Former Pointless presenter Richard Osman says he developed a food addiction shortly after his father David left his family, explaining his eating was something he could ‘control’
Richard Osman sought professional help for a health struggle that he says made him “feel like a freak”. The former Pointless presenter says he began struggling with a food addiction when he was just nine years old when his father David left home.
Richard, 55, says he would find himself “overeating” as a way to “control my life”. He describes the problem as “secret” and “shameful” but says he was of a generation where he would have tried to “buck up” and deal with it if he “just felt discontent”.
However, Richard admits he found it a “huge problem” and found he couldn’t do anything about it. Speaking on the How Do You Cope? podcast with John Robins, Richard said: “It was secret, it was very, very shameful.
“All of the other shames about who I am were channelled through that. I understood that something was up and food was the thing that showed me something was up.
“I think I’m of a generation and background where I wouldn’t have gone to therapy unless I had a presenting issue. I think if I just felt discontented with the world I wouldn’t have gone to therapy, I’d have told myself to buck up or something stupid like that.
“I think the fact I had this very bizarre relationship with food, and I couldn’t do anything about it, was so weird that I had to go and see someone just to deal with that particular issue.”
Richard went on to say the food addiction was “the last” thing his therapist was his food addiction, instead wanting to find out why it was his “coping mechanism”. The former House of Games presenter feared that people would think he was “ridiculous” for his struggles.
He said: “The addiction itself becomes the shame and with that, you cannot get out of that loop. The addiction feeds itself, it’s like a flame that constantly feeds other flames and so long as you’re in that bit of an addiction, it’s impossible to get out of it.
“It’s not dealing with alcohol, it’s not dealing with food, it’s dealing with shame, that you’re not good enough, or that you’re ridiculous, or that if people only knew what you did in secret they would shun you.”
When considering how he would help someone in the throes of a food addiction, Richard said: “You have to just say, ‘You feel terrible about yourself. You feel you’re awful. You’re a terrible fraud. If people really knew you, it’s you feel like a freak’. And that’s the bit you have to deal with because you’re not a freak.”
Richard concluded that he felt his addiction was a “pretty rational response” to his childhood but opted to talk through his struggles with a therapist.
The star, whose brother is Suede bassist Mat Osman, started his career off-screen before joining Pointless with Alexander Armstrong in 2009.
As well as his TV work, he has since become a best-selling author with The Thursday Murder Club series. The first book was turned into a film by Netflix last year.
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