"We do have an obesity epidemic" - Richard Osman opens up about battling eating addiction after his father left his family when he was a child

Richard Osman opened up about his “ever -” food addiction and other topics like mental health, and obesity during his appearance on Elizabeth Day’s How to Fail podcast on April 18, 2024. The TV star commented:

“We do have an obesity epidemic. There’s an absolute epidemic of food addiction out there."

Richard Osman also spoke about his childhood and how his father’s affair pushed him toward food addiction. The 53-year-old TV host and author elaborated on how addiction can affect an individual's mental health.

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Richard Osman discusses how his scarred childhood triggered food addiction

In How to Fail podcast, Richard Osman talked about his father leaving him and his family when he was just nine years old. The former Pointless co-host recounted his dad summoning the entire family and telling them about his ongoing affair. Thereafter, his father left home.

Although Osman traveled from West Sussex to Warwickshire to reconcile with him, the two cut off ties soon after. He described that incident as the start of his love-hate relationship with food.

"We’ve all got human minds and we’re all crazy in slightly different ways. 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," Osman continued.

The TV presenter described addiction as something that helps one run away from their pain. He explained that he was in a serious amount of pain because of his dad leaving him. However, he didn’t want to feel that way and that’s when Richard Osman entered denial state.

“If you start going away from your true north, who it is you actually are, the further you get away the bigger leap you have to make back,” said Osman.

The best-selling author went on to say:

"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 sha- me and all of those things."

In the podcast, Osman also talked about obesity and the contribution of manufacturers and society in facilitating it among people. He commented:

"There’s billions and billions [food items] being made by people combining fat and sugar in the absolute perfect way that doesn’t fill us up and makes us want more."

The TV presenter further explained how manufacturing companies use every trick in the book to appeal to the young generation and stimulate the pleasure centers of the brain to coax them into eating unhealthy food.

"Every single psychologist trick, every single thing that can appeal to every single pleasure centre in our brain is applied to food," Osman added.

Lastly, he predicted that a time will come when people will look at unhealthy food "in the same way they look at cigarettes."

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Richard Osman explains how he consciously controls his food addiction

Richard Osman shared the details of his recovery process and how therapy helped him discover several strategies to tackle his food addiction.

"I’m always either in control or not in control. There’s not a point where I’m like, ‘Oh yeah, I’m just going to chill today, I’ll just have a salad for lunch’. I’m aware that I’m eating or not eating," Osman mentioned.

The Child Genius TV host also revealed that the first person who knew about his food addiction was Jimmy Mulville from the production company, Hat Trick. Jimmy had recommended a therapist named Bruce Lloyd to Osman.

According to Richard Osman, he still consciously wrestles with his food addiction round the clock. The phenomenon is so common that one can't even notice it anymore. He added, "It becomes second nature.”

Finally, the 53-year-old explained that individuals will have to invent strategies to cope with addiction and consciously find ways to live with it.