Hugh Jackman celebrates the end of his strict diet in the best way

Hugh Jackman at the 'Logan' film screening, New York. Photo / Splash News

You don't get a body like Hugh Jackman's without some pretty solid dieting.

The Aussie actor, who has starred as the fan favourite X-Men character Wolverine for 17 years, engaged in some incredibly strict dieting while preparing for the movies.

Appearing on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, the 48-year-old actor revealed he barely ate anything other than boiled chicken, broccoli and cauliflower.

"It's not like I never had a cheat meal, 'cause I did," the actor said. "But for 17 years, I've kind of known, 'Well, next year, you gotta get into shape ...' It kind of puts a bit of a damper on things."

And, now that Jackman has finally finished playing the chiseled character, Fallon helped him celebrate the end of his diet by getting celebrity chef Mario Batali to cook him up a huge bowl of pasta.

And, when we say huge, we mean huge.

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Happy Break The Wolverine Diet! @mariobatali you are legend! @jimmyfallon @wponx @20thcenturyfox

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Jackman was clearly happy about the pasta doing a little jig when Batali brought out the giant bowl.

After giving the celebrity chef a hug, Jackman announced it was "the best fricken thing I've ever seen".

Batali, who owns Italian restaurants worldwide, also posted the photo on his Instagram captioning it "The new @thehughjackman #wolverine diet includes pasta. Lots of pasta."

Despite the diet, Jackman admitted at the movie's New York screening he will miss playing the X-Men character.

"This is like a dream. After 17 years, I feel I've met every Wolverine and X-Men fan [in the street] ... Honestly, these 17 years would not have been possible without you. I love this character, and I love you guys," he said.

The X-Men spin-off Logan is slated for release next month and will be the ninth (and allegedly last) time Jackman will play the superhero.

In his interview with Jimmy Fallon, Jackman also revealed it was his friend Jerry Seinfeld who helped him realise Logan would be his last movie as the X-Men character.

"He was very clear," Jackman said.

"He said, 'Look, when you're creating something, it's very important not to run yourself dry. It's not about finishing on top, necessarily, but making sure that you creatively still have something left, which propels you into whatever's next.'

And as he was talking to me, I went home and I said [to my wife], 'Deb, this is it. This is the last one.'"