The Script star Danny O’Donoghue has said his mental health really suffered with the closure of gyms during lockdown and he tipped the scales at more than 100kg.
The Irish musician, 40, said he was drinking too much and eating unhealthily but has managed to lose the weight with martial arts.
He told BBC Breakfast: “If I’m being honest, I struggled a little bit second time around.
“I was drinking too much, had Deliveroo and Just Eat on speed dial.
“I put on a lot of weight, I was up to about 101kg.”
However, he says he has now shed the pounds through physical activity, adding: “I’ve dropped down. I’ve been boxing for a number of years, but then I started doing Muay Thai and it’s been amazing.
“So I do it about an hour a day and just drops the weight.
“There are men and females in the sport, which are incredible, but for me as a man I find it really empowering to go down to smash pads and just get all the anxiety out and then to feel I’m strong enough to say that I’m weak.
“It’s a really strange thing, because I felt like when the gyms closed that’s really when my mental health started to go down.”
The musician said he is now excited to get back out on the road and perform some of the band’s biggest songs, as they release a greatest hits album.
He said: “You’re not going to find another band who’s more excited about doing a greatest hits than The Script.
“Most people kind of cough their way through the fact that they’re doing it, but I just can’t think of anything better than going back to a festival or an arena and singing these songs.”