Image Credit: CBS
Billy Gardell has been focused on maintaining a healthy lifestyle — and the results show! The 54-year-old actor revealed in 2023 that he lost over 150 pounds in three years, after weighing over 370 pounds ten years ago. Billy gets to show off his slimmed-down look on his CBS sitcom Bob Hearts Abishola, which returns for its fifth and final season of on Monday, February 12. After previously struggling with his weight, Billy has made such a turnaround and is truly healthier than ever — so much so that he no longer has Type 2 diabetes!
Keep reading to learn all about Billy’s weight loss journey.
How Much Weight Did Billy Gardell Lose?
Billy lost 150 pounds between 2020 and 2023. At the time of his Entertainment Tonight interview that was published in April 2023, Billy said that he weighed between 205 and 210 pounds. The former Mike & Molly star said that he previously weighed 370 pounds a decade ago. It’s unclear if Billy’s weight has changed since the ET interview.
Billy Gardell in 2019 (Photo: Harmony Gerber/Getty Images)
“(I’m) walking around pretty healthy these days,” Billy said in the interview. “Of course, there’s always people online that, you know, when I was heavy, they were like ‘You’re too heavy!’ And now it’s like, ‘Are you sick?’ Can I just walk the earth, please?!”
How Did Billy Gardell Lose Weight?
Billy told ET that in 2022, he was encouraged to get bariatric weight loss surgery to minimize being at risk to COVID-19. Billy also said that he lost weight by eating better. He revealed at the time of the interview that his resting heart rate had changed from 113 to 68 since he lost weight, and he was no longer suffering from Type 2 diabetes. However, Billy did admit at the time that he was still smoking cigarettes.
What Has Billy Gardell Said About His Weight Loss?
In his ET interview, Billy talked about how glad he was that he resorted to a healthier lifestyle. “I think you’ve got to find peace with yourself and, at some point, look in the mirror and go, ‘You know, it’s probably time to take care of you.’ And I didn’t get that note early on,” he said. “But I’m a big believer that when you get it, you get it. It doesn’t matter what it is, as long as you get it.”
Billy Gardell in ‘Bob Hearts Abishola’ (Photo: CBS)
The My Name Is Earl star also revealed that his biggest motivator to lose weight was his son William III, 20, whom he shares with wife Patty Knight. “When you hit 50, you start doing that dad math, like, ‘If I can live 25 more years, and he’ll be 40,’ … You know what I mean? So I want to be here for him,” Billy explained. “I’ve been an example in a lot of good ways for my child, but I feel like I wasn’t a good example of health for him. And so I want him to see that. It doesn’t matter what age you are, if you are willing to do something a day at a time, you can change anything.”
Also in the ET interview, Billy said that the Bob Hearts Abishola producers were supportive of his physical transformation, even though that meant they had to make some changes to his character, Bob Wheeler, who also struggles with his weight and even has a heart attack in the show.
Billy said, “That was one of the gifts of the show was to be able to, you know, talk to our producers and say, ‘This is what I want to do’ and they were incredibly supportive and they just gave little nods to it as it was happening. The true people that were tortured here was my wardrobe guy and my makeup people because I kept getting smaller and they kept having to go buy shirts, tape them up, you know. At one point we were taping my neck because my skin hadn’t adjusted yet and stuff, so God bless them. They got me through it. They made me look good all the way through. And it was a nice progression to have the audience watch in real time.”
