Lee Evans is seen without his wedding ring in Essex after retiring

Lee Evans made a rare appearance earlier this week as he headed out for a run in Essex, four years after retiring from the spotlight to spend time with his wife.

The comedian, 56, announced his retirement from stand-up comedy in 2014, citing a desire to spend more time with his wife Heather Nudds and their daughter Mollie.   

The couple celebrated their 37th wedding anniversary just days before his run.  

During his run in the home county, Lee was seen without his wedding ring, when he donned bright exercise gear and stopped for an animated chat with a pal. 

Lee sported a bright orange top and a pair of navy tracksuit bottoms with a matching cap. The Medallion star also sported a pair of navy trainers. 

He appeared in good spirits on the outing as he chatted to a friend who passed him by while he was out for a run.

The outing marks the first time Lee has been seen in public for quite some time. The comedian briefly came out of retirement in 2018 to appear in the play Pinter Three while he appeared in the play Wither Would You Go? the year before.

Also in 2017, he walked the red carpet at the film premiere of the movie Kenny in Liverpool, however this is what his time in the spotlight has been limited to. 

Lee confirmed his retirement from stand-up comedy during an appearance on The Jonathan Ross Show in 2014. 

On the show, he told Jonathan  that the death of his manager, Addison Cresswell, had ‘put things in perspective’.    

He said: ‘I don’t know, I’ve come to a junction in my life where – please forgive me it sounds very narcissistic – I’ve done musicals and plays and films and stand up and you sort of get to a point where you go “I don’t know what else to do next”.’

He added: ‘I want to go and see my wife, she deserves my time, I’ve been working solidly.’

Ross asked how long he planned to carry on in his job, to which he replied: ‘I am knackered. This is it…

‘Finished. This is the end. I am not doing anything.’ 

Lee went on: ‘All I have ever done is work and Addison always used to put his arm around me and say, “Don’t worry, I will look after you. It is okay”…

‘My dad always said to me, “You have got to work” so I constantly worked and did comedy tours. 

‘I think I have ignored for far too long my missus, and I want to spend a lot more time with her.’

According to The Richest, Lee has a net worth of around £5.6m. 

His tours regularly broke records, with his Big tour in 2008 seeing the star perform to over 500,000 people on 59 dates. The DVD of the tour sold 1million copies.

In 2011, his record-breaking 67 date UK Roadrunner tour sold 911,000 DVDs and 733,000 tickets.

The tour netted an eye-popping £12.9million. 

He also starred in a host of movies, including mega hit The Fifth Element and There’s Something About Mary.  

Last year, tragedy struck when Lee’s father Dave has died.

Dave passed away after a long career in comedy.

He had reportedly been unable to perform for seven years due to health problems and his death has left his colleagues in the the comedy scene distraught. 

Dave Evans began performing on nightclubs before appearing on cruise ships such as the QE2.

As well as mainstream stand-up and music gigs, Dave also did impressions of famous performers such as Nat King Cole, Elvis Presley, Max Bygraves and Tom Jones.

In the mid-1980s he appeared on the ITV impressions show Copy Cats and was a guest on the 1984 prime time show Knees Up hosted by Jeff Stevenson.

His last stage performance was said to have been in October 2012 in a performance playing Max Bygraves in Re~Educating Archie at the Underground Theatre in Eastbourne, East Sussex.