ET was on the set of 'Bob Hearts Abishola' for the show's May 22 season finale.
Billy Gardell is healthier than ever.
Since speaking with ET last September, the Bob Hearts Abishola star has stayed the course on his weight-loss journey, dropping more than 150 pounds since the start of the pandemic.
"I float between 205 [pounds] and 210 [pounds]," Gardell told ET's Kevin Frazier during a recent chat on the set of his hit CBS sitcom. "Self-care is important, and I think I finally got there."
In 2022, Gardell was encouraged to undergo bariatric weight loss in an effort to minimize his COVID risk, and has since worked on adopting a healthier relationship with food. The 53-year-old actor weighed over 370 pounds nearly a decade ago.
"I think you 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."
Gardell said his resting heart rate has dropped from 113 to 68 since reaching his current weight, and that he no longer suffers from Type 2 diabetes.
"Walking around pretty healthy these days," he said. "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?!"
He has, however, held on to one vice along the way.
"I'm still smoking cigarettes," Gardell admitted. "But I'm working on that one. A buddy of mine told me, 'Knock them down in the order they're killing you.'"
For the Mike & Molly alum, setting a strong example for his son was the biggest motivating factor in taking care of his body.
"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," he said. "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."
While Gardell said it's been a "real gift" to be able to shop at stores outside the Big & Tall market, he does have "a few critiques about being skinny."
"The ankles are too tight," he joked about the new pants in his wardrobe. "I don't want to do yoga to get out of my pants. That's where I miss my fat boy pants, because you could drop them and step out like a fireman."
Bob Hearts Abishola viewers have been along with Gardell for the ride. When the show premiered in 2019, Gardell's character meets his future wife, a cardiac nurse (Folake Olowofoyeku), in the hospital while recovering from a heart attack.
"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," Gardell said of his physical transformation.
"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," he continued. "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."
Looking ahead to the future of the show, which was recently renewed for a fifth season, Gardell marveled at its "amazing run" so far.
"That's like catching a unicorn," he said of the series' longevity. "I'm very, very grateful that we've been able to do this with the show. We found a nice audience, we keep getting a little bigger and bigger each year. I think we're putting out a good message and I think people adhere to that."
Bob Hearts Abishola airs Mondays at 8:30 p.m. on CBS, with the season four finale slated for May 22.
RELATED CONTENT:
