Bez was one of the original 24-hour party people, famous for larging it on and off stage.
But now the Happy Mondays star is embracing clean eating, juicing and life on the land at his stunning countryside hideaway.
At the age of 58 he is about to get married for the first time too, after proposing to girlfriend Firouzeh Razavi on a mountain top.
He says: “I’ve made quite a lot of changes in my life. Growing old well is my aim now. I’m aware of the things I have to do to keep myself healthy – getting the right nutrients, making sure my body cells degenerate slowly rather than at a rapid pace.
“So I juice every day, I drink loads of water to make sure all my brain signals are firing well. I’ve seen a lot of my friends my age falling to pieces, getting illnesses. I’m keen to avoid what I see as the pitfalls of old age. I’ve yet to see whether it works – ask me in 10 years.”
Speaking on Pride of Britain podcast Life Changing Stories, Bez says his body has been knocked about by recent appearances on reality shows such as Dancing On Ice, in which he competed this year alongside pro skater Angela Egan. It came after he was defeated by Manchester United legend Clayton Blackmore at the Boxstar Celebrity Boxing tournament in the city last year.
Bez laughs: “Dancing On Ice...I’m still at the physiotherapist recovering from that one.
“My body’s not as young and flexible as it used to be. I didn’t quite bounce off the ice like I’d like to. Before that I’d done a boxing match so I had double vision for all the training.
“When I was skating I could see two ice rinks – I didn’t know whether I was on the top or the bottom one. I might avoid all these dangerous sports now…”
For now he is busy planning his autumn wedding at the home he shares with fiancee Firouzeh in the Welsh countryside. “I’m 58 so I thought I better do it before it’s too late,” he says. “I don’t want to go through life without getting married at least once.
“I got down on one knee to propose. I got all her family up there and all my friends and family at the top of the hill, got a proper picnic basket and told her we were going for a walk.
“At the top, she goes, ‘Wow, I’m sure that’s my sisters...what’s going on?’
“Then I got down on one knee. It was the most beautiful day – we can’t wait.”
It’s bound to be a cracking do, especially with Bez’s Happy Mondays bandmate and Celebrity Gogglebox co-star Shaun Ryder there to help things along.
The two have been friends since they were teenagers, sharing everything from financial hardship, addiction and recovery to stages, stardom and private jets.
Bez adds: “We always say our relationship is like a sexless marriage.
“No matter what’s gone on and how much we might have our fall-outs, we remain good friends.”
Being serious for a minute, he adds: “My friendship with Shaun has given me the life I live now. It’s given us a fantastic life – money can’t buy this.
“People who watch us on Gogglebox can see we’re genuine friends – even though it is very hard to get a word in edgeways with Mr Ryder.
“It was great doing the show during lockdown, you got to hang around with your mate at home without breaking the law – not like Boris. I’ve been trying to get him down here because I know he’ll love it.
“I can convince him to live here because I’ve done it everywhere else I’ve lived.” Having a secure life and home is clearly a source of pride to Bez, who went through some tough times and even a short stint in prison as a rebellious teen.
He says: “It wasn’t so much that I was naughty, there were just misunderstandings with the rest of the world.
“Shaun’s discovered he has ADHD and he tries to claim I have it but I don’t like getting labelled. Throughout my schooling I was a lovely pleasant kid...just getting into trouble as well.
“Then when I was younger I was living homeless, on the kindness of friends. I used to sleep under bushes, dreaming about getting 50p to eat a meat pie.”
Those early experiences of hardship are among the reasons that Bez is so proud to support the Daily Mirror’s Pride of Britain and Pride of Manchester awards.
He says: “With what’s going on in the world, if people didn’t have it in their hearts to help others nothing would be getting done.
“The Government’s got no money to help anybody any more, we’ve got to do what we can to help each other. We need people who are passionate about causes. With Pride of Britain and Pride of Manchester it’s nice to recognise people’s hard work.”
Grinning again he says: “I enjoy a really beautiful life. I wake up every morning, open the curtains and say how lucky we are.”
"Catch up with Bez’s full interview and all previous episodes in Life Changing Stories – the Pride of Britain podcast, available every Thursday on all streaming platforms.
