10 Celebrities That Have Admitted To Taking Ozempic (And Similar Medications)
Ozempic and other drugs used for weight loss, such as Trulicity and Wegovy, have become very popular lately due to their ability to help people rapidly drop weight. According to Healthline, Ozempic belongs to a group of drugs known as glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists. The drug lowers blood sugar by raising insulin levels after meals and increasing the time it takes for food to move through the stomach. Although not approved for weight loss, Ozempic has helped with weight loss when combined with diet and exercise.
According to the Mayo Clinic, drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy can help people lose up to 15% of their body weight. "I think it's a great tool," said Mayo Clinic endocrinologist Dr. Shah. "I think for a lot of people, it certainly makes a significant difference to how they feel about food and how they feel about their own hunger signals and their ability to control that. And that's very powerful." Because of its effects, a number of celebrities have turned to Ozempic and other similar drugs to help keep themselves camera ready.
Oprah Winfrey
The 70-year-old talk show host and media icon has long struggled with her weight, and has spoken openly about snarky media headlines that made jokes at her expense (via Sky News). It got to the point where, according to Winfrey, she felt that "making fun of my weight was a national sport." In 1988, Winfrey lost 67 pounds thanks to a liquid diet, but then gained it back almost immediately.
In December 2023, speaking to People, Winfrey said that she began to take serious steps towards losing weight and keeping it off, following knee surgery in 2021. These steps include hiking up to five miles a day (and 10 on the weekends), eating her last meal at 4 o'clock, and drinking a gallon of water a day. She also said that she has begun to take a doctor-prescribed weight loss medication, although she has not named which specific one she is taking. "The fact that there's a medically approved prescription for managing weight and staying healthier, in my lifetime, feels like relief, like redemption, like a gift, and not something to hide behind and once again be ridiculed for," she told People. "I'm absolutely done with the shaming from other people and particularly myself."
Rebel Wilson
She came to prominence starring as the pejoratively named "Fat Amy" in the "Pitch Perfect" series of films, but Rebel Wilson has attracted much more attention lately for her dramatic weight loss. While promoting her recent memoir, "Rebel Rising," Wilson has been upfront about her use of Ozempic to help her keep off her weight (via The Independent). She has credited the medication with helping to curb her appetite and quiet her craving for sweets.
In an interview, the actress also noted that fears of the weight coming back on triggered her decision to start on Ozempic (via 1News). "I was like, 'I can't continue working out and having this level of focus,' she said. "And I was very worried that the weight would come back on." In addition, her recently having a baby and the added weight of pregnancy made Wilson concerned that her weight would return. "And so I tried it for a few months for weight management, I guess you could call it," she said.
Amy Schumer
The actress and comedian told Andy Cohen, as quoted by People, that she tried Ozempic to help her lose weight. But she said that she stopped taking the medication when she began to experience side effects such as fatigue. "I was one of those people that felt so sick and couldn't play with my son," she said. "I was so skinny and he's throwing a ball at me and [I couldn't]."
However, Schumer's experience with Ozempic has led her to insist that celebrities be more honest about their experiences losing weight. In the same interview with Cohen, as quoted by Today, Schumer called out public figures who lie about their drastic weight loss. "Everybody (is) lying, everyone's like, 'Oh, smaller portions,' like shut the f— up, you're on Ozempic or one of those things," she said. "Just be real with the people." Schumer's honesty also extended to her being upfront about having liposuction, according to Today. "I just can't do it," she said. "I can't be like, 'Yeah, crunches. And I've just been eating smoked salmon,' you know? So I had to be real."
Sharon Osbourne
In a candid interview about her life and career with The Guardian, the music mogul and wife of singer Ozzy Osbourne admitted to using Ozempic to help shed unwanted weight. However, she went on to say that she does not use it any longer and has become accepting of her body and her looks. "I was injecting myself with Ozempic and I lost three stone in four months. Too much," she said. "I now weigh seven stone and can't put on weight. Ozzy says I look like Nancy Reagan."
In an interview with the Daily Mail, Osbourne did warn would-be users of Ozempic and similar drugs of the potential for overuse. "I started on Ozempic [in 2022] and I've been off it for a while now, but my warning is don't give it to teenagers, it's just too easy," she said. "You can lose so much weight and it's easy to become addicted to that, which is very dangerous. I couldn't stop losing weight and now I've lost 42 pounds and I can't afford to lose any more."
Whoopi Goldberg
Whoopi Goldberg has earned acclaim and awards as an actress, comedienne, and co-host of the long-running talk show "The View." However, during that time, she has also battled with her weight. Speaking with Kelly Clarkson, as quoted by Women's Health, Goldberg spoke openly about her use of the weight loss drug Mounjaro, saying that, by using it, she lost the weight of "almost two people."
A newer drug than Ozempic, having just been approved in 2022, Mounjaro's active ingredient is tirzepatide, while Ozempic's is semaglutide. This ingredient targets two hormone groups, glucagon-like peptide-1 and glucose-dependent insulinotropic peptide (via Marley Drug). Goldberg started using the drug after making the movie "Till" and her weight shot up to close to 300 pounds. While the actress has admitted to being accepting of her body, the dramatic gain led to her try medication. "I always felt like me, and then I saw me and thought, 'Oh, that's a lot of me,'" Goldberg said (via Today). "You have to take responsibility for yourself and see what's going on with your body."
Tracy Morgan
Tracy Morgan, who came to fame on such shows as "Saturday Night Live" and "30 Rock," has been open about his use of Ozempic (via People). However, being a comedian, he has often made humorous remarks about his experience with the medication. People quoted him as telling Jimmy Fallon that he actually gained weight while taking Ozempic. "I've learned to out-eat Ozempic," he told the "Tonight Show" host. "I out-ate Ozempic. I've gained 40 pounds."
However, he later clarified his comments in an interview with E! News, explaining that he was only joking. He went on to say that he takes Ozempic weekly and that it has cut his appetite in half. "That was just a joke," he said of his remarks to Fallon. "Ozempic did great by me and I was glad to use it." That said, Morgan's comments do have some basis in reality, as a 2022 study published in Diabetes, Obesity, and Metabolism revealed that people have gained back as much as two thirds of their weight loss after stopping semaglutide medications.
Elon Musk
SpaceX, Tesla and X (formerly known as Twitter) founder Elon Musk has previously said his secret to looking "fit, ripped, and healthy" is intermittent fasting and the popular weight-loss drug Wegovy (via Business Insider). In total, Musk has reported losing up to 30 pounds thanks to this regimen. According to Business Insider, Musk is not someone who enjoys going to the gym and often indulges in unhealthy and fattening snacks such as doughnuts.
According to the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Musk was one of the first celebrities to speak openly about using the medication. When Musk first announced that he was using Wegovy, it caused a flood of press for GLP-1 weight loss and diabetes medications. In addition, many people began trying to get the medication prescribed for themselves, which has led to a shortage of semaglutide medications in the marketplace. However, the shortage has not, as of yet, prevented issues with diabetics being able to have their prescriptions filled.
Charles Barkley
Basketball star Charles Barkley recently made headlines after he announced he had lost over 60 pounds in only six months while on the weight loss medication Mounjaro. He spoke about his weight loss on "The Dan Patrick Show" in May, saying he had dropped from 352 pounds in January to about 290 pounds. "At some point, I've got to get off the drug, but I feel so good physically I've got to make sure I don't get fat again. You don't even realize how crappy you feel until you start losing weight," Barkley said on the show.
According to physician-nutrition specialist Dr. Michelle Pearlman, medications like Mounjaro are increasingly becoming part of the conversations she has with patients about losing weight. Pearlman said that Barkley's weight loss was significant, but not necessarily unhealthy. "I think it really just depends on where's the person starting from. So, if we have a patient who is 150 pounds and they lose a third of their body weight in a short period of time then that's very drastic," Pearlman said. "But if someone has a lot of weight to lose then the absolute number may sound like a lot, but really for their particular body, may not be as much as we think it is."
Kelly Clarkson
In a candid interview on her talk show, "The Kelly Clarkson Show," Clarkson answered long-standing speculation about her dramatic weight loss (via NBC News). Speaking with Whoopi Goldberg, the talk show host and "American Idol" winner admitted to taking a weight loss drug, because of troubling bloodwork results. However, she did not clarify which drug she was taking. "Everyone thinks it's Ozempic," she said. "It's not."
Initially, Clarkson was hesitant about taking the medication, she said in an interview in People. "My doctor chased me for, like, two years, and I was like, 'No, I'm afraid of it. I already have thyroid problems,'" she said. Then, after being diagnosed as pre-diabetic in January, Clarkson had a moment of clarity after playing back the show she taped for her birthday. It was then that she really saw herself and the risk her health was in. "You see it and you're like, 'Well, she's about to die of a heart attack,'" she said. In addition to medication, Clarkson said that she also focused on what she ate and being more active to help her drop the weight.
Billie Jean King
The tennis legend confessed to having an eating disorder and indulging in binge eating in an interview with Julia Louis-Dreyfus (via Katie Couric Media). "With an eating disorder, I have two voices in my head sometimes that argue. It's two sides," she explained. "Let's say I want a quart of ice cream. One side will say, 'Yeah, baby, I'm going to have that ice cream no matter what!' And the other side says, 'No, don't do that. It's not healthy, you know you don't need it.'"
In the same interview, King said she had tried Ozempic and expressed interest in the drug's ability to "quiet the voices" around food in her head. This so-called "food noise" is something that other semaglutide patients have reported suffering from (via Health). Food noise manifests itself, according to Health, as constantly thinking about or obsessing over food, which leads to overeating in the long term. While everyone experiences some form of food noise, such as alerting them when it's time to eat, factors such as stress, insomnia, and genetic conditions can lead to a person experiencing more of it than others. By making you feel fuller and reducing gastric emptying, these medications can help manage food noise and keep it to a minimum.