Talk about Under Siege – at least as far as his clothes are concerned.
Former action star Steven Seagal has ballooned to over 320lb since moving to Russia where he’s now living large, stills from a newly unearthed documentary show.
And the strain is telling on the 6ft 4in one-time star as he is filmed barely able to wrap his arms around his burgeoning belly.
Seagal, 72, has done his best to control images of himself being released. Recent photos on his social media are from the chest up, and he has not posted himself on his Instagram since December 2021.
But a 30-minute Russian propaganda documentary about the Ukraine war released this month titled In The Name of Justice, revealed his figure had drastically changed from the 90s when he featured not only in the two Under Siege movies but other hard-charging films such as Marked for Death and On Deadly Ground.
A 30-minute documentary that was directed by and starred disgraced action star Steven Seagal showed his figure had drastically changed from the time of his heyday in the 1990s
The 30-minute episode, publicly available on Russian website Smotrim.ru and operated by Russian state-run broadcaster VGTRK, was released on October 10 and featured Seagal looking large
Seagal, 72, has done his best to tightly control images of himself being released. Recent photos on his social media are from the chest up, and he has not posted himself on his Instagram since December 2021
During the documentary, Seagal’s bloated belly is so large his untucked shirt hung down from his waist, being pushed out by his massive midriff.
The 30-minute documentary, publicly available on Russian website Smotrim.ru and operated by Russian state-run broadcaster VGTRK, was released on October 10.
It follows the portly Putin partisan wandering around Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine, between drone shots of rubble and bombed-out buildings.
A description on the Smotrim site written in Russian said Seagal ‘personally spoke with the victims of Ukrainian nationalists and saw with his own eyes what is happening in Donbas’, a region that was occupied by Russian insurgents in 2022.
Seagal left his life in America behind after gaining Russian citizenship in 2016 which was granted after numerous requests according to a Kremlin spokesman. His paternal grandparents had emigrated to the United States from Vladivostock in the country’s far east.
The man who executive producer Lorne Michaels dubbed the worst-ever host of Saturday Night Live has since become a firm supporter of President Vladimir Putin who personally presented him with the Order of Friendship in May.
Seagal in the 2003 movie The Belly of The Beast – a time when the martial artist tried desperately to hide his growing figure
Seagal began starring in action films during the late 80s. He was known for being a martial arts instructor in Japan and holding a seventh-dan black belt in Aikido
A description on the Smotrim site written in Russian said Seagal ‘personally spoke with the victims of Ukrainian nationalists and saw with his own eyes what is happening in Donbas’
At the ceremony, Seagal said Ukraine was known for ‘organ trafficking, child sex trafficking and Nazism’.
The documentary says Seagal was able to meet with captured nationalists from Ukraine’s Azov Brigade – a formation of Ukraine’s national guard stationed in the Sea of Azov that was integrated in 2014 – and ‘visited the sites of their crimes against civilians in Donetsk and Lugansk’.
The Azov brigade is characterized as a terrorist organization banned in Russia.
The Azov regiment was one of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s cited reasonings for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine’s on February 24, 2022. Members have been characterized by Putin as being ‘neo-Nazis’ due to their leadership’s white supremacist views.
The filmmakers did not shy away from showing Seagal’s full figure.
A source who worked with the action star in the 2000s was shocked at his appearance, estimating he gained ‘at least 50 pounds’. They also told DailyMail.com that Seagal would be livid if similar footage had been aired back then.
‘He would have gone ape-s**t at the cameraman for anything that made his hair or weight look bad.
The source continued: ‘Seagal, as a rule, controlled the narrative hard when filming as he insisted on certain camera angles and nothing that accentuates his weight gain.’
The actor-director’s long-running friendship with Putin is well-documented. He has called Putin ‘one of the greatest world leaders’, and told the Moscow Times in 2014 he ‘would like to consider [Putin] as a brother’.
![The actor-director's long-running friendship with Russian president Vladimir Putin is well-documented. He has called Putin 'one of the greatest world leaders', and told the Moscow Times in 2014 he 'would like to consider [Putin] as a brother'](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/10/28/15/91369059-14011109-image-a-27_1730128195175.jpg)
The actor-director’s long-running friendship with Russian president Vladimir Putin is well-documented. He has called Putin ‘one of the greatest world leaders’, and told the Moscow Times in 2014 he ‘would like to consider [Putin] as a brother’
Seagal’s departure for Russia came after news broke that the Los Angeles District Attorney was reviewing a sex abuse case against him, after decades of allegations by women who worked with Seagal.
The office eventually declined to prosecute due to the statue of limitations running out.
It was far from the first time The Out for Justice star had been accused of sexual harassment and other misconduct by women including Portia de Rossi, Julianna Margulies, Jenny McCarthy, Katherie Heigl. Dutch model Faviola Dadis and Inside Edition correspondent Lisa Guerrero.
Putin giving the Order of Friendship to Seagal during an awards ceremony at the Kremlin in May
Portia DeRossi (left) and Katherine Heigl are among a slew of actresses who have accused Seagal of sexual impropriety over the years
On top of the sexual assault allegations, Seagal also has been accused of fostering hostile working environments on set.
Seagal had a reputation for punching stunt doubles that were on the sets of the movies he was working on.
Actor John Leguizamo called the marital artist a ‘bully’ on set from his experience working together on the 1996 film Executive Decision.
He told the New York Post that no one had a good time working with him and that Seagal kept ‘hitting the stuntmen on purpose’ until the now-deceased Gene LeBell, highly regarded as one of the most famous stuntman in Hollywood, intervened by putting him in a chokehold.
Even Saturday Night Live were perturbed by Seagal’s behavior after the martial artist starred in one of the most infamous episodes that have aired on the show in 1991.
The action star’s unwillingness to go along with the show’s plan and his horrendously bad ideas for skits almost led to SNL to consider replacing him as the host and do a cast show, according to former SNL actor David Spade in his book Live From New York: The Complete, Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live.
