Ray Romano was accidentally fat-shamed by Al Pacino

Actor Ray Romano forced himself to embark on a slim-down after Al Pacino made a passing comment about his waistline on the set of their new film, The Irishman.

The Everybody Loves Raymond star features alongside Pacino and Robert De Niro in the forthcoming Martin Scorsese mob drama, which is based on the actual life of Frank 'The Irishman' Sheeran, the hitman suspected of involvement in the 1975 disappearance of U.S. labour union leader Jimmy Hoffa.

The Netflix movie chronicles the actors' characters throughout their lifetimes, so Scorsese had to use heavy make-up, fat suits, and other special effects to age some of the stars, including Romano.

However, one remark Al made in between scenes, when Romano wasn't wearing his padded costume, made him overhaul his diet as soon as filming wrapped earlier this year (18).

"Al Pacino is the reason I went on a diet...," Ray quipped during an appearance on The Late Late Show with James Corden on Wednesday night (08Aug18).

"In the movie, they age me up, so some scenes I have grey hair and I have a fat suit on underneath, and we came back from lunch and we were ready to start a scene, and... he looked at me and said - dead serious - he said, 'Ray, I didn't know you were wearing a fat suit in this scene.'

"I went, 'I'm not, Al' - not kidding...! And he laughed and he goes, 'Ray, what? Are you trying to be like me...?'"

Although Romano knew Pacino didn't mean any harm with his comment, he likens the incident to the body-shaming some women endure when they are mistakenly assumed to be pregnant.

"It's kinda like the male version of asking a woman if she's due, and she's not!" he added.