Billy Gardell Has Been Open About His Weight Loss, but Fans Are Still Surprised

Fans of Bob Hearts Abishola have watched the main character go on a journey between Season 1 and Season 3. The show follows a guy, Bob, played by Billy Gardell, who falls in love with his Nigerian nurse Abishola, played by Folake Olowofoyeku.

The premise of the show has Bob meeting his nurse Abishola after a mild heart attack. The two form a connection and Bob works to get healthier with the help of Abishola.

But even though working on health is a featured storyline, fans are still surprised to see Billy, who has experienced some weight loss too over the past three seasons.

Billy has been pretty open about his feelings around his health and how he feels his weight plays into that. We know that entertainment and television aren’t particularly kind to people in larger bodies. And that’s true for guys like Billy, too.

In an interview with East Valley Tribune, Billy spoke about a controversy that stemmed from when he starred on Mike & Molly, which also starred Melissa McCarthy.

The show centered on a romance between Mike, played by Billy, who was an overweight police officer, and Molly, a schoolteacher, who met at an overeaters anonymous meeting.

During the show’s first season, a Marie Claire columnist posted an article titled “Should Fatties Get a Room? (Even on TV)” and while many were upset at the shaming that happened, Billy tried to just let it slide.

“I grew up fat,” he said in a 2011 interview after that Marie Claire article went live. “You think I’ve never heard fat jokes before? I learned a long time ago about life that, hey, sometimes some people just ain’t going to like your face. That’s their thing.”

Billy has been open about the struggles he had with trying to change some of his eating habits. Working with a trainer on fitness goals and a nutritionist to help tailor a meal plan that will work with him, Billy admits losing weight is still a struggle, sharing that his weight was once at 350 pounds.

“There are some days when I feel like rolling around in a pizza," he said. "I'm trying to keep the good days outnumbering the bad ones."

Now, years later and on the third season of his new sitcom show, Billy seems to have had some success in whatever he’s trying to do to lose weight. It might be that it’s a part of his show’s storyline (which wasn’t the same for Mike & Molly), or he could have just found what works with him.

So, how much weight has he lost? According to WealthyPersons, Billy currently weighs 92 kilograms, which is approximately 202 pounds. If he is down from 350 pounds, that’s an impressive 150-pound weight loss.

While Billy hasn’t said what his weight loss goals are, nor how much weight he has lost, fans have noticed that he looks different, even between Season 1 and Season 3 of Bob Hearts Abishola.

Watch Bob Hearts Abishola Mondays at 8:30 p.m. EST on CBS, and you can stream the series on Paramount Plus.