Former Pointless star Richard Osman has opened up about his lifelong addiction after facing a family heartbreak.
The 53-year-old BBC favourite admitted he has struggled with over-eating since he was nine years old. The dad-of-two explained that turning to food was one way he attempted to cope with heartache as a child.
He explained that his food addiction first began when his father left the family home after having an affair. Richard said that it was the “drum beat” of his life and that the issue has been “ever present” in his adulthood.
READ MORE: BBC star Miranda Hart mystery illness hint as she addresses weight gain
READ MORE:Click for more brilliant Daily Star showbiz stories
Speaking on Elizabeth Day’s podcast How To Fail back in April, the Pointless star revealed: “It’s so ridiculous, this food stuff. Alcoholics will tell you the same.
(Image: PA)
“Like it’s absurd that there’s a bottle of vodka in front of you or there’s a packet of crisps in front of you and it’s more powerful than you. It makes no sense. That’s my version of it since I was probably nine years old.
“It’s been absolutely ever-present in my life – weight, food, where I am in relation to it, where I am in relation to happiness because of it, hiding it. All of that stuff, it’s been absolutely like the drum beat of my life.
“By and large, addiction is running away from your pain so anything that can stop you thinking or numb you, or anything like that, is incredibly useful to you.”
(Image: Dave Benett/Getty Images for Fitzdares)
He went on: “As if you start thinking, you think, ‘Yeah, but hold on, maybe I do miss him’. Then you go, ‘Hold on, there’s some food in the fridge, I’ll have that’.
“Nine-year-old me and a different version of me sort of converged at the age of nine and the bit of me that converged was fuelled by food and fuelled by secrecy and fuelled by shame and all of those things. Addiction is shame.
“You’ll over-eat, you’ll feel shame about that. Shame makes you over-eat. It’s a spiral. So you have to learn to absolutely just cut it off at the source, and if you do feel shame, just to go, ‘That’s alright’.”
(Image: Getty Images)
The brainiac added: “Because shame leads to more shame. I have to accept that it’s not embarrassing. I don’t have any personal shame anymore.”
Want all the biggest Showbiz and TV news straight to your inbox? Sign up for our free Daily Star Showbiz newsletter.
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
