It’s difficult to remember what our health landscape (and pop culture) were like before Ozempic, Wegovy, and other similar drugs burst onto the scene. As a refresher, these semaglutide drugs (an injection that is prescribed to help regulate blood sugar) were originally FDA-approved for treatment of Type 2 diabetes, but are now often used as weight-loss drugs since they tend to also slow down the speed of the stomach emptying and keep you feeling fuller for longer.
From the time that Ozempic went viral on TikTok and led to a shortage of the drug, everyone has been talking about it nonstop — including celebrities. Celebs from Oprah to Whoopi Goldberg to Kate Winslet have taken a moment to weigh in on the subject of semaglutide injections being used as weight-loss drugs. Some stars have revealed that they’ve taken Ozempic or other similar drugs to reach their personal weight-loss goals, while others have spoken up to dispel rumors that they’ve taken these weight-loss drugs or to share their views on the weight-loss drug craze in general. Either way, we have all the sound bites in one place for you. Keep on reading for a roundup of celebrity opinions on Ozempic, Wegovy, and other hot-button weight-loss drugs.
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Whoopi Goldberg
Whoopi Goldberg is one of the most recent celebrities to go on the record about her weight loss. On a May 13 episode of The Kelly Clarkson Show,Goldberg shared more about using “the wonderful shot that works for folks who need some help” to lose weight, Billboard reported. Kelly Clarkson acknowledged that she had been put on a similar medication. Goldberg defended backlash to both of their comments two days later on The View, noting that “a lot of people are taking the shot because they need it,” and lamenting about the public’s treatment of Kelly Clarkson and her weight. “They kick her behind when she’s bigger, they kick her behind when she’s lost the weight, and now they’re kicking her behind because she said it out loud,” she said.
Kelly Clarkson
Kelly Clarkson is one celebrity that has received constant criticism about her weight. In a conversation with Whoopi Goldberg on Clarkson’s talk show, Kelly admitted that she had a diagnosis of pre-diabetes and a thyroid condition and was prescribed an injectable drug remedy. “Everybody thinks it’s Ozempic,” Clarkson told Goldberg. “It’s not, it’s something else.” And that something else is none of anyone’s business, Goldberg affirmed.
Jamie-Lynn Sigler
In a recent podcast episode of MeSsy with her friend and fellow MS advocate Christina Applegate, Jamie-Lynn Sigler opened up about her past history of disordered eating as a teenager on The Sopranos and how diet culture can be so triggering. First, she stated the positives regarding the Ozempic craze: “I actually know a handful of people that it has made an incredible difference in their lives,” Sigler said. “I have seen them struggle with their weight for a very, very, very long time and seen it give them a lot. And I am so happy for them.”
“I also have seen friends of mine, who were beautiful and healthy and perfect, abusing it,” she said. “And it’s upsetting me.”
Oprah Winfrey
One of the most prominent voices in the culture of weight loss has been Oprah. An ambassador for WeightWatchers for years, Oprah recently left her position on the board there shortly after going public about using weight loss drugs as “maintenance” for longer term weight loss.“It is a very personal topic for me and for the hundreds of millions of people impacted around the globe who have for years struggled with weight and obesity,” Oprah stated while promoting an ABC special on her reckoning with diet culture and WeightWatchers, perVariety.
Busy Phillipps
Immediately firing back for the gendered stereotyping of weight loss drugs, Busy Phillipps had a lot to say as a guest on Jon Lovett’s “Lovett or Leave It.”
“The men are all on HGH (Human Growth Hormone). That’s why all the superheroes and movie stars have been so fit after age 40. What do you think has happened? They’re on drugs!” she said. She also clapped back at the criticism toward women for using Ozempic: “It’s all … people hate women so much. We didn’t create the system that we live in.”
Jameela Jamil
A vocal advocate for eating disorder awareness, Jameela Jamil posted her thoughts about the treatment of Ozempic and other similar drugs in the media. Her goal was to dissolve some of the myths around it and make people take note of the actual side effects. “The weight loss is VERY temporary unless you stick with the diabetes shots … and then can come back on fast and more permanently afterwards due to your reduced calorie intake impacting your metabolism,” Jamil wrote on Instagram in February 2023.
Julia Fox
In an interview with Entertainment Tonight, Julia Fox decided to put rumors about her potentially using weight loss drugs to an end. “All these people are coming for me saying I take the weight loss things…people are saying that I’m taking Ozempic or whatever it’s called,” Fox said. She said the assumptions were wrong, explaining that she would never take the drug away from people who really benefit from the prescription. “I’m not and I never have…There are diabetics that need it.”
Rebel Wilson
There has been a ton of chatter about Rebel Wilson’s transformational weight loss, and she’s shared that some people in her life didn’t want her to lose weight and lose sight of the fun character she typically plays. For her, deciding to do a number of things, including diet changes and taking Ozempic, was a decision made with her mental well-being in mind. “I think what I mainly suffered from was emotional eating and dealing with the stress of becoming famous internationally…There is a lot of stress that comes with it and I guess my way of dealing with it was eating doughnuts,” Wilson told The Sunday Times, per ABC News.
Kate Winslet
The superstar Titanic actress opened up about an eating disorder early in her career that led to weight loss that was at the time considered “positive”: “I never told anyone about it…Because guess what — people in the world around you go: ‘Hey, you look great! You lost weight!’ So even the compliment about looking good is connected to weight,” she told theNew York Times Magazine.
Winslet also spoke out about the unappealing nature of weight-loss drugs as appetite suppressants. “Let’s eat some more things!” she responded.
Khloé Kardashian
Khloé Kardashian had a pointed response to people who were accusing her of using weight loss drugs for a certain aesthetic.
“Let’s not discredit my years of working out,” Kardashian wrote on a social media post at the beginning of 2023, per Buzzfeed News. “I get up 5 days a week at 6am to train. Please stop with your assumptions. I guess new year still means mean people.”
Jessica Simpson
Jessica Simpson has faced years of scrutiny about her body and health habits, and she has spent so much time shutting it all down. Recently, it was a criticism that she was using Ozempic.“Oh Lord. I mean, it is not (Ozempic),” she told Bustle in a 2023 interview. “It’s willpower. I’m like, do people want me to be drinking again? Because that’s when I was heavier. Or they want me to be having another baby? My body can’t do it.”
Padma Lakshmi
Padma Lakshmi has been open about the weight fluctuations she experienced as the host ofTop Chef, sharing in a guest column forThe Hollywood Reporter that she often gains “anywhere from 10 to 17 pounds every season” and how her focus on losing the weight had affected her daughter. “She’s noticed, and suddenly she’s told me and others in our circle, ‘I don’t want to eat because I’m watching my figure,’ or, ‘I weigh too much.’”
This experience has given Lakshmi unique insight — both wariness and compassion — into the current Ozempic craze. “You gotta be careful what you do with your body,” she told People. “On Top Chef I eat a lot, and I understand the tendency. But also the pressure for women in media is much different than men in media. So we have to maybe look deeper to the reasons why, as a society, not just put it on the shoulders of the women who just want the same opportunity that men get… I think we have to be kinder to each other and to ourselves.”
Keke Palmer
Keke Palmer always keeps it real with fans, from her Instagram to her podcast Baby, This is Keke Palmer. When talking about her postpartum body, she weighed in on the Ozempic buzz from a health equity perspective. “So, this is my thing with the Ozempic. It sucks…you know, I get the girls want to get into shape,” Palmer said. “But I hate that sometimes, you know, Ozempic, from my knowledge, I know it’s been made for people that have diabetes. Ever since the girls have been using it to lose weight, the folks with diabetes ain’t able to get [it], the prices have gone up.”
Melissa McCarthy
Melissa McCarthy is another celeb who has been constantly critiqued for her body shape and size. She’s always handled the scrutiny with class and grace, though. For example, when Barbra Streisand recently commented on one of her posts asking if she took Ozempic, she replied back in the most Melissa McCarthy way possible: with a funny post. “The takeaway, Barbra Streisand knows I exist. She reached out to me, and she thought I looked good! I win the day,” McCarthy said.
Bethenny Frankel
The Real Housewives alum and Skinnygirl creator had what some people might think to be an unexpected reaction to the uptick of use of Ozempic. Frankel questioned the use of the weight-loss drug, especially without strong guidance from a doctor. “Medicines used for alternative functions seems a little bit scary with the long term unknown,” Frankel said on Instagram. She continued, “If it’s true that diabetics can’t get and now afford this medication, [that’s] even scarier.”
Kyle Richards
Another Real Housewives franchise alum, Kyle Richards, spoke out in frustration about accusations that she was using Ozempic or other weight loss drugs. “I cannot stand people saying that because people that know me know that I’m up every day at like 5:30 a.m. 6 a.m. at the latest…I’m in the gym for two hours,” Richards told ExtraTV, per People. “I really put a lot of effort into my diet and exercise and taking care of myself, so when people like to think I took the easy way out, it’s frustrating.”
Sheryl Underwood
The Talkhost Sheryl Underwood decided to be upfront about her drastic 100-pound weight loss via Wegovy as of December 2023. To her, honesty is the most important policy when it comes to talking about weight loss drugs.
“I think I did my job because a lot of people were not being truthful about it,” she told The Messenger, per Parade, adding that some celebrities tend to claim, “I went to the gym. I just stopped eating carbs.”
“OK, if that’s the story you want to tell, that’s cool,” Underwood said. “I just kept seeing all these people that — one week you look this way, and the next week you look this way — so I felt I had to.”
Raven-Symoné
Former Disney channel star Raven-Symoné spoke candidly about how she feels about Ozempic, Wegovy, and the like given her family health history.“I have pre-diabetes and diabetes in my family,” she told E! News. “If I’m not careful with my intake with types of foods, I am more susceptible to getting diabetes. So, I think it’s very important we understand certain medications are made for certain people.”
Ultimately, Raven-Symoné promoted a responsible mindset around these drugs to avoid shortages: “Do what you gotta do, just make sure you save the medication for the people who actually need it.”
Al Roker
Al Roker has been open with his own weight loss journey, marking the 20-year anniversary of having gastric bypass surgery (which often involves a prescription of semaglutide to maintain weight loss) on air in March 2024.
“Everybody’s struggling with it and we’re still trying to figure it out,” he said on The Today Show, per People. “But no shame, no game. Just stay within your lane and don’t give anybody a hard time.”
Heather Dubrow
Real Housewives of Orange Countystar Heather Dubrow affirmed that her medical decisions are absolutely nobody else’s business. “I’m over this whole Ozempic-shaming thing, and I’m also over people asking, ‘Are you on Ozempic?’” Dubrow told Us Weekly. “Would you ask someone, ‘Are you on a beta-blocker? Cholesterol? What are your statins? What’s that looking like?’ It’s private medical information. I don’t think it’s anyone’s business.”
Dubrow compares the use of Ozempic and Wegovy to the early days of Botox (which she automatically embraced, being married to a plastic surgeon). And now, she says “It’s everywhere.”
