Christopher Meloni Talks Social Media's Obsession with His Butt: 'I'm Clever with My A-- Cheeks'

Christopher Meloni Men's Health
Christopher Meloni Men's Health

Ben Watts

Christopher Meloni is keeping his figure tight, and his fans have definitely taken notice.

The Emmy Award nominee, 60, recently commented on the growing social media obsession with his butt in an interview for the September cover of Men's Health. When the reporter said that Meloni is having a moment culturally, he responded, "My ass is."

"I catch flies with my ass cheeks, like a Venus flytrap." Meloni joked at another point in the interview. "I'm clever with my ass cheeks!"

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He previously enjoyed a viral moment in April, when someone posted a photo of him flexing one of his best assets on the New York City set of his new Law & Order spinoff Organized Crime.

Christopher Meloni Men's Health
Christopher Meloni Men's Health

Ben Watts

Meloni told PEOPLE at the time that he found the fan reaction "pretty overwhelming" amid his return to the Law & Order franchise. "This time around, I think the pressure's off," he said. "I feel less pressure than I did when Dick [Wolf] first tasked me with being Elliot Stabler. So I'm a little freer to appreciate everything. It's a nice journey."

The Oz alum has long been admired for his gluteus maximus. Marielle Heller, who directed him in 2015's The Diary of a Teenage Girl, recalled a moment on the movie's set when she realized just how much of a social media phenom he and his butt really are.

"There was a moment when we were filming and this fan came up to him and asked to take a picture of his butt," Heller told Men's Health. "He posed in a funny way, then turned to me with this sly smile and said, 'There's kind of a thing about my butt. People are really into it.'"

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As for how he keeps his body so finely tuned, the reporter noted that he was in the middle of an intermittent fast, and he knocked out 80 minutes of box jumps, pullups and an unpleasant move called "the saw," to which Meloni refers as a light workout. He followed it up with an egg-white omelet with cheese.

He explained that exercise is "therapy, church, meditation, and a kind of personal reengagement where the brain and the body get to talk to one another."

Christopher Meloni Men's Health
Christopher Meloni Men's Health

Ben Watts

Meloni also raved about becoming a fitness icon at 60 years old. "It's cool as s---," he said. "The aspect of age comes into play as far as the cover of [this magazine] and how I feel about it. A friend of mine said, 'Did you ever think in a million years you'd be on the cover of Men's Health?' I said, 'Certainly not at age 60.'"