Rock DuBois Interview

Rock DuBois is a pop/dance recording artist and actor. Mr. DuBois is also very interested in health & fitness, and has an advice column on his website in which anyone can anonymously ask for advice. Mr. DuBois was an excellent interviewee: he provided a timely response and gladly elaborated his answers with much depth. I encourage you all to check out his website and listen to his music. For real folks, it's great stuff! He can also be found on Twitter & Instagram 

1) Full name: Jeanrock DuBois but everyone calls me Rock or Rocky

2) Age: 24

3) Where are you from? Southern New Hampshire, about 40 minutes north of Beantown (Boston).

4) Favorite movie?

 I have a few actually: Wizard of Oz never gets old, My favorite Disney Movie is Alice in Wonderland, and I can watch Matilda and Mean Girls ANY DAY.

5) Favorite current pop song? 

I’m a long-time fan of the Romanian artist, Inna. She is gorgeous and her new album is the soundtrack to my workouts these days. Definitely check her out!

6) Who or what inspired you to become a performer? 

Even when I was younger I really always enjoyed making up skits and writing songs with my friends and choreographing dances to songs we all loved. I wasn't necessarily inspired as much as I was jealous that people could wake up everyday and perform for a living. As I got older and my looks changed and everything, I just craved being able to be in the spotlight and doing what I love. It’s been stagnant lately, but it’s only temporary!

7) What would you say is the toughest aspect of being a performer? 

I think in general, people need to have a thicker skin. I attended a talent convention in 2010 and I lost some serious weight to be able to compete for commercial modeling, singing and acting. I remember one agent looking at me and looking at my headshot and telling me I had lost too much weight since the photo was taken. At the time it stung a little, but I’ve learned something: You can never please everyone, and you should never try.

8) What’s been the most rewarding experience as a performer?

My most rewarding experience would be all of them! The amount of different people I’ve performed with and also the different things I’ve done just make me feel so fulfilled at a young age. I’ve been through two preliminary rounds of American Idol, America’s Got Talent called me for private auditions, I had a single released on iTunes, I’ve had my music played in a clubs in different countries and so much more. It’s just insane!

9) What have you learned about yourself from being a performer?

I didn’t learn this, but I’ve always believed in my abilities and in myself. I’ve always been ridiculously independent and strong-willed and felt I could do anything. I’ve just proven it over time. It’s my greatest legacy.

10) What has been your most embarrassing experience as a recording artist or actor?

Hmmm….honestly, nothing comes to mind! It takes a lot for me to be embarrassed haha.

11) Who or what inspired your health and fitness interest? Have you always been fit?

Woah, this is gonna be a long answer…

I spent most of my life an obese child. When I graduated high school I was 270 lbs, size 44 pants and heavily asthmatic. It was not pretty. Even though I was overweight, I never lacked self-confidence and I really thank my mother for that because she instilled that people will always love you if you are a good and genuine person, regardless of how you look.  Wanting to be in entertainment, it was just a fact of the matter that being overweight just limits you in the long run and I didn’t want that for myself. I began just changing my diet in January of 2008 and by August of that year I had lost 80 lbs. From there I started toning up more and by 2010 I was 155 and going for commercial modeling. After I left that phase I am where I am today. Building my body and constantly challenging my limits and myself has definitely been the hardest process, but also the most rewarding. My weight currently fluctuates between 180 and 210 lbs depending on the time of year. 

I actually LOVE Instagram and have about 5,000 followers who tell me everyday how much my transformation and positivity helps them everyday and that is a HUGE motivation for me to keep it up and inspire others to be the best version of themselves. Some people have said my pictures are risqué, but honestly dude, walk down the street in Manhattan and look at any ad and you’ll see the same shit. I’m doing nothing but inspiring and helping people and I’m still a good person. People just love to talk when they feel uncomfortable or insecure and I’ll let them :) I’m always willing to talk to and help people who get me and truly want to make a difference in their life!

12) What is your favorite way to stay in shape? Can you also tell me about what your regular diet looks like? Do you ever find it impossible to pass up sweets or junk food? 

My favorite way to stay in shape is through strength training (weighted and body weight exercise) and high-interval cardio. My regular diet is different throughout the year, but primarily it is a low carb, high protein, and moderate fat diet. I’ve done some pretty crazy diets so I can definitely tell you what works and what doesn’t for me, but everyone is different.  

As far as giving up sweets, nothing is impossible….sometimes we make the sacrifices for the things we want most. There have been plenty of times I have had to completely turn away from a table of food because I couldn’t eat anything. It happens haha.

13) What’s the most interesting health/fitness tip or fact you’ve come across? 

I found it extremely intriguing that when carb cycling, you can go three days on low to no carbohydrates and have a huge cheat day on the 4th day and actually lose MORE fat. The human body is incredible and is the perfect machine, but we have ways of tricking it.

14) You offer advice to anonymous people on your blog. Can you tell me how and why you started this? Have you run into any questions that you haven’t been able to offer advice on?

Well, in everyday life, I have always been the person friends and family members come to, to vent and get feedback on things. I guess it happens because I’m always really well composed and know how to handle my own business and emotions, etc. so I have every ability to help others and I love it. Because it’s such a gratifying experience for me, I started the blog so people all over could reach out and have someone to ask for help or advice. I’ve gotten questions on a variety of topics and I think the most rewarding instance was when someone told me that I saved their life and I continue to every day. I still get goosebumps reading the messages she sent me after I answered her question and that’s exactly the reason why I keep doing it.  I just really love being able to help people!

There has been one instance in which the subject was just something I didn’t want to touch and it was about incest. I politely messaged the anonymous person back with an email with numbers they could call to get in touch with professionals who could help them. Hope it reached them ok.

15) Which do you prefer: boxers, briefs, or boxer briefs? Why?

Well, I will be honest…up until late last year, I never wore underwear haha. I was told I needed to start wearing them by my doctor so naturally I went for the smallest I could get away with. I currently wear and LOVE string briefs. They cover everything but have no strap and they never ride. Best of everything.

I wear jocks on certain occasions and I have some trunk briefs just in case haha.

16) Do you favor any underwear brands? If so, which and why?

I currently wear Life by Jockey brand string briefs…conveniently available at your local WalMart haha.

17) GQ wrote an article a few months ago stating that “tighty-whities” are stylish now. How do you feel about tighty-whities, & do you agree with GQ?

I would say anything can be stylish or sexy as long as you wear them and own it. I think the classic brief is an iconic image of being a guy, it’s what made underwear sexy for us haha.

18) What would someone find if they went through your underwear drawer?

They would find a small amount of underwear, bed shorts, jocks and ya know…other underwear drawer stuff :) haha.

19) Do you have any funny or memorable underwear stories? 

Hmm…. Well one time I was at the chiropractor and he asked me to take off my pants so he could examine my hip and lower back alignment and it was when I never wore underwear and I just looked at him and said “I can’t….I’m not wearing underwear..” haha it was embarrassing for a second and he joked and was like “It’s ok, sometimes I don’t wear any in the summer either!” haha

Another time was when I WASN’T wearing underwear again and it was an intimate moment and when my pants came off they were like “Well, that was easy.” hahahah

20) Do you have any strange or unusual talent that no one knows about?

Well most people know about this but I can actually do impersonations really well….I can actually cry like a real baby and also make my lips look like I got collagen injections….Makes for some interesting pranks!