Billy Gardell is opening up about his weight loss journey and how it actually started with being on Ozempic, though that didn’t last too long.
The former Mike & Molly and Bob Hearts Abishola actor lost over 150 pounds in the last five years with the help of bariatric surgery.
Billy previously revealed that he weighed 370 pounds about a decade ago and he was down to about 205 to 210 pounds in April 2023. That means he lost between 160 and 165 pounds!
Now, Billy is opening up about being on Ozempic before it was considered a weight loss drug. He was in a 2021 ad campaign for the drug when he had Type 2 diabetes. He lost 12 pounds while on it, but stopped taking it after his deal ended.
“I was on Ozempic for a year, and I was their spokesman, but it was for Type 2 diabetes, and they didn’t know it was a weight loss [drug] yet,” he said on the Breaking Bread podcast (via USA Today). “For a very nice paycheck, I stopped doing that and just got the surgery because I wanted everything to change, but had I known it was a weight-loss drug, I probably would’ve [ridden] that out.”
Billy decided to get the surgery after encouragement from his kids.
“I don’t want to survive what I’ve survived, succeed what I’ve succeeded and then not be able to get out of a chair,” Billy said. “For anybody out there struggling, if I can do it, you can do it and don’t let nobody tell you differently. Do whatever it takes.”
Billy opened up a couple years ago about his struggles with eating at the time.
The post Billy Gardell Says He Was Ozempic’s Spokesperson Before It Was a Weight Loss Drug, Explains Why He Stopped appeared first on Just Jared – Celebrity News, Entertainment News & Photos.
