Reverend Coles Drops 15% Weight with Fat Jabs

Reverend Richard has revealed he has lost 15 per cent of his body weight since he started using jabs.

The former Communard star, 64, told how he noticed himself getting a 'tad plump' since he stopped going for his daily walks after the death of his dog.

He has now started taking Mounjaro and has been very pleased with his results. 

Speaking to The Mirror, he said: 'I was getting fat. But I'm on the fat jabs now and that's been really helpful. It's so good not having to go to the gym. I think I've lost 15 per cent of my body weight. 

'I was getting older bedcause I like food and I like wine.. go figure!'

His weight loss jabs were a gift to himself for his 63rd birthday in March last year but this year he was hoping to get a new dog.

However, he has faced some opposition from his partner Dickie Cant, 62, who he met on a dating app in 2022.  

'Coming off the Mounjaro and getting a dog is my aim. Although Dickie vetoed getting a corgi, and in fact would rather a cat.' 

Richard previously revealed he needs hearing aids after his wild Eighties pop career had a damaging effect on his ears. 

He told The Times that he had only started taking his ear issues seriously when his tinnitus became overwhelming despite significant warning signs, including irritated friends telling him to turn the TV down.

'The audiologist sat me in a soundproofed booth, gave me headphones and instructed me to listen for tones at various pitches,' he said. 

'The graph displayed a drop steeper than 's share price in my response to high frequencies — the first casualty of the kind of damage too much loud sound can cause.'

He was then given two tiny hearing aids, which offer a variety of settings including adjustable volume and the ability to tune into conversation or background noise depending on the occasion.

Richard realised just how good the gadgets were when he attended the  Philharmonic Orchestra and Festival Chorus in Walton's Belshazzar's Feast after years of criticising the playing ability of musical performers.

He wrote: 'I wondered if hearing aids would offer only slight improvement rather than life-transforming change, but then I went to a concert.

'It was revelatory — not only a fine performance, but the sound in the hall was crisp, lively, full of attack and sparkle. I have noticed my piano playing has improved, now I can hear more of it, and my friends say my speech has improved as well.'

Not all his problems have disappeared, however. Richard explained that isolating voices in a busy room remains tricky, making trips to packed restaurants a challenge.

Thankfully, the former pop star has found a solution - taking friends to unpopular eateries at off-peak times so the place is practically empty.

Richard was a member of hit British band Bronski Beat from 1983 until he formed the Communards with Jimmy Somerville in 1985.

The duo released music for just three years but in that time they managed to land 1986's top-selling single, a version of Don't Leave Me This Way. 

The writer, who kickstarted his career in the church in the Nineties, holds his pop career and frequent visits to loud nightclubs responsible for his hearing problems in later life. 

Indeed, he was issued a warning to take his ears seriously more than 40 years ago by Beatles producer George Martin, who said it was the one piece of advice he wished he had been given when he was first starting out in the industry.

The words of wisdom had disappointed Richard at the time but, after years of hearing issues and an eventual need for hearing aids, he said he would now pass on the same advice to those coming up in the music world.