6:40 AM PDT 5/8/2013 by THR Staff
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, long the butt of jokes about his weight, opens up about his recent lap-band operation in an interview with NBC's Brian Williams airing Friday on Rock Center.
A video preview of the sitdown shows the Republican politician (and potential presidential contender) explaining that he secretly underwent the procedure in February (after consulting with weight-loss surgery specialist Dr. George Fielding) because he wanted to be healthy for his wife, Mary Pat, and their four children.
"Last fall, I was turning 50 and it really was a moment of reflection for me," Christie says. "And so I really just felt like for Mary Pat and for the kids that I needed to take a more significant step to try to get my weight under control so that I could have a really active next half of my life."
Christie, who mocked his size by eating a donut on The Late Show With David Letterman two weeks before surgery, added: "The biggest thing about it for me has been I’m just not very hungry anymore and that’s a huge change for me."
