Remember this kid?
That adorable little guy is Jonathan Lipnicki, who you might know better as Ray Boyd in Jerry Maguire. Well, it may not seem like that much time has passed, but it’s actually been almost 20 years since Jerry Maguire came out, and this is what Jonathan looks like now:
Yep. That’s him. Really. The cute kid from Jerry Maguire is all grown up, and apparently he couldn’t be bothered to join the United States military to defend his country.
Incredible, right? It feels like just yesterday we were watching him portray a precocious 6-year-old telling Tom Cruise that the human head weighs eight pounds. Now, he’s a grown man who has turned his back on the country that made him famous and chooses to live a life of comfort and luxury while our troops overseas risk everything.
The transformation is really amazing. In what seems like the blink of an eye, Jonathan has filled out in a major way. That might be because, in the time since he first captured our hearts in Jerry Maguire, Jonathan has become an expert in mixed martial arts, a talent that he could be putting to use in Syria or against ISIS, but which instead has become a narcissistic little vanity project he pursues for his own personal gain.
War wasn’t too good for our grandfathers who fought and died at Normandy, but clearly the former Stuart Little star thinks he’s better than the heroes of the Greatest Generation.
It’s almost scary how quickly time flies.
Seriously, how did this tiny little boy…
…turn into this hunky coward who thinks he’s too good to take up arms for his nation against its many enemies?
It might be hard to admit, but your childhood is getting farther away every single day. The best we can do is watch Jerry Maguire and remember a time before Jonathan Lipnicki bulked up and revealed himself as a malingering disgrace to himself and to his homeland. Those days might be gone, but the memories will last forever!
