5 Celebrity Activists Who Are Vegan For Life

Most vegans begin their path toward veganism with one spark or realization. The same goes for vegan celebrity activists who have chosen to live public, compassionate lives. Here is a list of five vegan celebrity activists who began their vegan journey many years ago and continue to use their platforms to promote their vegan activism today.

RZA

Actor, filmmaker, Wu-Tang Clan rapper, and record producer Robert Fitzgerald Diggs, better known by his stage name RZA, began his journey as a vegan activist in the 1990s. As a person who grew up in a family that ate large amounts of meat, it wasn’t always easy for RZA to transition to veganism. In 1996 he cut out red meat from his diet but soon realized that this wouldn’t be a long-term solution.

“I could knock back about 30 chicken wings. On the 29th chicken wing, my teeth hit the bone. My mind said: dead bird,”. RZA thought, “‘you in New York City with all these pigeons flying around, and here you are, supposed to be an intelligent human being, and you eating on a dead bird.’ I was like, that sounds pretty stupid to me. I never ate it again.” – RZA on the Joe Rogan Experience.

By 2000 RZA had cut out all animal products to become what he calls a “true vegan .” Since then, he has also raised children as vegans. In an interview on Joe Rogan’s show, he discussed how strong and healthy both men are even though they have never eaten meat.

“My 21-year-old son can bench over 200 pounds, six foot two, eight pack,” he explained to Rogan and Rawlings. “He plays guitar, piano, has a great memory — never had a hot dog.”

He later added, “I look at my household as a living example that you don’t need animal products to live.”

In 2021 he discussed the impact of veganism on him and his family in an interview for Bon Appétit magazine titled “Wu-Tang Clan’s RZA on Meat and Masculinity,” where he stated: “I feel so healthy, and I look at my own family as an example. I’ve got a son who’s 15 years old and has never had a piece of meat in his life. He’s six feet tall right now, got his little six-pack coming in, and got a great jump shot. It’s a myth that you need red meat to get nutrients in your body. His vision is above average, hearing is above average, and no ailments.”

RZA has become one of hip-hop’s strongest vegan activists for animal rights and vegan health. He works to fight against the stereotype that eating meat is somehow more masculine than eating vegan. He co-founded 36 Chambers ALC with Mustafa Shaikh in 2016, a lifestyle clothing company that refuses to use animal-based leather or animal by-products.

In 2021, RZA partnered with Violife, an Upfield brand that offers 100% vegan cheeses and spreads, for a new grant program called “Plant Grants,” which is “aimed at promoting plant-based eating through charitable funding, education, and mentorship.”

“I’m partnering with Violife because we share a similar philosophy about eating plant-based, and we want to make plant-based eating more accessible, affordable, and sustainable to all,” said RZA. “The influence of hip-hop and the culinary history of plant-based eating in Black communities contribute to a movement of embracing meatless options. I’m proud to support Plant Grants to continue this movement and make plant-based eating more readily available at Black-owned restaurants that are at the heart of communities.”  – RZA discussing Plant Grants.

RZA also does activism work with the Animal Rights organization PETA. In 2022, he put out a pro-vegan plea ahead of a Wu-Tang Clan concert at the Xfinity Theatre.

“Saving animals, the planet, and your own arteries: Can it be all so simple? For those who go vegan like RZA, the answer is yes,” … “Now that RZA has persuaded most of his Wu-Tang mates to protect animals, PETA is urging fans to follow suit and help build a better tomorrow.” – PETA Vice President Lisa Lange.

Alicia Silverstone

Actress, producer, and entrepreneur Alicia Silverstone embraced a vegan lifestyle many years ago after learning more about the plight of animals raised for food and the environmental impact of factory farming.

“I loved animals so much that I couldn’t face eating them,” she said. “When I made this choice, my health changed, and now things started to get so much healthier inside of me that I was able to hear my intuition.” – Alicia Silverstone from Yahoo! Style.

Since becoming a vegan activist, Silverstone has written two best-selling books about her compassionate journey, “The Kind Diet: A Simple Guide to Feeling Great, Losing Weight, and Saving the Planet” and “The Kind Mama: A Simple Guide to Supercharged Fertility, a Radiant Pregnancy, a Sweeter Birth, and a Healthier, More Beautiful Beginning.”

Alicia currently writes a healthy living blog that was born as an extension to her book, “The Kind Diet,” called The Kind Life. Silverstone created The Kind Life blog as“ a fantastic resource for those who want to delve deeper into the world of healthy, green, eco-friendly living .”In early 2022, she began her podcast titled “The Real Heal with Alicia Silverstone,” where she “cuts through the noise and brings fascinating people together to have kind conversations about what it truly takes to heal ourselves, our communities, and the planet.”

Silverstone also created a vegan vitamin brand named “Kind Vitamins” that offers certified organic, non-GMO verified, chemical-free, gelatin-free, sugar-free supplements that she calls “the first-ever truly clean vitamin.

Moby

Richard Melville Hall, known by his stage name, Moby, is an award-winning musician and animal advocate. He began his journey as a vegan activist in 1985 when he made the connection between his cat and animals raised for food. In an interview Moby did with Rolling Stone Magazine in 2014, he discussed the epiphany he had that led him to become a vegetarian:

“Sitting on the stairs, I thought, “I love this cat. I would do anything to protect him and make him happy and keep him from harm. He has four legs and two eyes and an amazing brain, and an incredibly rich emotional life. I would never in a trillion years think of hurting this cat. So why am I eating other animals who have four (or two) legs, two eyes, amazing brains, and rich emotional lives?” And sitting on the stairs in suburban Connecticut with Tucker the cat I became a vegetarian.”

In 1987 Moby transitioned from vegetarian to vegan so that he could “eat and live in accordance with” his beliefs that animals are “entitled to their own lives and that contributing to animal suffering” is something that he did not want to contribute to.

“I’m a vegan to reduce climate change, improve human health, end antibiotic resistance and rainforest deforestation, but ultimately I’m a vegan for the animals,” says Moby to LiveKindly. “It’s my most deeply held belief; that every animal, human or not, is simply/basically/ineluctably entitled to their own life.”

Moby has dedicated his life to vegan activism and uses his large social media following to promote a compassionate lifestyle. In 2017 Moby gave a TEDx Talk titled “Why I’m A Vegan,” where he talked about his history with animal rights, the realizations that led him to the vegan lifestyle, and how vital empathy for animals is for the future of not only personal health but for the health of the planet.

He works tirelessly to further education on animal rights and environmental concerns, as well as donating profits from book sales, album sales, and even the sale of his home and musical equipment to further the cause. In 2008 he began working on his website mobygratis.com where he offers up an extensive database of over 200 tracks of his music, some unreleased, to be used for free by independent and non-profit projects. Royalty payments are required if artists want to utilize the music in commercial projects, but all royalties are donated to the Humane Society.

I hope you find the music you are looking for and whatever you are working on ends up being great.” – Moby on mobygratis

In 2021, Moby began publicly showing support for the “Plant Based Treaty,” an initiative that builds off the foundations of the “Parks Agreement,” working towards building a more sustainable food system for the world.

The Plant-Based Treaty website states: “Modeled on the popular Fossil Fuel Treaty, the Plant Based Treaty aims to halt the widespread degradation of critical ecosystems caused by animal agriculture and to promote a shift to healthier, sustainable plant-based diets. We are urging scientists, individuals, groups, businesses, and cities to endorse this call to action and put pressure on national governments to negotiate an international Plant Based Treaty.”

“As the production of meat and dairy is a leading cause of the climate emergency, it’s clear that we cannot solve the climate crisis without going plant-based,” Moby said in a statement posted on Plant Based News. “Change is imperative, and I endorse the Plant-Based Treaty, for the animals, the planet and human health.”

Angela Davis

Civil rights leader, human rights advocate, author, and long-time vegan activist Angela Davis best known for her human-rights activism is a committed vegan who publicly speaks out about the connection between human rights and animal rights.

While Davis has been a vegan for many years, she didn’t always speak about it publicly. While interviewing at the 27^th Empowering Women of Color Conference, Angela Davis stated, “I usually don’t mention that I’m vegan, but that has evolved. I think it’s the right moment to talk about it because it is part of a revolutionary perspective – how can we not only discover more compassionate relations with human beings but how can we develop compassionate relations with the other creatures with whom we share this planet, and that would mean challenging the whole capitalist industrial form of food production.”

Davis goes on to say that challenging the capitalist industrial way of food production would require people to witness firsthand animal exploitation. “It would mean being aware – driving up the interstates or driving down the 5, driving down to LA, seeing all the cows on the ranches,” she stated. “Most people don’t think about the fact they’re eating animals. When they’re eating a steak or eating chicken, most people don’t think about the tremendous suffering that those animals endure simply to become food products to be consumed by human beings.” – Angela Davis from counterpunch.org.

During her interview at the Empowering Women of Color Conference, she suggested that everyone should watch the vegan documentary ‘Food, Inc.” and ask themselves, “what is it like to sit down and eat that food that is generated only for the purposes of profit and creates so much suffering?”

Angela Davis is a member of a long list of social justice leaders who have connected the compassion of a vegan lifestyle and the compassion we show our fellow human beings. This veg-friendly roster includes some of the most revered names in the social justice movement, like Coretta Scott King, Mahatma Gandhi, Dick Gregory, Rosa Parks, Cesar Chavez, and Dolores Huerta.

“I think there is a connection between, and I can’t go further than this, the way we treat animals and the way we treat people who are at the bottom of the hierarchy,” Angela Davis said. “Look at the ways in which people who commit such violence on other human beings have often learned how to enjoy that by enacting violence on animals. So, there are a lot of ways we can talk about this.”

Mayim Bialik

Neuroscientist, actress, author, blogger, and game show host Mayim Bialik is a self-proclaimed “passionate activist, an observant Jew, a perfectly imperfect mother, and a complicated human being” who uses her celebrity platform to promote a vegan lifestyle. Bialik, best known for her acting role as neuroscientist Dr. Amy Farrah Fowler in the popular hit sitcom “The Big Bang Theory,” became a vegetarian in her teenage years and transitioned to veganism at the age of 19.

Bialik calls herself a “hippy mama” and raised her two children vegan. She often addresses her parenting style and how her vegan kids are raised on her YouTube channel. One of her YouTube videos, “How to Raise Vegan Kids,” discusses how she “successfully raising two happy, healthy, vegan children has over 250,000 views on the platform. She states, “Yes, it’s possible, but I get asked a lot of questions from non-vegan folks about how and why it’s done.”. The video touches on everything from making sacrifices for the greater good to handling special occasions like birthday parties when raising vegan kids.

“I don’t know if my children will always be vegan…but what I hope I have instilled in them is an appreciation for reflection, for sacrifice, and for ethical standards above what’s trendy or what’s commonplace.” – Mayim Bialik to USA Today.

One of Mayim’s favorite ways to share her vegan journey is through her love of cooking. She wrote a  best-selling cookbook, “Mayim’s Table: 100 Great-Tasting and Healthy Recipes from My Family to Yours,” in 2014 that included veganized versions of her mother’s recipes. And she continues to share vegan recipes today on her Youtube channel and other online publications.

‘Cutting out most dairy “literally changed my health,” she said, attributing the change to a subsequent significant decrease in sinus infections and allergies. “That was kind of amazing,”’ Mayim stated to One Green Planet.

In an interview with Women’s Health Magazine, Mayim discussed her secret to making the perfect vegan cheese: “I like to make my own cheese that can be eaten with crackers and on pizzas,” says Bialik. “The nut-based cheese that I make in my book is pretty versatile; it can be made into a ricotta or even used as a base for pesto. So, foods like lasagna aren’t impossible to eat for vegans.”

Mayim’s Youtube, her blogs “Grok Nation” and “Mayim Bialik’s Breakdown,” and her social media accounts are a platform for millions of fans and followers that she utilizes for activism focused on veganism and mental health.