Actor Max Casella Didn't Go Through Puberty Naturally, Compares Himself to 'Trans' Community

Max Casella is sharing that his body had to be forced into puberty by medication and claims this helped him understand the trans community more.

The Doogie Howser, M.D. alum shared recently that he was 27 years old before he hit puberty. He revealed that he has pituitary dwarfism, a condition that is usually accompanied by short stature.

On the red carpet for Tulsa King, Casella, 50 said, “I have a malfunctioning pituitary gland from birth and basically had to jumpstart my puberty by pumping me full of testosterone and growth hormones to get me to grow because it wasn’t happening. I was 25, and I hadn’t even shaved.”

He admits at one point that he was kind of cool because it kept him in roles that he had no business playing at his age. But eventually, it got old and he realized he was missing out on grownup stuff.

The actor went on to dig deeper into his experience and calls it a “horror show”. Furthermore, it was relatable. “I couldn’t talk about it. No one understood it,” Casella claimed the most relatable thing he could compare it to is the trans community.

“It’s like the trans community today talks about body dysmorphia and feeling like, ‘I’m in the wrong body,’ absolutely my experience. Absolutely. I was a man trapped in a little boy’s body throughout most of my 20s until they finally pumped me full of testosterone.”

For trans people, it’s more about gender than age but okay… there is definitely a point he is attempting to make. The actor claims that sometimes he found it terribly intimidating to work with bigger actors.

He specifically talks about meeting Sylvester Stallone; “almost s–t in your pants moment,” he refers to it as.

The actor admits that Stallone is an idol of his so it was intimidating when Rocky hovered over him.

“I had his poster on my wall when I was 10 years old, and now I’m acting with him? It’s surreal,” he told us. “I’ve acted with a lot of big stars: Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, Johnny Depp. Sometimes it’s up or down, your experience with them, but nobody like Sly, who was such a superhero to my 10-year-old self. This was like my boyhood dream.”

Casella is now luckily working with Stallone in Tulsa King.

“He made me feel comfortable because at his core, I think he’s a blue-collar guy,” he said. “He’s got a blue-collar work ethic, and he respects hard work,” he said of the 76-year-old.

Oh, and his height no longer plays a factor in his fear!