‘Bob Hearts Abishola’s Billy Gardell Tells ‘Live’ About His Bariatric Surgery and 170 Lb Weight Loss: “I Went From A Young Jackie Gleason To An Old Paul Newman”

Billy Gardell opened up about his weight loss journey on this morning’s Live with Kelly and Mark.

Co-hosts Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos welcomed the Bob Hearts Abishola star to their eponymous morning show, where Consuelos told Gardell that he “look[s] great.”

Gardell quipped, “Yeah, I went from a young Jackie Gleason to to an old Paul Newman.”

After Ripa asked whether he was “on a health journey for a while,” he confirmed, noting that it’s been “the last three years.”

“I had to make some changes because when COVID hit, in the words of Richard Pryor, ‘I went in the House,'” he continued.

He explained that he “had a lot of the dangerous” high-risk conditions, telling Live, “When they made that list of, you know, ‘overweight, Type 2 diabetes, smoker, asthma,’ I’m like check, check, bingo.”

After Consuelos deemed it a “wake-up call,” Gardell added, “I said to my wife, I said, ‘If they just find some medicine where this thing won’t kill us, I’m going to change everything.'”

“And as soon as they did, I went and got that bariatric surgery, and then I just follow a routine everyday and I got free. I got free,” he continued.

While Gardell didn’t disclose exactly how much weight he lost on Live, a Feb. 2024 People story revealed that since his operation, he has lost 170 pounds.

Ripa asked, “So was that hard to recover from?”

Gardell replied, “Well, you wake up from the surgery and you’re like, ‘Oh God, what have I done?’ But then as you start to see the progress and you start to see your body change and get healthier, and your blood numbers come down… I’m not on any medicine, my diabetes is gone. It’s all good stuff.”

After Ripa told him “that’s life-changing,” Gardell teased, “Now, I get to annoy my wife for a little longer.”

As for whether he still has any “guilty pleasures,” he said that “the Hulk is still in there.”

“I got to keep him at bay, you know what I mean?” he added. “I’m constantly, like, a hostage negotiator between my brain and my stomach. Because my brain’s like, ‘You can’t eat that… you’re full.’ And my stomach’s like, ‘That’s never stopped us before.’ So I have to balance it, but I work on it everyday, man, and I’m just so grateful… It’s nice to not have to take a deep breath before I tie my shoes anymore. So that’s a good thing, you know.”

The actor also talked about filming the fifth and final season of his CBS sitcom. Consuelos praised Gardell and Nigerian actress Folake Olowofoyeku‘s work, telling the actor that he “love[s] how the show intertwines these two cultures.” Gardell agreed, saying that “it’s beautiful” and that he “always look[s] for projects that express love wins, no matter what,” referring to both Mike & Molly and Bob Hearts Abishola.

He also highlighted a particularly touching “beauty” of the show, noting that “it’s nice to show immigrants in a positive light.”

“There are positive immigration stories,” he added. “And I know we’re all trying to figure out how to do that the right way, and there’s a good there, too. We were all immigrants at once.”

Live with Kelly and Mark airs on weekdays. Check out their website for your local listings.