By Megan Riedlinger
8:54am PDT, Mar 16, 2024
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These days, it seems a class of drugs with ingredients intended to treat diabetes is how Hollywood stars and other notable names are losing weight. Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro and Zepbound are all the rage… but which of your favorite stars have fessed up to using medication to drop some weight? Join Wonderwall.com as we round them up…
For five decades, Oprah Winfrey's weight occupied "space in my brain," she told People magazine in a December 2023 cover story, leaving her "yo-yoing and feeling like why can't I just conquer this thing, believing willpower was my failing."
After a 2021 knee surgery inspired new fitness goals, she achieved them. "I could eventually hike three to five miles every day and a 10-mile straight-up hike on weekends," she shared. "I felt stronger, more fit and more alive than I'd felt in years." She also revamped her diet (again): "I eat my last meal at 4 o'clock, drink a gallon of water a day and use the WeightWatchers principles of counting points. I had an awareness of [weight-loss] medications, but felt I had to prove I had the willpower to do it. I now no longer feel that way."
In July 2023, she changed her mind during a panel conversation with weight loss experts and clinicians. "I had the biggest aha along with many people in that audience. I realized I'd been blaming myself all these years for being overweight, and I have a predisposition that no amount of willpower is going to control," the Oscar nominee said, adding, "Obesity is a disease. It's not about willpower — it's about the brain."
Oprah then "released my own shame about it," talked to her doctor and got a weight loss medication prescription. "I now use it as I feel I need it, as a tool to manage not yo-yoing," she said, though she declined to name the drug. "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. I'm absolutely done with the shaming from other people and particularly myself."
But her weight loss isn't just down to the medication. "It's everything," she told People. "I know everybody thought I was on it [already], but I worked so damn hard. I know that if I'm not also working out and vigilant about all the other things, it doesn't work for me."
Keep reading to find out why in February 2024, Oprah left the board of WeightWatchers after nearly 10 years…
Then keep reading for more stars who've revealed that they've taken weight loss medications…
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On a March 2024 episode of "Jimmy Kimmel Live," Oprah Winfrey explained why she left the board of WeightWatchers the previous month not long after disclosing that she'd used medication to help her lose weight, sharing that it was because she was making a TV special about prescription weight loss medications.
"I decided that because this special was really important to me and I wanted to be able to talk about whatever I wanted to talk about, and WeightWatchers is now in the business of being a weight health company that also administers drug medications for weight," she said, "I did not want to have the appearance of any conflict of interest. So I resigned from the board and donated all of my shares to the National Museum of African American History and Culture. So nobody can say, 'Oh, she's doing that special, she's making money, promoting…"
A slimmed-down Oprah is seen here on her way into the "Jimmy Kimmel Live" studios the same day.
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Ozempic quickly caught the attention of the cast of "The Real Housewives of New Jersey." Star Jennifer Fessler fessed up to using a form of the medication featuring semaglutide when she appeared on "Watch What Happens Live" in March 2023, sharing, "I did lose a lot of weight. I took peptides, and I don't know if you've heard of medications associated with [peptides] that help people lose weight." Host Andy Cohen pressed her further, asking specifically if she took Ozempic, to which she responded, "You said it, I didn't. But … whatever works, here I am."
In December 2023, she revealed that she was still using the drug despite seeking treatment at a hospital for a severe side effect. On a December 2023 episode of her podcast, "Two Jersey Js," Jennifer shared, "I have been on, and I'm not going to call it Ozempic — that's been the umbrella name. But I've been on semaglutide for over a year now, and I've lost maybe 22 pounds." She described herself as "a raging hypochondriac," but "when it comes to things having to do with my physical appearance, somehow that goes out the window," she added. "For instance, I'm not afraid at all of going into surgery for anything cosmetic."
At one point a few months earlier, she admitted, "I had to go to the hospital for an impacted bowel… and I'm still not nervous about [using semaglutide," she said. "I was drinking no water, eating no vegetables. 'Cause something that happens, a new experience for me, is being able to eat what I want even when it's not the most healthy choices and still lose weight," she continued. "So maybe for the first time in my life, I'm losing weight on pizza and bagels and ice cream. Having said that, I noticed there was constipation, I didn't do anything about it. I wasn't taking Miralax, that you take every morning, or any kind of stool softener. I hadn't gone in a week, then it was a week and a half."
She said even though she was aware of possible side effects, she's "to blame for ignoring them and allowing them to escalate to the point where I became impacted."
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In May 2023, Sharon Osbourne opened up about her weight loss journey and the negative repercussions she faced. Though she didn't name Ozempic specifically, she shared on an episode of her U.K. show "The Talk" that she took an injectable weight loss drug for months. "The first couple of months, I just felt nauseous. Every day I felt nauseous, my stomach was upset," Sharon explained, "but I took it. I took it for four months and I lost 30 pounds, but like everything, there's always no quick recipe."
A few months later in September 2023, Sharon (seen here in August 2023) sparked concern about her weight when she appeared on talk TV's "Piers Morgan Uncensored" looking skinnier than ever. "I didn't want to go this thin," she admitted. (See the images that had everyone talking here.)
She also made headlines when she revealed on an episode of her family's "The Osbournes" podcast that every week, she goes "at least three days without eating."
The comments came a few weeks after she told E! News, "In my life, the heaviest I was 230 pounds and I'm now under a hundred. And I want to maintain at about 105 because I'm too skinny. But I'm trying to have a healthy balance." Sharon also said no one should be ashamed of using a drug to help with weight loss. "It's not a dirty little secret when you've taken something to help you lose weight, which is perfectly fine. We don't have to bulls***."
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Elon Musk admitted to using a drug with the same active ingredient as Ozempic — semaglutide — in an October 2022 tweet. When asked about the "secret" to his "ripped" physique, the X, SpaceX and tesla mogul gave two answers — "fasting" and "Wegovy."
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Disgraced politician George Santos — the Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New York who in 2023 was indicted by a federal grand jury on multiple counts of everything from wire fraud, money laundering and making false statements to theft of public funds, falsifying records, aggravated identity theft and more before his peers kicked him out of Congress — confirmed he's been using Ozempic since 2022.
"In January 2022, I weighed myself in at 350 pounds and I said, 'No. This has to change.' In December 2022, I weighed myself in before the New Year rang in and I was 251 pounds, so that's 99 pounds in a year," he said on an October 2023 episode of the podcast "Meghan McCain Has Entered the Chat," as reported by Page Six.
"I was pre-diabetic. It totally helped. I think the FDA should really consider looking into it and seeing it as an option for weight loss. Obesity is the number one cause of death in this country," he continued.
He further shared that he'll always be on the drug because of his pre-diabetes status: "It's fantastic," he said, adding, "I love it."
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These days, it seems a drug intended to treat diabetes is Hollywood's latest weight loss secret. Ozempic is all the rage… but which of your favorite stars have fessed up to using it drop weight? Wonderwall.com is rounding them up…
Amy Schumer shared her experience with Ozempic during a June 2023 appearance on "Watch What Happens Live" and explained that being a mom while on the drug was difficult. Though she lost weight, she also noted that the medication made her feel "so sick" that she was unable to play with her son. "I was so skinny and he's throwing a ball at me and [I couldn't]." This ultimately made her decide Ozempic was not for her.
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Slimmed-down comedian Tracy Morgan revealed on the Aug. 14, 2023, episode of the "Today" show that his "weight got lost" thanks to an Ozempic prescription and he "ain't letting it go." The "30 Rock" alum shared when he gets his weekly shot — "I take Ozempic every Thursday," he said — and revealed the semaglutide drug "cuts my appetite in half. Now I only eat half a bag of Doritos." He also works out. "I get up at 7 every morning, and I'm in the gym at 10," he said. "Then I go back to sleep. And that's my life."
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"The Real Housewives of New Jersey" star Dolores Catania has not been shy about discussing her Ozempic use. On an April 2023 episode of Page Six's "Virtual Reali-Tea" podcast, the Bravo star explained how she started on the drug, saying that she took it for medical reasons. "I'm going through menopause, I have a thyroid issue, I have inflammation and weight is hard to take off. And I work out, and I don't eat crazy, and I was gaining weight, and it's a lot of different layers… Let's just let everybody know," she said. She spoke about it again later that month on an episode of "Watch What Happens Live," explaining, "I wasn't going to come to [the] reunion looking bigger than anyone else, so I got on the bandwagon."
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In June 2023, Emily Simpson from "The Real Housewives of Orange County" opened up about her time on Ozempic. On the "Jeff Lewis Live" show, Emily revealed she was on the buzzy drug in December 2022. While it "worked amazing" and served as a "kick start" for a healthier lifestyle, she said, she ultimately stopped after losing about five pounds. "I didn't like the way it made me feel lethargic and it made me just not have a lot of energy, which was hard with three little kids," Emily shared. After getting off Ozempic, she underwent liposuction and a breast reduction in January 2023 and continued her journey toward a healthier lifestyle with an exercise regime she documented on Instagram.
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Chelsea Handler was taking version of Ozempic — and she didn't even know it! The comedian told a story on the "Call Her Daddy" podcast in January 2023 revealing that she only learned she was taking the popular weight loss drug when a friend who was also using it figured it out. Chelsea had been injecting a medication she got from her anti-aging doctor and was feeling nauseous — and her friend realized it was a side effect of semaglutide, the active ingredient in the buzzy name-brand drug. "I'm not on it anymore. I'm an irresponsible drug user, but I'm not gonna take a diabetic drug. I tried it, and I'm not gonna do that. That's not for me. That's not right for me," Chelsea explained.
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Golnesa Gharachedaghi, aka GG from Bravo's "Shahs of Sunset," took to Instagram to get real about Ozempic with her followers. The former reality star posted a video in March 2023 in which she explained, "I am on the weight-loss shots, honey, OK. I'm just not going to lie about it because I always keep it real about what is fake." She showed followers how she does the injection and also revealed she went from 137 to 126 pounds in four weeks.
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Margaret Josephs opened up to People magazine in April 2023 about her peptide and hormone replacement protocol, calling it "life-changing." The "Real Housewives of New Jersey" star raved about losing 22 pounds, explaining, "the peptides are giving me a new pep." Those peptides are similar to semaglutide, the active ingredient in Ozempic and Wegovy, though she didn't specify which brand she was taking.
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Tim McGraw and Faith Hill's eldest daughter, Gracie McGraw, has been open about her experience with Ozempic. She first revealed she was taking the drug in an Instagram post in March 2022, explaining that she tried it after being diagnosed with PCOS. "During my appointment with my endocrinologist I realized that may had been a factor in my issues with weight, so we decided to try a medicine to regulate my body more normally and create the tools to continue to keep my body and myself healthy as I get older… The medicine I'm taking has given me a body I haven't had in years (maybe ever?) in a good way though," she wrote. She followed up in May 2023 when she posted photos of herself in a bikini and a follower called out her use of the drug. In response, Gracie shared that she was no longer taking it, writing, "I did use Ozempic last year, yes. I am now on a low dose of Mounjaro for my PCOS as well as working out. No need to accuse when I have been open about it." Mounjaro is another anti-diabetic medication; its active ingredient is tirzepatide, which works similarly to the semaglutide found in Ozempic and Wegovy.
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Influencer Remi Bader is among the famous faces who've copped to using Ozempic. She's also raised alarms. The social media star was put on the drug due to being pre-diabetic and insulin-resistant but once she stopped taking it, she had a big problem. Remi explained on the "Not Skinny But Not Fat" podcast in January 2023 that after going off the drug, she gained back double the amount of weight she had lost.
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Former "The Real Housewives of New Jersey" daughter Lauren Manzo was candid about her Ozempic experience in May 2023 on an episode of Page Six's "Virtual Reali-Tea" podcast. The former reality star shared her history of battling her weight, explaining that she was considered "morbidly obese" and had lap band surgery that resulted in the need for an emergency removal. "You guys have seen me struggle with this since I'm 20 years old, and it's been really hard for me, and I've lost a lot of weight from being on that whole Ozempic thing," Lauren explained on the podcast. She also shared that she took Mounjaro, another anti-diabetic drug similar to Ozempic, and found great success. "This is the one thing, even above weight loss surgery that has helped me a lot and cured me and mentally made me so much better. I'm really grateful for it," she said.
