He recently revealed that he celebrated his 50th birthday by releasing sea turtles into the ocean during a trip to Costa Rica.
And Gerard Butler was spotted settling back into his everyday life on Thursday, when he went out for dinner at West Hollywood hotspot Craig’s.
The Scottish actor looked casually cool for the outing, donning a black leather jacket, which he teamed with gently faded jeans.
Fine dining: Gerard Butler was spotted enjoying a night on the town on Thursday, when he went out for dinner at West Hollywood hotspot Craig’s
Rounding out his look with a brown button-down shirt and taupe suede shoes, the screen star was escorted by security to his waiting car following his meal.
Last month, the Olympus Has Fallen star revealed he marked his milestone 50th birthday in Costa Rica doing ‘environmental stuff’.
Gerard turned 50 in November 2019 but has only recently discussed how he celebrated, saying that it was attended by ‘spiritual people’ and was ‘very powerful’.
The Scottish actor, now 51, told Total Film Magazine: ‘I’m not a birthday party guy. I’ve often, on my birthday, at 7PM, said “okay, let’s have dinner”. And everybody is told with 15 minutes to spare.
Casually cool: The Scottish actor looked casually cool for the outing, donning a black leather jacket, which he teamed with gently faded jeans
‘But this time, I actually did a big event in Costa Rica and brought loads of friends down. And it was very, very powerful. We brought down a lot of spiritual people, a lot of performers.
‘We did a lot of environmental stuff, like releasing sea turtles out into the ocean. It was such a mix of so many things, I’m so glad I did it.’
This took place several months before the COVID-19 pandemic hit the world, with many unable to celebrate their birthdays over the past year.
In his latest movie, Greenland, which was released in 2020, Butler and his family struggle for survival in the face of a terrifying cataclysmic natural disaster.
Birthday trip: He recently revealed that he celebrated his 50th birthday by releasing sea turtles into the ocean during a trip to Costa Rica.
Ensemble: Rounding out his look with a brown button-down shirt and taupe boots, the screen star was escorted by security to his waiting car following his meal
The pandemic delayed the movie’s release several times, eventually being made available through video on demand in December.
This follows Gerard’s recent controversial gender stereotyping row, leading to the banning of a South African beer advert.
The Paisley-born actor fell foul of advertising standards with his TV ad for Diageo-made Windhoek beer.
They banned the commercial for suggesting real men, like Butler, drink real beer.
Butler agreed to take part in the ad despite having his well-publicised battle with the booze. He went tee-total after a spell in rehab, checking into the Betty Ford clinic in 2012 and claims not to have consumed alcohol since then.
Row: The star’s outing follows Gerard’s recent controversial gender stereotyping row, leading to the banning of a South African beer advert
Butler is seen casually dressed and bearded while enjoying a pint at the bar with the slogan: ‘It’s time for the perfect beer.’
The beer campaign features the tag line, ‘Keeping It Real With Mr Gerard Butler’.
The beer brand used a ‘gentle looking’ man who succumbs to the pressure of ‘macho’ movie star Gerard Butler, said South Africa’s Advertising Regulatory Board (ARB).
The ad features Butler, described in the regulator’s decision as ‘a macho looking movie star’, remonstrating with a bar patron who asks for a slice of lime with his Windhoek.
Drive: The star drove off solo following his outing to the popular West Hollywood restaurant
Great Scot: While he hails from Scotland, he has been based in Los Angeles for several years
‘Hey, that’s a Windhoek. It’s 100% beer. You don’t need any lime,’ Butler tells the other customer, before turning to the camera and says, ‘Keep it real, Joe. Keep it real.’
The man he takes to task, says the ARB, ‘is a gentle looking, red-headed man – two characteristics that might typically make him a target for teasing in a toxic environment’.
By showing a man deciding against having a lime with his beer, Windhoek is entrenching toxic masculinity, the regulator ruled.
The interaction between the two, the regulator ruled, sends an unavoidable message that is not acceptable in advertising, especially because it does not actually come out and say that real men drink real beer.
Birthday: Gerard recently said of his 50th birthday, ‘We did a lot of environmental stuff, like releasing sea turtles out into the ocean. It was such a mix of so many things, I’m so glad I did it’
‘The reality is that it is exactly the unspoken nature of the communication that makes it particularly dangerous – the gender stereotype portrayed as so normal that it does not even require explanation,’ said the ARB.
It took issue with both ‘the entrenchment of the role of men as having to behave in a certain way’ and ‘the entrenchment of male behaviour that is bullying, and what has come to be labelled as “toxic masculinity”‘.
The decision cites a clause in the ARB’s code of advertising practice that bans ‘gender stereotyping or negative gender portrayal’ unless it is ‘reasonable and justifiable in an open and democratic society based on human dignity, equality and freedom’.
Heineken, the brewers of Windhoek, had argued its central character had ordered a lime out of habit, ‘and when he tasted the Windhoek Lager without the lime, his response was one of appreciation. He does not react with offence or shame’.
Controversy: Gerard was recently caught up in a gender stereotyping row, leading to the banning of a South African beer advert featuring the tee-total actor