Mike and Molly star Billy Gardell reveals 'life-saving' weight loss surgery

Mike and Molly actor Billy Gardell has opened up about his "life-saving" weight loss.

The actor, aged 56, lost 77kg (170 pounds) after having gastric bypass surgery in July 2021.

The life-changing decision came after he hit more than 170kg just before 2020, he tells People magazine.

Then, the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the world, and he developed type 2 diabetes, with doctors warning him his life was at risk.

"When the first wave hit, and they punched up that list of high-risk conditions, I had all of them," Gardell told the outlet.

"[I was] overweight, [had] sleep apnoea, smoker, type 2 diabetes, asthma ... It was really the perfect storm.

"Between my blood numbers not coming back good, my blood pressure going up, type 2 diabetes and COVID, it was enough stuff to scare me to say, 'Come hell or high water, I've got to make a change.'"

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He said the extra weight made it "hurt to stand up" and made it difficult for him to move. 

Since undergoing the bypass surgery, Gardell has lost more than the initial 77kg, with his weight now fluctuating between 95kg and 97kg.

He said the surgery alone isn't what got him to where he is today.

"It really came down to a shift in everything I think about food," he said.

"Food is fuel. It's not reward, it's not soothing, it's not medication. I had to get beyond my emotional relationship with food."

The actor's health issues have resolved after his weight loss, too.

"My diabetes is gone," he said.

"I feel strong. I have energy. Losing weight saved my life."

He expressed that he had tried to lose weight before, and would often drop dozens of kilograms before getting stuck at around the same weight.

"Every year I'd say I'd start on Monday. Or the first of the month. Or New Year's Eve," he said.

"That was always my routine."

He credited his "dream team", surgeon Dr. Philippe Quilici and nutritionist Teri Hlubik, for helping to make his weight loss possible.

"Every change you want to make in your life starts between your ears," he says.

"You have to learn to love yourself ... you have to look at why you react the way you do to food and heal that, and then love yourself enough to do something good for yourself."

Gardell started in the entertainment industry with stand-up, until he landed a role in Mike and Molly in 2010, alongside Melissa McCarthy.

The hit series followed the lives of a couple who fell in love after meeting at an Overeaters Anonymous meeting.

It ran for six seasons.

After his weight loss, he found success in Bob Hearts Abishola, a comedy series about a man who falls in love with his nurse while recovering from a heart attack.

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