DAVID SUCHET'S HEALTH BATTLES AFTER DOCTOR SPOTTED POIROT STAR'S LIFE-CHANGING CONDITION

Iconic ITV Poirot star Sir David Suchet is the picture of health and incredibly sprightly for an 80-year-old thanks to regular gym sessions and a healthy lifestyle. Indeed, he admitted in a chat with his personal trainer son Robert: "I think fitness is more important now than when it was when I was younger. The older you get the stiffer you get, so regular exercise is the key."

However, the star has had some health battles over the years. In the same interview, he confessed a healthy lifestyle had not always been a priority for him. He claims he had "every bad habit you could have imagined," using full fasting and trying every diet out there to try and keep on top of his weight and health. "I used to think that either full fasting was the way to go, and I was always trying this diet or that diet or that diet, and I didn't know that carbohydrates, fibre, calories, I mean you drive yourself crazy. It's a minefield! I now know what things to eat and how to eat and what things not to combine with what I want."

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In the late 90s, he admitted he had been suffering with an underlying health condition which was only picked up when a doctor saw him on television. The medic wrote to the star and said he had noticed David had a pronounced arcus senilis - a noticeable clouding of the cornea in an arc which can be associated with a high cholesterol.

The actor took it seriously enough to consult his own doctor to have his cholesterol levels checked, and the remote diagnosis turned out to be completely accurate.

Thanks to the warning, he was able to receive the proper treatment to manage his high cholesterol, successfully addressing a health risk he had previously been completely unaware of.

These days, the star is up with the lark to hone both body and soul. In 2015 he revealed: "I meditate a lot. I like getting up at 5.30am each day while the world's asleep just to enjoy the silence.

"I used to play rugby and now I go to the gym three times a week and do stretches. We are mind, body and soul. We exercise our mind by going to school and work.

"We exercise our bodies by going to the gym and having a healthy diet but the third thing is our weakest - how do we exercise our soul?"

Despite being incredibly health conscious, he still fell victim to Covid in 2021, forcing to miss his investiture as a knight at Windsor Castle in December 2021.

He officially received his knighthood a few weeks later, on 25 January 2022 when he was knighted by Prince William.

2026-09-12T06:32:35Z