Maine Reporter Lee Nelson Lets Us In On 'Those Photos'

NewsCenter Maine's Lee Nelson was plastered all over Facebook, and places beyond, on Friday when photos were shared of his buff bod. It was a side of Lee Nelson nobody saw coming but, now we know why.

Nelson shared an explanation about those photos in a Facebook post published on Monday, giving us insight as to why the photos were so revealing and where this new-to-us Lee Nelson came from.

Lee has actually been an avid fitness guy for quite a while and is now looking to transition to a new career focused on health and fitness. His pictures were released a bit prematurely since he is still currently working at NewsCenter Maine as an anchorman, but are intended for his retirement from journalism to step into a new career in as a fitness trainer.

He intends to continue his post at the news station until October 30.

Here's what the man had to say:

Here's what Nelson had to say:

Hello everybody! So, you kind of calling that the cart before the horse. You may have seen some pictures of me on the internet, briefly. Yes, occasionally anchormen do take their shirts off... when they need to be washed and stuff. But, uh, that's actually burying the lead. As a journalist, you don't want to bury the lead. The lead story here is that I am retiring from the news industry, um, at the end of this month. So, October 30th. I'm gonna talk a lot more about that during this month. This is not the place for that. But, it's certainly been a great run both on the morning report for almost 30 years and then working with my wife on the evenings for the last 18 months has been fabulous. I really should have done that a long time ago.
It is time. I'm 58, still, you know, young enough, to pursue my other passion with is fitness. And, for people who are close to me, they know that this has been a passion for my entire adult life. And I'm transitioning into personal training full-time, again, at the beginning of November. And, you know, that brings me back to the pictures, uh, which were obstensively done to promote my fitness and nutrition career. Uh, I feel like personal trainers need to be able to walk the walk and, uh, so, those pictures were suppose to show that that is what, indeed, I was doing. They came out a tad prematurely, my bad, sorry about that. But, they'll crop up again when my responsibilities at News Center Maine are over, and, how great- you can make fun of me all over again. Won't that be great.
So, change is hard. This is a no brainer for me really. My dad died when he was 52 and he had a lot of unfulfilled goals. And, I don't want to be that person. So, again, I feel like I'm young enough to move onto something else that I am really, really passionate about.
I'm gonna have a lot more to say in the coming weeks about my news retirement and, uh, I just wanted to let everybody in on my little secret.
Take care. I'll see on the air... with a shirt and tie on.