Razor has lost almost 10 stone, dropping from 28 down to 18 1/2. Now, he’s calling for ‘Loose Men’ on ITV and ‘Man’s Hour’ on BBC Radio 4, to give men the same social platforms as women. Razor says men need more media support and better education, plus a place to vent that isn’t the wife. With these channels in place, he says, his life may not have hit rock bottom and millions of others could be saved.
Razor told Loaded: “It all started when I was playing football. I was captain in the dressing room, so if anyone had a problem, the manager would say to me, ‘He's got a problem, go have a word with him’. So I'd chat with people, try and get it out of them. Nine times out of ten they wouldn't open their arm and talk to me. I was sort of the go-between. But if I had a problem, I didn't have a Razor to go and talk to, so everything was sort of kept in. My problems were kept inside.
“You don’t see the same help for men on TV, magazines or the radio as you do for women. Men are not properly educated and provided for. It’s easy for ladies if they've got a problem to speak to another lady. It could be marital problems, money problems, anything. Ladies seem to talk to each other, but often men don’t, because it’s seen as a sign of weakness. We need to put the message out in the media to educate men that talking is not a sign of weakness. Us men all think we’ll be judged, but no-one will judge you. You might think everyone's going to laugh at you for speaking out. They won’t. The media is a tool and we need to use it. Male suicide is the largest cause of death in men under 50 in the UK. Preventing it is about providing a platform for education. If we get the education on TV and radio, we'll help so many men in the future.
“I'm not being chauvinistic, but what about ‘Loose Men?’ I'll host 'Loose Men’ and men will see that if Razor can get through it, any man can get through it. That's the sort of education we need on TV and radio shows. I listen to Talk Sport every day. There should be a radio station too that’s just for men to talk about their problems and ring in. Women have ‘Woman’s Hour’ on BBC Radio 4. I think it'd be even easier on a man to call the radio station than actually live on camera. There’s definitely a need for both radio and TV to help men.
“As a husband and dad, you don't want to put a pressure on your wife and kids. You don't want them to think you’re struggling. They say it's good to talk to your partner, but it can end up in an argument. It's good to talk, but it's not good to argue. Leah and I used to argue all the time. If you have too many argument about your problems, you won't talk about them anymore. As a man, you don't want to put problems onto your wife and your kids and it is difficult sometimes. Thankfully I found my way out, but many men don’t.”
Razor recounts the years he spent climbing the ladder to 28 stone.
He says: “The bigger I got, the lazier I became. I’ve spoken about what I call ‘mad, bad, sad, glad, disease’. That's all the emotions you can have. Food and drink made me happy, so I used to eat and drink just to make myself happy and it spiralled well out of control. Not just my physical health, but mental health as well. And then I felt a bit dizzy and went to see a specialist and it was my heart. I was told I had three months to live. And that was a big kick up the backside. My wife Leah thought of a gastric sleeve. We got on the web and found a company that sorted me out. I ended up having a pacemaker and the gastric sleeve to save my life. I’m 10 stone down now, but I still get the odd critic having a bash at me. People say, ‘Yeah, you've lost 10 stone, but you cheated’. Yeah I cheated. I cheated death. For all the trolls out there, I cheated death. That's all I cheated. And it saved my life. All the trolls can F off. I had no choice.”
At his heaviest, Razor would wake up to two toasted bacon and egg sarnies and start his first fridge raid at 11am.
He says: “Leah would stock up the fridge with nice healthy stuff without me knowing. So I'd look in there and I thought “F that”. So I'd just ring Uber Eats and tell her I was off to the driving range. But I wasn’t. Instead, I'd go to Kentucky or McDonald's. I was secretly eating. I'd go out to work and she'd say, ‘What are you eating’? I'd say ‘I haven't eaten a lot’. I was lying to the one that I love, the person in the world I love the most. If you're lying to them, you're lying to yourself.
“When I was playing, I was on a diet for 30 years. So when I retired, I thought, ‘This is a way to live. I deserve it. I was on a diet for 30 years. I deserve to eat what I want’. But mentally that's not right, because I wasn't looking after myself and I didn't care about my appearance at all. I was just happy to eat and drink.
“Now I’ve lost the weight I take care of my appearance and I don’t have cravings at all. The surgery takes all that away. I used to love steaks and that, but I don't really fancy meat now. I'd rather have a nice bit of fish. I eat lots of fish and potatoes now because they’re easily digestible. Or a bean burger without the bread. I still go to the curry house. I spend 30 quid and eat three quid’s worth. I want to have a mouthful of everything to just get the satisfaction. I can eat what I want. I just can't eat a lot.
“We take the dogs over the paddock and walk a lot now too. Before, I wouldn't go to a restaurant or go shopping unless the car park was right outside. But now I love to walk or pop up the road to the gym and use the pool. I love swimming.
“I could lose more, but I feel comfortable. I've got arthritis in both knees, but I can't feel that now I’m smaller. Now I can get around, so I'm happy. And clothes fit me. The most frustrating thing about being overweight was that I couldn't buy any clothes.
“I didn’t miss football. Being a footballer, it's hard work. People only see the lifestyle and the money, not what players go through. You have train every day. You train to be as fit as you can and it's constantly sleeping, going to bed early and watching what you eat and not resting. It was constantly being told what to do. When you finish a football career, the discipline goes. Suddenly, you haven't got anyone telling you where you've got to be the next day. So basically your own man. You miss the games, but you don't miss the training. I missed being around 30 lads, because with football, every time you go to work you're surrounded by the boys. To find that atmosphere again I had to go down the pub. It was a vicious cycle.
“I'll tell you what I'm addicted to now. I'm addicted to loving my wife. That's what I'm addicted to. I always used to put my friends in front of my wife. Not anymore. I’m addicted to my wife now. She won’t leave me alone.”
Razor says being closed off is a dark road to depression that could be prevented by help from the media.
He says: “Yes, I managed to fight my way through it, but like I said, there’s nothing for men out there at all. That’s why we need ‘Loose Men’. Men need to keep each other on the straight and narrow. When I was overweight, I thought I looked alright. I see pictures of me now and I think I looked disgusting. But at the time, I was closed off and I couldn't understand the problem. I was in such a mentally strange place that appearance didn't even cross my mind.
“Us men need more TV shows. We need more radio shows. We need more magazines. We need more newspaper articles to get the education out there. That way, if you’re drowning, you’re going underwater, you can put your hand up and ask for help. If mentally you know you're not right, you're doing something wrong. Put your hand up and ask for help. If we get the TV shows, radio shows, magazines and education out in the media specifically for men, then in two years time, it'd be the norm for a man to speak out. If I’d had that outlet, I probably wouldn’t have almost died and we’d save thousands of lives.”
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