production of meat is responsible for more than half the greenhouse gas emissions in the world. Thus, for him, moving toward a vegetarian diet is important in light of the environmental impact of large-scale meat and dairy production, with livestock estimated to produce nearly 51 per cent of the world’s greenhouse gases.

Richard Gere

The Brooklyn’s finest actor is proud to be a vegan for more than 30 years. He adopted a meat-free diet for the better part of his illustrious life and considers himself an activist for vegetarianism. The Arbitrage actor is a fully-fledged supporter of a plan to transform the site of Buddha’s enlightenment into a vegetarian zone.

Chris Martin

Coldplay’s frontman rides high as People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta’s) 2005 sexiest vegetarian celebrity, the largest animal rights organization in the world. But that does not end there as the musician and his wife, Gwyneth Paltrow, made headlines when they gave their daughter, Apple, a vegan birthday cake from Moby’s New York eatery.

Sarah Silverman

The Peep World actress is not only vegetarian; she is also a vocal activist for circus animals because of the practice of ringing of elephants by the handler. According to her, some of the handlers have zero veterinary experience and continually stab the animals with sharp metallic rods called bull hooks.

Milo Ventimiglia

Named 2009 Peta sexiest vegetarian celebrity, Milo alongside musician Kellie Pickler, confesses of being a vegetarian since he was ‘in the womb’. In 2009, the Heroes actor, confessed during a show that he was raised a vegetarian and was practically doing it before it became trendy. His parents have been vegetarians for 40 years and have raised him and his sister as vegetarians. They even had a dog, which was a vegetarian as well. He added that even when he branched out as a teenager to other foods, it just ‘didn’t sit well’ with him.

Christina Applegate

The vegan moment for actress and animal activist Christina Applegate came when she found blood on her plate at a restaurant, she realised that she cannot eat something that has been alive. The Going the Distance actress was featured in a 2007 Peta Christmas-time campaign reminding shoppers not to buy fur as gifts.

Ellen DeGeneres

Talk-show host Ellen DeGeneres has been vegan since 2008. She launched her new website, Going Vegan with Elllen, this year to help people who want to stop eating meat and animal products. In an interview last year DeGeneres confessed that the decision was bolstered by her love for animals.

Leona Lewis

Singer Leona Lewis has been a vegetarian since she was 12.  So strict is the Bleeding Love hit maker that she turned down a $1m (Sh88m) deal in 2008 to open a Harrods sale because the department store continues to stock clothing made from animal fur. She began the Animal Matter To Me campaign asking for public support for the World Society for the Protection of Animal’s mission. She even has a vegan clothing line in the works.

Alyssa Milano

Animal activist and actress 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 her, the world has so much suffering and choosing to be a vegetarian is one thing one can do to reduce the suffering. 

Mike Tyson

Considering his ear-chomping days a thing of the past, the former heavyweight champion is now a vegan. His reason for adopting the plant-based diet came last year making him one of the newest celebrities to join the vegan bandwagon.