The picture of a man who makes his living by making other people laugh sitting by himself during a pandemic, eating roast potatoes, and attempting to feel less empty has a subtly depressing quality. When discussing his weight gain in recent years, Matt Lucas has essentially said that, though he has never put it quite like that. For that, he is too self-deprecating. Too humorous. However, the serious story that lies beneath the jokes has been sitting there for years, mostly unexplored.
Years before the Bake Off brought new attention to his body, Lucas first discussed the emotional causes of his weight gain in a 2017 interview with The Sunday Times. Ten months after their divorce, in October 2009, his ex-partner Kevin McGee committed suicide. It was the kind of loss that completely upends a person. To his credit, Lucas refrained from reaching for drugs or alcohol. Rather, he began to eat a lot and, in his own words, divert himself wherever he could. Different people experience grief in different ways, and for Lucas, food became a way to break the silence.
When you hear him discuss that time period, you are struck by how honest and logical he is about something that a lot of people would prefer not to acknowledge. He didn’t eat for enjoyment. He was using food as a coping mechanism. Even though the physical outcome appears to be the same from the outside, there is a significant difference between the two. By the time he began making more frequent appearances on mainstream television, the public’s perception of him as a happy, gregarious, humorous Matt Lucas had incorporated his weight. Few people might have been thinking much more deeply than that.
Lockdown followed, and the burden increased even more. He has talked about becoming more and more sedentary, going for extended periods of time without going out or interacting with people, and relying heavily on food once more. Millions of people emerged from 2020 and 2021 with a few extra kilograms and a complex relationship with their own habits, making that particular confession almost universally recognizable. It was more severe for Lucas. He had never truly dealt with the initial grief physically, and the pandemic provided him with no incentive to begin.
In the end, fear was what changed. At the age of 52, his father passed away from a heart attack. At 56, his grandfather passed away. Lucas appears to have performed the uncomfortable math while staring down his own fifties and concluded he did not like where the numbers were pointing. He began walking—long walks by the canal close to his house, sometimes by himself, sometimes with a friend—and progressively restored some sort of exercise regimen. This time, it appears that his roommate Jamie Barnard, who also serves as a sort of unofficial personal trainer, made the difference by emphasizing not only physical fitness but also the psychological advantages of exercise.
The change was apparent by the time he left The Great British Bake Off in 2023. At an investiture ceremony at Windsor Castle earlier this year, where the Prince of Wales awarded him an OBE for his contributions to drama, he looked very different from the man that spectators had seen walking around that white tent a few years prior. He claimed to have shed about 42 kg, putting his weight somewhere between 68 and 69 kg. He added that he still finds a belly that surprises him when he looks down, with the kind of candor you don’t often hear from public figures. It appears that the body updates more quickly than the mind.
He has also discussed the possibility of surgery to treat loose skin, which is another topic that is seldom discussed openly when talking about significant weight loss. It’s not a glamorous detail, but it’s a real one, and it says something about Lucas’s current situation: he’s navigating the messy, ongoing reality of a body that has endured a lot rather than acting out a redemption arc for the public.
It is difficult not to be quietly impressed by Lucas’s handling of everything—not by creating a wellness brand around it, not by giving credit to a specific diet or supplement, but just by being open and honest. There were painful reasons why the weight came on. It took more than just counting calories to lose it; you had to face those causes. This distinction is more important than it is often recognized.
FAQs
1. Why did Matt Lucas gain weight?
He turned to overeating to cope with grief after Kevin McGee’s death.
2. How much weight did Matt Lucas lose?
He lost approximately 42 kilograms, dropping to around 68–69 kilos.
3. What motivated Matt Lucas to finally lose weight?
Fear of early death, mirroring his father’s fatal heart attack at 52.
4. How did Matt Lucas lose the weight?
Through canal walks, lifestyle changes, and guidance from housemate Jamie Barnard.
5. Is Matt Lucas considering surgery after his weight loss?
Yes, he has mentioned possible surgery to address excess loose skin.
