Jeremy Allen White Was Never The Same After Shameless

There are few hotter actors right now than Jeremy Allen White, who has skyrocketed to the top of Hollywood. A big reason for that has been his portrayal of tortured, perfectionist chef Carmen "Carmy" Berzatto in "The Bear," the critically acclaimed Hulu series for which he's won two Emmy Awards.

That said, it's not like White came out of nowhere. Prior to "The Bear," he spent more than a decade on TV playing Philip "Lip" Gallagher on the Showtime hit, "Shameless." Over the course of the show's 11 seasons, viewers witnessed White's head-turning transformation. After all, he lived nearly his entire 20s during the course of the series' run, while also honing his skills as an actor each day.

Since the show ended in 2021, his career has been on an upward trajectory that just keeps heading ever higher. And while fans of the show may wonder whatever happened to the stars of "Shameless," keep on reading, it'll be clear why White was never the same after "Shameless."

Delving into the untold truth of Jeremy Allen White reveals that he trained as a dancer before gravitating toward acting. He began landing on-camera jobs at an early age; his first screen credit came with a 2006 episode of TV drama "Conviction" when he was just 15. Over the next few years, he amassed several more film and TV credits.

White was just 19 when he was cast as 16-year-old Lip Gallagher in "Shameless." At the time, he figured that if things went well, the show would last for a few seasons — not realizing he would be playing the same character for a solid decade. "I love 'Shameless' so much ... the experience was incredible," he told GQ. "But I'm not sure if shows are meant to go that long."

When the show finally wrapped, he felt both relieved and untethered. "There was a period where I stopped feeling like an actor and I started feeling like I was just here to do this show," White explained. "It was an upsetting head space to be in. When it was going to end, I was questioning: Maybe I do just exist on this show. What else is there?"

The year after "Shameless" ended, television viewers witnessed Jeremy Allen White in a new series, playing Chicago chef Carmy Berzatto in "The Bear." The show was an instant hit, following Carmy's journey of redemption when he returned to Chicago after the death of his older brother, to take over the family-owned sandwich shop — which he gradually transformed into a high-end culinary destination.

When the dust settled after the series' first season, "The Bear" won a staggering 10 Emmys, setting a new record for the most wins for a comedy series within a single year — until breaking that record after Season 2 by winning 11. As of Season 3, Allen has won two acting Emmys, in addition to three Golden Globes and a pair of Critics Choice Awards. For White, this was heady stuff, particularly after a decade as part of an ensemble cast that included such stars as William H. Macy and Emmy Rossum, who also went on to big things after "Shameless."

Yet suddenly being catapulted to the upper echelons of Hollywood proved disorienting, as his fame increased exponentially. "It's been insane, a lot of high highs, a lot of terribly low lows," White observed in a 2023 interview with British GQ. "I feel like I'm doing my best," he told Entertainment Tonight (via CBS 8) in 2023 about how he was coping with his instant fame. "I don't know, I think you just have to keep your feet on the ground and keep yourself surrounded by people that know you and love you."

Jeremy Allen White and Addison Timlin were 14-year-old high school students when they first met. "I was instantly very much into her and she, me too, I think," White told GQ. "But she had a boyfriend. I was just so clumsy about all that stuff." They later reconnected while working on a movie together and became a couple.

In June 2018, Timlin shared an Instagram post, with White resting his hand upon her swollen belly. "We made a baby and my heart is bursting at the seams," she wrote in the caption. That October, they announced the birth of their baby girl, Ezer. A year later, the proud parents made it official by tying the knot, wearing matching denim jackets bearing their apparent nicknames for each other (Buddy and Billie), with Timlin's adorned with the word "til" and White's reading "death."

In December 2020, the couple welcomed a second child, daughter Dolores. By the time "Shameless" ended, White was a father of two. As the years passed, fatherhood was a role that White would continue to cherish. "My life — my normal life — is simple," Allen told The Times. "Like today. I made breakfast for my daughters, took them to school and later I will pick them up and make dinner."

As viewers of "The Bear" may have noticed, particularly in scenes where Jeremy Allen White's character wore a t-shirt, he sported a remarkably jacked physique for a chef who — in the show, at least — is never once seen hitting the gym. Yet there was a big reason for White's muscled build. He signed on to portray real-life pro wrestler Kerry Von Erich in a big-screen biopic about the Von Erich brothers, 2023's "The Iron Claw."

As White explained in an interview with Entertainment Tonight, he packed a staggering 40 pounds of muscle onto what had already been a pretty fit frame. "I was eating a lot, like, a pretty tremendous amount," he said. "Just eating as much as I could and just trying to lift weights, no cardio."

In the wrestling scenes, White wore Von Erich's signature ring attire: a pair of tighty-whities. "Seven days of running around in your underwear, and you get used to it," he told Entertainment Tonight of his revealing costume.

For spring of 2024, Jeremy Allen White was hired for an advertising campaign for Calvin Klein underwear, which featured him stripped down to a pair of the brand's titular undies. Speaking with GQ, White admitted that even he was somewhat surprised by the turn of events that had led him there. "I didn't see this in my future necessarily," he said. "Who grows up thinking, 'Yeah, I'll be in a Calvin Klein campaign?'"

As White explained, he became leaner and less muscle-bound than he was while filming "The Iron Claw" — which was on display for all to see. The knowledge that his sculpted physique would be under such intense scrutiny led to some moments of insecurity right before the photo shoot. "In my head, I was just like, 'I can't see myself on a billboard. I shouldn't be here,'" he said. "Just real imposter syndrome."

To say the campaign was a success is both an understatement and proof positive of White's massive popularity. The campaign went viral on social media and, within 48 hours, generated $12.7 million worth of media exposure. While taking questions from reporters shortly after winning his second Golden Globe, White was asked to share his feelings on having the media focus shift from his acting abilities to his chiseled abs. "It is bizarre doing a Calvin Klein ad," he admitted (via Entertainment Tonight). "And now it is even more bizarre, having it had come out."

As Jeremy Allen White's fame grew, so too did his own uncomfortableness with it. "'The Bear' has taken me to a different level, but I'm lucky that it's in my early 30s, where I think I feel a bit more settled in myself, and I don't feel like I need to put on any self-serious or troubled attitudes," he told Vanity Fair of his elevated level of fame, admitting he was glad it happened when it did and not earlier in his career.

Sure, he was moderately famous during his decade on "Shameless," but his new superstardom brought him to new levels of scrutiny, as paparazzi stalked his every move — an experience familiar to a Kardashian, perhaps, but certainly not to him. Such was the case when, one day, he was out for a run when a car pulled up next to him, its driver pointing a camera at him. "I was like, 'What are we doing? Are you escorting me?'" White recalled telling the shutterbug to British GQ, revealing his attempts to reason with the guy fell flat.

"It's such a weird aspect of this thing that I truly never thought I would ever deal with whatsoever," he said of becoming the target of paparazzi. "It's not fun, and it's not nice, and it's really weird."

While his professional life was soaring, the tragic truth about Jeremy Allen White was that his personal life was going in the opposite direction. That became clear in May 2023, when his wife Addison Timlin filed for divorce.

As time passed, it became apparent that their conscious uncoupling was far from one of the ugliest divorces in showbiz history. A few months after the divorce filing, the exes were spotted together at the soccer game of one of their daughters and were seen warmly embracing.

In October 2023, White and Timlin settled on a custody agreement that would see them share joint custody of their daughters. There were, however, some conditions attached to that agreement — which indicated that White's drinking may have been a factor in the end of his marriage. According to court documents, White was ordered to undergo alcohol testing on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. In addition, White was also ordered to attend therapy sessions, a minimum of once a week, in addition to two Alcoholics Anonymous meetings per week.

After his divorce, Jeremy Allen White did not remain single for too long. While White — who tends to ferociously guard his personal life — hasn't confirmed nor denied, reports emerged that he was seeing Spanish singing sensation Rosalía.

In November 2023, just six months after his split from ex-wife Addison Timlin, Us Weekly reported that White and Rosalía were an item. "Rosalía and Jeremy Allen White have recently started dating," a source told the outlet. "They started out as just friends, but things have turned romantic recently." Reports indicated that the relationship heated up, with paparazzi capturing the pair publicly expressing PDA on several occasions. In January 2024, the Daily Mail published photos of the two sharing a passionate kiss.

The pair reportedly split up in September 2024. A year later, during a red carpet interview in October 2025, he sweetly offered a rare comment about his ex, paying tribute when asked to reveal his favorite Spanish singer. "Rosalía, I love so much," he declared. "She's wonderful. She's flamenco ... Otherwise, no, nothing's coming to mind."

During Jeremy Allen's rise to fame, some on the internet began pointing out his resemblance to comic actor Gene Wilder, star of "Blazing Saddles," "Young Frankenstein," "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory," and other Hollywood hits. That, of course, led to unfounded speculation that Allen was Wilder's grandson, a rumor that took on a life of its own as it began circulating throughout cyberspace.

During a BuzzFeed video, in which he answers fan questions while playing with some puppies alongside "The Iron Claw" co-stars Zac Efron and Harris Dickinson, White poured cold water on that rumor. "I'm not related to Gene Wilder," he said. "I think a lot of people think I am." Efron chimed in by exclaiming, "That's hilarious!" and then added, "I kinda see it."

Interviewed by InStyle, White revealed that he became aware of the claims that Wilder was his grandfather and admitted that he gets it. "Somebody ... called Carmy a 'ketamine Gene Wilder,' which I thought was weird and funny," he said. Rumor-busting website Snopes reached out to Wilder's nephew, Jordan Walker-Pearlman, for the final word on the matter. "Jordan can confirm with you that as much as he admires the talent of Jeremy Allen White and believes Gene would have as well, and clearly sees the family resemblances, they are in fact, not related," a rep replied.

Jeremy Allen White became one of the many actors to portray a famous musician when he was cast as Bruce Springsteen in "Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere," a 2025 film dramatizing the intense period when the winger came to grips with the superstardom he was achieving.

Springsteen's struggles with fame were not that different from what White went through after "The Bear," leaving him perfectly positioned to play the Boss at that particular point in his storied career. "Those parallels were quite acute for me," the film's director, Scott Cooper, told The New York Times, insisting White was the one and only actor he approached for the role. "You only play Bruce Springsteen once, and you only play him at this certain time in your life, where you can completely relate to him," he explained.

Yet White was initially reluctant to take on the role; not only because Springsteen is such a towering, iconic figure, but also because he could neither sing nor play guitar. However, he — like Cooper — realized that his own feelings of self-doubt and anxiety about taking on the role provided him with a powerful through-line that would help him connect with the soul of Springsteen, who experienced similar anxiety at that time in his life. "Bruce is a man who's looked over the edge, right?" White said. "And there have been periods in my life where I've gotten very close with that too. Doubt, desperation — that's something that is not totally foreign to me."

While growing up, Jeremy Allen White always knew that he wanted to become an actor. As a result, he felt that school was, at best, a distraction, and at worst, a complete waste of time while he worked toward achieving his goal. "No, I was not," he confirmed when asked if he was a good student while appearing on an episode of "Live with Kelly and Mark." According to White, he had a tendency to leave school at lunchtime and not return. This was not great for his academic standing, and he never actually graduated. "I never got my diploma, 'cause I didn't have enough credits," he explained.

Amazingly, it was his role as Bruce Springsteen in that offered his high school drama teacher, Greg Parente, an opportunity to right that particular wrong. As White recounted, he remained in touch with his one-time teacher. Because Parente is a huge Springsteen fan, White invited him to the premiere at the New York Film Festival. "At the end of the night he gave me a gift," White recalled. "And I was like, 'Ah, you don't have to do this, this is crazy, what are you giving me a gift for?' And I open it up and it is my high school diploma."

In July 2025, it was reported that Jeremy Allen White met with writer/director Aaron Sorkin about his upcoming project, a sequel to his Oscar-winning 2010 film "The Social Network." Those discussions firmed up, and it was later confirmed that White would be portraying Wall Street Journal reporter Jeff Horvitz in the sequel, titled "The Social Reckoning." The film would reunite White with Jeremy Strong, his co-star in "Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere," portraying Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

The film is based on Horvitz's articles, called the "The Facebook Files." The plot follows the journalist as he teams up with Facebook engineer Frances Haugen (played by Oscar winner Mikey Madison) to unearth some of Facebook's hidden secrets and bring them to light.

Filming was set to begin in November 2025 and take place in Vancouver. Sure enough, that month White was spotted in Vancouver, filming scenes at English Bay, a popular downtown beach. Several days later, White was seen in Vancouver once again, this time while filming in the city's grand Fairmont Hotel. As of November 2025, production on the film remains underway, with a release date in October 2026.