Justin Theroux Reveals the Origin of the Rumor He Goes Naked on Planes
The 'Beetlejuice Beetlejuice' star opened up about the craziest tabloid stories about himself — including one that was backed up by his friend Jason Bateman
Justin Theroux is trying to clear the air about the rumor he likes to "go naked" on an airplane ride — sort of.
On Wednesday, Sept. 4, the Beetlejuice Beetlejuice actor, 53, made an appearance on The Tonight Show and spoke to host Jimmy Fallon about how exactly a rumor about him deciding to take off his clothes on a 12-hour flight got started. And what the truth behind it is.
"I was going to ask you this backstage," Fallon joked during the episode, "but I'll do it right here in front of America. Do you sleep naked on international flights?"
Quickly chiming in that this was "a trick question," Theroux began describing a 2023 news story that alleged he was a "nudist" while in the air.
"You're in the public eye sometimes and, you know, you get questions from a tabloid or something that says, 'Can you confirm or deny X, Y?'" he recalled to Fallon. "You go, 'Oh yeah, no, that's not true.' It's usually pretty silly — I got one that was that I was a nudist on airplanes . . . That I would get on airplanes naked and walk around them,"
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Theroux says the story was "fake news" but goes to share how a conversation with his friend Jason Bateman changed the narrative.
The newly engaged actor said it might be funny to reply to the tabloid and tell him that he was, in fact, a nudist while flying internationally — and Bateman corrected him in a surprising way.
"He goes, 'Yeah, but, dude, you do fly naked on planes,'" Theroux continued. "And I was like, 'What? What are you talking about?' And he's like, 'Yeah. When we flew to London.'"
"We took a flight once to London together. And he was like, 'And I came by to say good night to you, and you were totally naked," Theroux added, setting the record straight that he was actually in his boxer shorts.
"'Clearly someone saw you and they thought you were naked,'" Bateman added.
Elsewhere in the episode, the Leftovers alum also took some time with Fallon to either confirm or deny some of his most infamous tabloid headlines. According to the actor, one of his first jobs was indeed working at a circus in Japan (he made snow cones while working for Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey circuses), British documentarian Louis Theroux is actually his cousin and he was once a part of a motorcycle gang in New York called "Satan's Hooves."
Theroux previously talked about the airplane nudist allegations when he made an appearance on Bateman's SmartLess podcast back in 2021.
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Justin Theroux attends the London photocall of "Beetlejuice Beetlejuice."Related: Justin Theroux on 'Hilarious' Rumor That He Sleeps Naked on Flights: 'No One Is Going to See!'
"Jason and I had flown from Los Angeles to London on one of those twelve-hour-long flights overnight and he reminded me that after they had shut down all the lights and everything was quiet in the airplane—and we're in little pods, we're not in 38J—I had taken some clothes off," he recalled at the time.
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"I think I took my shirt off and maybe my pants," Theroux said. "But I was definitely wearing something under that. And I tucked in and went to sleep."
The Arrested Development star eventually called him out on it, the actor added. "Jason came over to me at one point and said, 'Hey man, what are you doing?'"
"I'm like, 'I'm going to sleep! No one is going to see!'" he added. "And I had a blanket! So anyway, it was actually correct that I was essentially naked on an airplane, but not really naked."
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