My weight rose to 20 stone after I retired - Ashley Giles

Former England cricketer Ashley Giles has revealed his weight ballooned to about 20 stone (127kg) after he retired.

Giles, 53, played 54 Tests and 62 one-day internationals for England between 1997 and 2006, the highlight being his key role in 2005 when England reclaimed the Ashes from Australia for the first time in 18 years.

Since retiring, Giles has held several roles within the game, both as a coach and administrator. He is currently chief executive of Worcestershire County Cricket Club.

In 2025, Giles told BBC Test Match Special about his struggles with performance anxiety and depression as a player.

Now, in an exclusive broadcast interview with the BBC, he has opened up on his obesity and the stigma attached to it.

"If I look at my journey, my story, after retiring I have sort of been on a rollercoaster with my weight - and I would say for a majority of that time I have been obese," said Giles.

"At times I have struggled - some of that is shame, blame. At the maximum I was 127/128 kilos, so that's heavy.

"I think it's something which creeps up on you over time and it's something which to a degree you normalise - buying bigger clothes, trying a bigger wardrobe and trying to hide the way you look.

"The moment you lay off the extreme of diet and exercise the weight starts piling back on, and with it the fall in confidence."

Giles, who retired from playing 19 years ago, added that cricket fans and others who recognised him in the street would sometimes make insensitive comments.

"I have had it where people say 'ooh you've let yourself go a bit' - there's no shame in some people [who] just say it to your face.

"At times during that period you look at yourself in the mirror and say 'is this me for the rest of my life... being overweight or obese'."

Giles pinpoints moving from being a top-class sportsman, whose diet is managed by nutritionists and coaches, to a desk job as making it harder to keep his weight under control.

"It's partly the nutritionists, the people who put meals in front of you with the right levels of nutrition," said Giles.

"But it's also the fact that in my job I was spending six hours a day on my feet or more, whether that be training, playing, bowling, running - everything we did as professional sportspeople.

"And when that tap is turned off and you have to do a day job, even in a basic sense, that's a hell of a lot of calories that you need to take care of."

Giles believes men often bottle up mental health issues and shy away from talking about them, and he thinks it is the same with obesity.

His experience is that there are many more who struggle to lose weight than those who find it easy to shed the pounds, and he hopes that by speaking out he will start "a conversation" and encourage those like him to talk more openly about their situation and seek help if they need it.

The former spin bowler says he now feels in a better place with his weight and is enjoying the latest stage of his cricketing career.

If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this article, you can seek support via the BBC Action Line.