50 Cent is unrecognisable as he loses FOUR STONE in nine weeks for new film role

This would appear to be a picture of a homeless man surviving on scraps.

But it's actually multi-millionaire rapper 50 Cent, who has lost a staggering 54lbs (4st) in just nine weeks for a film role.

The hip-hop star went on a liquid-only diet and worked out for three hours a day to achieve the staggering weight loss.

The formerly muscular 34-year-old is taking method acting to levels that Christian Bale would be proud of.
He is due to play a cancer-stricken American football player in a forthcoming film and wanted to look authentic for the part.

In the past 50 Cent has made much of his muscular body, often appearing topless in videos and showing off his huge frame.

He is starring and co-producing Things Fall Apart, which will also feature Ray Liotta and is directed by Mario van Peebles.

Soon after the dramatic weight loss pictures were posted on his website, 50cent.com, rumours swept the internet they were a hoax.

But in a statement the star, real name Curtis Jackson, confirmed the pictures were authentic.

'I was starving,' he said, adding that now he is back on tour, 'I've been eating. I'll be back in shape in no time!'

In the film which is set for release in 2011, 50 Cent plays a football player diagnosed with cancer.

He dropped from 214 pounds to an astonishing 160 pounds with a liquid diet and three-hour-a-day treadmill walks for nine weeks.
The rapper's achievement still does not top that of Christian Bale, who lost 63lbs for his role in the dark mystery film 'The Machinist'.

Bale went from 185lbs to 122lbs to look like he 'had not slept for a year' and did it by cutting out most foods and relentlessly exercising.

In addition, the rapper - real name Curtis Jackson has had the tattoos on his arms removed in preparation for his acting career.

He has said: 'I took ‘em off. I’ve been on a few acting projects and they been making me get up… My call time is four hours before the regular acting talent because of the tattoos.'
Jackson made his film debut in the semi-autobiographical semi-autobiographical film Get Rich or Die Tryin' in 2005.

He starred in the Iraq War film Home of the Brave in 2006, and opposite Robert De Niro in 2008 crime thriller Righteous Kill in 2008.

And last year starred in Brit gangster film Dead Man Running.

'Fiddy' is one of the music world's richest performers, with an estimated fortune of $440 million in 2008.

Last year Billboard Magazine named him 6th best artist of the 2000-2009 decade.