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<\/p>\nSir Lenny Henry has undergone an impressive body transformation over the past decade after his doctors issued him a stark warning about his health.<\/p>\n
The comedian, 65, who starred in ITV’s\u00a0Henry: One Of A Kind on Wednesday night – lost his mum Winifred to uncontrolled Type 2 diabetes in 1998 and was told the same could happen to him without action.<\/p>\n
Lenny previously spoke about how a defining moment of knowing he needed to change was when he started finding it difficult to get out of the car.<\/p>\n
The transformation began in 2011 when he was cast in Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors which had a gruelling schedule and forced him to boost his fitness.<\/p>\n
Making small changes he took up Ashtanga yoga and running, cut out sugar and reduced alcohol as he complained that dieting was ‘tedious’.<\/p>\n
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Change: Sir Lenny Henry has undergone an impressive body transformation over the past decade after his doctors issued him a stark warning about his health (left in Oct 2023 right in 2010)<\/p>\n
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Slim: He has previously told how a defining moment of knowing he needed to change was when he started finding it difficult to get out of the car (seen Oct 2023)<\/p>\n
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Tough: The comedian, 65, lost his mum Winifred to uncontrolled Type 2 diabetes in 1998 and was told the same could happen to him without action<\/p>\n
He told The Mirror of his family struggles: ‘My mum lost two legs through diabetes and eventually died from it, so I knew I had to lose weight\u00a0The doctor warned me I was heading the same way.’\u00a0<\/p>\n
After the play Lenny continued with his fitness and even added Pilates, dance and military exercises to his workout regime.\u00a0<\/p>\n
However in the few years that followed his weight began to fluctuate again and in 2014 was put on a ‘very strict diet’ which led him to loose three stone.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He said afterwards: ‘I’m a bit diabetic so\u00a0I was put on a very strict diet. I’ve lost between two and a half and three stone. I was big.<\/span><\/p>\n ‘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\u2026 all the stuff you like. You can’t Hobnob your way through the day.’<\/span><\/p>\n After sticking to the diet and keeping the weight off he told The Daily Mail in 2015: ‘It’s hard, but like anything, if you put your mind to it, you can do it.’\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The next part of his transformation came in 2018 when he was cast as a\u00a0Jamaican plantation slave in the BBC series The Long Song.<\/span><\/p>\n He then went on a strict vegetarian diet to slim down a further three stone and joked he was only eating broccoli\u00a0and was doing plenty of runs.<\/p>\n Motivation: The transformation began in 2011 when he was cast in Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors (pictured) which had a gruelling schedule and forced him to boost his fitness<\/p>\n Journey: However in the few years that followed his weight began to fluctuate again and in 2014 was put on a ‘very strict diet’ which led him to loose three stone<\/p>\n Wow!\u00a0After sticking to the diet and keeping the weight off he told The Daily Mail in 2015: ‘It’s hard, but like anything, if you put your mind to it, you can do it’ (seen in 2015)<\/p>\n Then in 2022 he looked noticeably thinner again when he picked up his\u00a0National Television Awards Special Recognition gong.<\/p>\n 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n He told The Sun last year: ‘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.’<\/p>\n It comes after\u00a0Sir Lenny looked slimmer than ever as he joined <\/span>Alison Hammond and <\/span>Dermot O’Leary\u00a0on Wednesday’s This Morning.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Joining the sofa to discuss his upcoming new drama, he looked smart in a slim-fitting wool jacket.<\/span><\/p>\n He was joined by actresses Rochelle Neil and Yasmin Belo, who star in his upcoming historical drama television series, Three Little Birds.\u00a0<\/p>\n Sir Lenny revealed his late mother Winifred was one of the inspirations which led him to pen new ITV drama Three Little Birds.<\/p>\n The comedian has written the series which follows the story two sisters and their friend emigrating from Jamaica to the UK and arriving as part of the Windrush generation in 1957 – which later became a scandal.<\/p>\n Those who made the trip, including Lenny’s mother who sadly passed away in 1998, in a bid to help rebuild Britain following WWII\u00a0were years later detained.\u00a0<\/p>\n They were denied legal rights and threatened with deportation, despite having made the UK their home for decades, in a scandal the star described as ‘appalling’.\u00a0<\/p>\n Lenny said: ‘We’re in a situation where one’s nationality and Caribbeanness is being weaponised to send people back to their home, even though they’ve lived here and have become British.\u00a0<\/p>\n Adding: ‘The Windrush scandal has been appalling and it’s hurt quite a lot of people’.<\/p>\n Role:\u00a0The next part of his transformation came in 2018 when he was cast as a Jamaican plantation slave in the BBC series The Long Song (pictured)\u00a0<\/p>\n Looking good:\u00a0Then in 2022 he looked noticeably thinner again when he picked up his National Television Awards Special Recognition gong<\/p>\n Effort: He said last year: ‘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’<\/p>\n Lenny, who was mentored writing the series by Dr Who scribe Russell T Davies, said that the show will still be relatable for everyone.<\/p>\n Saying: ‘Whoever you are, wherever you’re from, you can relate to moving from one place to another place for survival.<\/p>\n ‘It\u2019s not just a story about five Jamaicans in a room in Dudley. It’s all our stories, because we were here, we’ve been here and we’re still here’.\u00a0<\/p>\n The series six-part series, which takes it’s name from the famous Bob Marley song, stars newcomers Rochelle Neil, Rochelle Neil as well as formwer EastEnders actress Saffron Coomber, and Dr Who’s Arthur Darvill.\u00a0<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/10\/27\/00\/77058677-12678161-image-m-95_1698362937919.jpg\")
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