Boxing legend Mike Tyson recently collaborated with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in a campaign against ultra-processed foods. In a powerful Super Bowl advertisement that aired during the big game, the former heavyweight champion opened up about his personal struggles with obesity and the devastating loss of his sister to weight-related health issues.
“My sister’s name was Denise. She had a heart attack at 25,” Tyson revealed in the ad. The loss clearly left a lasting impact on the boxer, who himself once weighed 345 pounds. “I was so fat and nasty, I would eat anything. I was, like, 345 pounds, a quart of ice cream every hour. I had so much self-h*te when I was like that.”
During his appearance on Newsmax following the Super Bowl broadcast, Tyson explained how depression and drinking led him down a path of destructive eating habits.
“I started drinking a lot and gaining weight and being depressed. I was just obviously eating every Krispy Kreme donuts. Everything. The whole works,” he said.
According to Tyson, producers had prepared a script for him to read, but it didn’t feel right. Instead, he spoke from the heart, drawing directly from his experience watching his oldest sister struggle with obesity and ultimately losing her life to the condition.
“I experienced that. My oldest sister passed from obesity and I never forgot that. It stuck with me. And when I see people in that condition, I have sympathy for them as well,” Tyson explained.
The 12-hour shoot with longtime friend Peter Arnell marked the first collaboration between the two men despite knowing each other for 40 years. Tyson’s wife initially brought the opportunity to his attention after Mifood contacted her, and he immediately saw it as a chance to promote a cause close to his heart.
Tyson didn’t hold back in criticizing the food industry, calling ultra-processed foods “big business” and suggesting corporations resist change because of profit motives. “We’re the most powerful country in the world and we have the most obese people,” he stated. “Something has to be done by processed food in this country.”
Today, Tyson maintains his health by running five miles regularly and eating egg whites with cheese.
