In an emotional and candid revelation, Richard Osman has shared the deep-rooted struggle he faced with food addiction, a battle that began at the tender age of nine. Osman, the beloved TV presenter and author, recently discussed the painful origins of his addiction on John Robins’ How Do You Cope? podcast, explaining how his father’s sudden departure from the family set the stage for a lifelong struggle.
The traumatic event occurred when Osman’s father, David Osman, confessed to an affair before abandoning his wife and children. The young Richard found himself in a whirlwind of emotional turmoil as his father relocated to another part of the country, leaving behind a broken family. Osman recalled: “It’s difficult to put yourself back in your nine-year-old brain… You know family, and you know certainty, and that’s ripped from you. That would be trauma for sure.”
Richard Osman says his ‘shameful and bizarre’ battle with food addiction began when his father walked out on the family
During this period, Osman turned to food as a way to cope, a habit that would spiral into a food addiction. “Food was something I could control. From that moment on, it was a huge problem for me. It was secret, it was shameful,” he admitted. The pain he had buried from the betrayal slowly manifested in his relationship with food—a coping mechanism that would shape his life for decades.
As Osman grew older, he put up a facade of a happy, secure individual. “I was able to subsume it, put it to the back of my brain and not deal with it,” he said. But by his late twenties and early thirties, Osman’s carefully constructed persona began to collapse, forcing him to confront the emotions he’d suppressed for so long. “I ran out of road with this new person I’d created,” he revealed. “The person who was able to hide from pain… that was gone, and I had to deal with it.”
Osman (left) as a child with his older Matt (right), a bass guitarist and founding member of the indie band Suede
The presenter and author discussed his issues around food during the latest instalment of John Robins’ How Do You Cope? podcast
It wasn’t until Osman reached his thirties that he sought help for his addiction, turning to therapy. He confessed that in his generation, therapy was often reserved for more visible issues: “You wouldn’t have gone unless you had a presenting issue.” Food addiction, in his case, was the red flag. “It was the last thing the therapist was interested in, because he knew it was a symptom of something deeper.”
Despite the embarrassment he feels when discussing his addiction, Osman is now using his story to help others struggling with the same issue. “Food addiction has been a dominant theme in my life,” he said. “I talk about it because there are people listening who feel the same way… If you can talk to that shame, that’s the only way you can deal with food addiction over a lifetime.”
This heartfelt admission from Osman sheds light on a painful journey that many might be going through in silence. It also offers a hopeful message: that confronting shame and seeking help can lead to healing.
