'Tulsa King' star Max Casella gets candid about reaching puberty at 27

Max Casella, who is slated to star alongside Sylvester Stallone in Tulsa King, opened up about a medical condition that prevented him from reaching puberty until 27.

According to Daily Mail on November 12, Max Casella spoke to Page Six on November 9 at the New York premiere of the upcoming Paramount+ series and opened up about his condition.

The 55-year-old veteran actor said that he has pituitary dwarfism, a growth hormone deficiency characterised by unusually short height.

Casella shared, "'I was given testosterone. I was on growth hormones; I’m still on those things. My body didn’t go through the change by itself."

He also said that injecting growth hormones helped him reach puberty finally in his late twenties.

He explained, "I have a malfunctioning pituitary gland from birth and basically had to jumpstart my puberty by pumping me full of testosterone and growth hormones to get me to grow because it wasn’t happening. I was 25, and I hadn’t even shaved."

The Doogie Howser alum shared his anxiety over his condition, "It was a horror show. I couldn’t talk about it. No one understood it."

"It’s like the trans community today talks about body dysmorphia and feeling like, 'I’m in the wrong body,' absolutely my experience. Absolutely. I was a man trapped in a little boy’s body throughout most of my 20s until they finally pumped me full of testosterone," he shared.

Nevertheless, Casella had, significantly, a successful career with over 100 projects and his recent one is with the 76-year-old Sylvester Stallone in Tulsa King.