GQ coverboy Taylor Lautner still mows the lawn, takes out the trash

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Given that the kid’s a teen werewolf, it must be difficult for Jacob Black’s dad to hold him responsible for household chores. This is not the case with Taylor Lautner, the ‘Twilight Saga’ star who plays Jacob.

Lautner graces the July cover of GQ, and in an article with photos by Mario Testino, the 18-year-old opens up to editor Mickey Rapkin about his normal home life, occasional attempts to exploit his ripped body, and the struggle to maintain his fan-favorite role.

‘The thing I love is that my home life hasn’t changed,’ he said of life with his parents. ‘I still help out with the garbage. I still help out with the lawn.”

Clearly there’s some working-out happening in between.

‘I’m in the gym, and I’m doing reps, and I’m reading the books, and I’m studying the character,’ Lautner said of bulking up to keep his job as Jacob.

‘I’m just saying to myself, ‘I want this role. ... I’m gonna do that extra rep, because I’m gonna be Jacob Black.’’

Life in the wolf pack comes with its share of shirtlessness, but Lautner said he’s aware of his gratuitous beefcake image.

‘The script [of ‘Valentine’s Day’] said we were walking into school and Willy takes off his shirt. I said, ‘Whoa, whoa, whoa. Time out. He’s gonna take off his shirt in the middle of school? No, no, no.’ The reason I took off my shirt for ‘New Moon’ is because it’s written in the book that way. And there’s reasons behind it.”

‘Eclipse’ is written that way too! The third vampire installment hits theaters June 30.

-- Matt Donnelly

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