Lenny Henry's jaw-dropping body transformation after doctor's stark warning

26 October 2023 , 19:00

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Sir Lenny Henry battled with his weight for years before embarking on a dramatic diet and fitness plan (Image: ITV)

British comedic legend Sir Lenny Henry went through a dramatic body transformation after a stark warning from his doctor about his health.

The 65-year-old funnyman had lost his mum Winifred to uncontrolled Type 2 diabetes in 1998, and his physicians told him he too could go the same way if he didn't take control of his diet and fitness. "My mum lost two legs through diabetes and eventually died from it, so I knew I had to lose weight," he said.

"The doctor warned me I was heading the same way." When he started "finding it difficult to get in and out of the car", he knew it was time to take action.

Lenny Henry pictured in 2005 with his sisters Beverley Parker and Kay Hinton opening a care home in Dudley in honour of his late mum Winifred, who died from Type 2 diabetes (MARK THEISINGER)

Sir Lenny, who had split from comedian wife Dawn French in 2010, first started tackling his lifestyle in 2011 when he was cast in Shakespeare's The Comedy of Errors, which meant four gruelling hours of hard, physical rehearsals a day - and he didn't "want to be a ­heffalump running around the stage". To boost his fitness, the actor took up Ashtanga yoga and running, cut out sugar and reduced alcohol to see if that would make a difference. "Dieting is tedious, but I feel better for it," he said.

After the play's run, Lenny kept up his good habits and added Pilates, dance and military exercises to his workout regime. But the following year he noticed his weight climbing again, and in 2014 went on another diet to shed the pounds. " I'm a bit diabetic, so I was put on a very strict diet," he told the Mirror after his successful weight loss. "I've lost between two and a half and three stone. I was big.

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Lenny, here with ex-wife Dawn French in 2008, dieted after his diabetes diagnosis (Getty Images)

Sir Henry on This Morning last week (Ken McKay/ITV/REX/Shutterstock)

"It's lots of greens, lots of juice and lots of walking. Swimming is good. You've got to eat no sugar and drink hardly any alcohol… all the stuff you like. You can't Hobnob your way through the day," he joked.

This time the diet stuck, and as long as he was careful, Lenny was able to maintain his new healthy weight. As he told the Daily Mail in 2015: "It's hard, but like anything, if you put your mind to it, you can do it."

Sir Lenny - who stands at 6'3" - was later cast as a Jamaican plantation slave in the 2018 BBC series The Long Song, and decided he needed to shed some more weight to look the part. As part of his role as Godfrey, the Comic Relief icon went on a strict vegetarian diet to slim down a further three stone. "What's my secret? Well, it's eating broccoli and not much else," he told the Mirror at the time. "I've also been running a lot. It has worked."

Lenny opted to lose three stone for his role as plantation slave Godfrey in 2018's The Long Song (Heyday Television/Carlos Rodriguez)

He said a combination of broccoli and long runs helped him shed the weight (Heyday Television/Carlos Rodriguez)

At the National Television Awards in 2022, where he picked up the Special Recognition Award, fans noted his dramatic weight loss. And he was looking notably slimmer when he took up the role of Sadoc in the 2022 Amazon Prime series Lord of The Rings: The Rings of Power. "I try to work and go to the gym and eat healthy and do what everyone else does but when I'm working and writing I get so consumed by it so I do try," he told the Sun.

Tonight sees Lenny starring in a profile of his life and career in ITV's Lenny Henry: One Of A Kind, which features interviews from his celebrity friends and fans about Henry's enduring success. Trevor McDonald, David Tennant, Whoopi Goldberg, Alesha Dixon, Richard Curtis and Mo Gilligan are among the famous faces paying tribute to the giant of British comedy, who was born in Dudley in 1958.

* Lenny Henry: One Of A Kind airs tonight at 9pm on ITV

Emmeline Saunders