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Jake Gyllenhaal says he's finding 'bathing to be less necessary' with time

Gyllenhaal is the latest Hollywood celeb to reveal a rather lax attitude toward personal hygiene.
/ Source: TODAY

Add Jake Gyllenhaal to the list of celebrities who aren't obsessing about their personal hygiene.

The "Donnie Darko" star revealed in a new interview with Vanity Fair that his attitude about bathing has grown more lax over the years. "More and more I find bathing to be less necessary, at times," Gyllenhaal, 40, told the magazine.

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Gyllenhaal is the latest Hollywood celeb to reveal a lax attitude toward personal hygiene. Anthony Behar / Bravo / NBCU

Then, quoting British singer-songwriter Elvis Costello, he continued, "I do believe ... that good manners and bad breath get you nowhere. So I do that. But I do also think that there’s a whole world of not bathing that is also really helpful for skin maintenance, and we naturally clean ourselves."

Gyllenhaal's details about his bathing philosophy come less than two weeks after Hollywood A-listers Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis made headlines for revealing they only bathe their children — daughter, Wyatt, 6, while and son, Dimitri, 4 — when they "can see the dirt" on them.

“I wasn’t that parent that bathed my newborns, ever,” Kunis, 37, said on Dax Shepard’s “Armchair Expert” podcast.

"Here’s the thing," interjected Kutcher, 43, “if you can see the dirt on them, clean them. Otherwise, there’s no point.”

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Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher.Alberto E. Rodriguez / Getty Images for Disney

Kutcher, who wed his former "That '70s Show" co-star in 2015, added that the couple's less-is-more bathing policy doesn't only apply to their kids. The actor himself doesn't bathe every day either.

"I wash my armpits and crotch daily and nothing else," said Kutcher.

Host Shepard, 46, and his wife, Kristen Bell, 41, share the same lax attitude when it comes to bathing their two daughters, Lincoln, 8, and Delta, 6. The couple, who tied the knot in 2013, revealed Tuesday on "The View" that bath time happens for their girls only when they "stink."

"We bathed our children every single night — prior to bed is like the routine," said Shepard. "And then somehow, they just started going to sleep on their own without the routine, and by George, we had to start saying, 'Hey, when's the last time you bathed them?'"

Bell added "Yeah, we forget."

Kristen Bell gestures at her husband Dax Shepard while sitting on a TV set in front of a purple background
Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard visit TODAY on Feb. 25, 2019.Nathan Congleton / NBC

Shepard noted that Lincoln and Delta can go "sometimes five, six days" without a bath and they don't smell.

"Well, they do sometimes," clarified Bell. "I'm a big fan of waiting for the stink. Once you catch a whiff, that's biology's way of letting you know you need to clean it up."

The former "Good Place" star continued, "There's a red flag, because honestly, it's just bacteria. And once you get the bacteria, you gotta be like, 'Get in the tub or the shower' ... I wait for the stink."

Shepard and Bell's bathing philosophy for their children syncs up with the American Academy of Dermatology Association's recommendation that children ages 6 to 11 bathe at least once a week.