Ray Winstone has been on our screens for decades, from Sexy Beast to Netflix’s The Gentlemen. But after years of describing himself as a ‘party animal’, the 69-year-old actor has made some significant changes to the way he looks after his health.
That doesn’t mean spending hours in the gym or following an elaborate training programme. Instead, Winstone has given up alcohol, cut back on sugary drinks and found a form of exercise that works for him as he approaches 70: walking.
Speaking to Sara Cox on The Sara Cox Breakfast Show ahead of the new season of The Gentlemen, Winstone explained why his relationship with alcohol has changed.
‘I was a bit of a party animal for a while, a long while,’ he said. ‘You get to a certain age, you get fed up with it.’
The Simple Exercise Ray Winstone Uses to Stay Fit at 69
When it comes to exercise, Winstone keeps things similarly straightforward.
For his role in Netflix’s The Gentlemen, he revealed that he ‘had to do a little bit of training’, but that mainly consisted of walking on a treadmill.
‘I can’t run anymore, knees ain’t what they used to be, so what I do, I walk,’ he said.
Walking might not sound like much of a workout, but its accessibility is precisely what makes it useful. Increasing the amount you walk is a simple way to increase your overall physical activity without the impact of running, and it can be particularly useful for people who are returning to exercise or looking for something they can perform consistently.
For Winstone, there’s also a bigger motivation behind taking better care of himself.
‘You want to stick about for long enough… watch the kids grow up,’ he explained.
Winstone is a father to three daughters, Lois, Jaime and Ellie.
Ray Winstone on His Type 2 Diabetes
Giving up alcohol was also prompted by a more serious health concern.
Speaking on the Dish podcast with Nick Grimshaw and Angela Hartnett, Winstone revealed that he had previously been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes.
‘I got diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. So that was one of the reasons I stopped drinking,’ he said.
Winstone also began paying more attention to the amount of sugar he was consuming through drinks.
‘I thought I ate a lot of sugar because it’s in the drinks; it’s in Coca-Cola, it’s in everything. So I stopped it, and within five months, I didn’t have type 2 anymore.’
Note: diabetes isn’t generally considered ‘cured’. Instead, if blood sugar levels fall below the diabetes range and stay there without medication, it’s known as remission – and regular checks are still important. It’s also impossible to pin Winstone’s turnaround solely on ditching alcohol and sugary drinks. Diet, weight loss, exercise and medication can all play a part in bringing type 2 diabetes into remission. But cutting back on booze and sugar, alongside getting more active, certainly fits into the bigger picture of improving metabolic health.
What is clear is that approaching 70 has prompted Winstone to reassess some long-standing habits. There’s no extreme fitness overhaul here: he walks because running no longer agrees with his knees, has stopped drinking and is paying closer attention to what he consumes.
Amy May Ellis (she/her) is the SEO Manager for Cosmopolitan UK, Women’s Health UK, Men’s Health UK, and Runner’s World UK. Her love for all things beauty, fashion, and wellness are evident in her work with these lifestyle and fitness brands. Providing content recommendations for everything from new gut health supplements to the latest fashion trend, Amy has a keen eye for detail and loves to spot trends before they fully flourish.