Johnny Vegas Shares Images Of Dramatic Weight Loss And New Healthy Lifestyle

Comedian Jonny Vegas has been a favourite of the British public for well over 15 years now after shooting to fame on comedy quiz Shooting Stars.

He's run the gamut from playing a dishevelled drunk in his stand up to becoming a serious actor and a sitcom mainstay, with constant questions about how much of his act was real and how much was for show.

This is a man who once fronted a show called 18 Stone of Idiot but also appears regularly on QI, after all.

One of the constants, however, has been Vegas' battle with alcohol and his battle with his weight. Now, it seems like he has turned a corner in that regard, if his most recent posts on social media are to be believed.

"It's a far cry from a Thatto Heath fry up....ooh you've changed Vegas," posted the St Helens-born comedian on his Twitter account, accompanied by a photo of his new, healthy breakfast of veggies, avocado and eggs.

"Apologies fellow tweeters, busy of late and treating our chats like a bacon butty, sadly an all too rare a treat of late x" he added.

Vegas - real name Michael Pennington - was also troubled by hypochondria and stage fright, which contributed to the neglect towards his own body.

"When Johnny did away with the hypochondria, it was suddenly like I had no fear of death. There was a real carelessness towards my wellbeing," he wrote in his autobiography.

"Johnny had a theory that if you counted how much you were drinking, you weren't enjoying it.

"He never kept track but he could go on drinking for hours. I was ill with nerves before going on.

"As Michael Pennington I'd build up during the day, hoping to coax Johnny out of his box."

A theme of his autobiography is the battle between Johnny, his stage persona, and Michael and his private life.

Vegas lost five stone in 2005 but later put it back on.

"Johnny was a reaction to so many things, but I had a very loving upbringing, and a very good relationship with my parents, and my son didn't deserve Johnny as a dad," said Vegas.

"I didn't want my son one day thinking that he'd come second-best to someone who had chased an early grave and notoriety."

He later developed gout, an illness associated with obesity, while filming his hit show Benidorm. However, with these latest social media posts, it seems like he's getting healthier and healthier.

Above all he's still up for his first love, too. Not pints of Guinness or bacon butties, but rugby league: Vegas spend most of last night tweeting about his beloved Saints' victory over fierce rivals Wigan in the Super League.