Henry Cavill didn’t always have the same physique as he has now. In fact, the Man of Steel star has been mocked in the past because of his looks.

Many people can’t fathom Henry Cavill being bullied at any point in his life, but the 32-year-old actor claims it happened to him. Cavill was a bit fat as a kid growing up in the Jersey Islands of the United Kingdom.

Henry Cavill was tormented at St. Michael’s Preparatory School in Saint Saviour, Jersey, where he grew up and where his family still resides.

“I was teased and it was hard,” Cavill stated in a People interview.

The Witcher actor, on the other hand, declared that he had no bad feelings toward his childhood bullies. Especially because he believes there are others who have been dealt a bad hand as well.

“Even though for some it may be malicious, I think it’s just kids being kids, and I don’t hold any grudges,” he explains. “People have had it far worse than me.”

Cavill also attributes his childhood experience with providing him with enough perspective to help him as he’s grown older. Not only has it affected him as a person, but it has also had an unanticipated impact on his talent.

“Someone who is on the outskirts of popularity is someone who gets to look in. So I became very much an observer, and that taught me an awful lot about people.”

“It helped me read people very well, which has helped me in this industry. If I can understand the inner workings of a human being, then I can probably be a better actor.”

Despite his stardom and sex-symbol status, the chiseled star has stayed grounded by being bullied in school.

He says of all the attention accorded to his beautiful looks, “You take everything in stride. Of course it’s flattering when people say that, but you’ve got to keep yourself aware of the fact that it’s all perspective. There’s one group of people saying that and there’s one group of people who may not feel the same way.”

Cavill may not have held any grudges towards his childhood bullies, but when he ran across one of them years later, he couldn’t help but get the last laugh.