Johnny Vegas has shared the candid details of his dramatic weight loss, which has seen him shed three stone over the past few months. The comedian, who is now appearing in a celebrity special of The Great British Bake Off for Stand Up to Cancer, explained that his diet overhaul was down to losing his father to cancer during an appearance on This Morning back in September 2019. At the time, the 48-year-old revealed . "If you had a good parent and you miss them," he explained. "Your responsibility then is to hopefully try and be a decent parent to your own children - and be around."
© Photo: ITVJohnny Vegas opened up about the heartbreaking reason which prompted his weight loss
He added: "The big thing is my smoking that I want to stop, but the last time I stopped I piled weight on. So I need to get light enough to exercise… it's taken 15 months of walking past bread, and cheese and everything I love!" Speaking about Macmillan Biggest Coffee Morning, Johnny had nothing but praise for the charity. "I always understood the work that they did but on a personal level when my dad fell ill, terminally ill, as a family it hit us really hard, and we needed someone to come in and help us process what was going on," he said.
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"It was fairly quick… and we went into a tailspin and thank God they [Macmillan] came in. They explained everything," he continued. "The process of what's going to happen, the process of the illness, how you need to communicate with each other as a family… and I was grateful for their help in getting Dad into a hospice and explaining to my mum that keeping him at home necessarily the best option."
Johnny, real name Michael Joseph Pennington, previously weighed 18 stone when he was at his heaviest, and over the past few months he has been working hard to maintain his new diet. In May, the TV star confirmed his split from wife of seven years Maia Dunphy. "We have never played out our relationship publicly, so we don't feel it's too much to ask for privacy now," they said in a joint statement. "We also ask people to be mindful that there are two children involved, and their welfare is our main concern now." The former couple are proud parents to two-year-old son Tom Laurence. The British comedian also has a son called Michael from a previous relationship.
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