Billy Gardell Opens Up About His Amazing Weight Loss Journey (VIDEO)
Billy Gardell got candid about his weight loss journey during an appearance on ABC‘s Live with Kelly and Mark as the Bob Hearts Abishola star dropped by the talk show.
When Gardell sat down for the interview, Mark Consuelos noted, “Billy, you look great!” That prompted to comedian and actor to say, “Yeah, I went from a young Jackie Gleason to an old Paul Newman.” The comment elicited laughter from both the hosts and the audience.
But Kelly Ripa continued with the topic, prompting that Gardell has been on a health journey for a while. He confirmed as such as he said, “Yeah, like the last three years. I’ve had to make some changes because when Covid hit in the words of Richard Pryor, ‘I went in the house.'”
Gardell went on to mention how he “had a lot of the dangerous” conditions that could cause bigger problems if he caught Covid. “When they made that list of, you know, ‘overweight, Type 2 diabetes, smoker, asthma,’ I’m like ‘check, check, bingo,'” Gardell recalled.
When Consuelos pointed out that it must have been a wake-up call, Gardell confirmed, “I said to my wife, I said, ‘If they just find some medicine where this thing won’t kill us, I’m going to change everything.’ And as soon as they did, I went and got that bariatric surgery, and then I just follow a routine every day and I got free.”
This led to applause from the audience as the footage revealed a side-by-side image of Gardell now alongside an older photo before his weight loss. When Ripa asked about the recovery process from the surgery, Gardell said, “Well, you wake up from the surgery and you’re like, ‘Oh God, what have I done?’ But then as you start to see the progress and you start to see your body change and get healthier, and your blood numbers come down… I’m not on any medicine, my diabetes is gone. It’s all good stuff.”
And now, “I get to annoy my wife for a little longer,” Gardell teased. See Gardell’s full commentary on his journey in the video, above, and don’t miss him in the final season of Bob Hearts Abishola as it airs on CBS this spring.
Bob Hearts Abishola where to stream
