Celebs Who Spoke Out About Using Weight-Loss Drugs

The following article contains references to disordered eating.

There's a new clique of stars in Tinseltown that many of its biggest players are bowing down to. They go by the names Ozempic, Wegovy, and Mounjaro. These drugs have become all the rage across celebrity strata, with some of the world's most prominent public figures — from Elon Musk to Billie Jean King — publicizing their use for weight loss. The bone of contention, which has sparked widespread debate in public and led to this cluster of medical aids to be dubbed controversial, lies in the fact that a majority of these drugs have actually been approved for treating diabetes.

Wegovy is the only semaglutide-based medication that the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has signed off on as an obesity management prescription. Though Ozempic and Mounjaro essentially help control blood sugar levels, they have seen a surge in popularity among people wanting to lose weight, owing to their efficacy in controlling appetites. Notwithstanding warnings from certain medical quarters, these drugs have captured a global market that is expected to reach $100 billion by 2035, according to expert analysis (via Bloomberg). As these treatments enjoy their moment in the spotlight, here's a look at the celebrities who spoke out about using weight-loss drugs. 

It took Elon Musk all of three words to sum up the secret behind his weight transformation. "Fasting," he wrote on erstwhile Twitter in 2022, when he hadn't yet bought and changed the social media platform to X. "He followed that up with a second tweet: "And Wegovy." He was responding to a user curious about what the Tesla billionaire was doing to "look awesome, fit, ripped & healthy." The disclosure, made as matter-of-factly as possible, gave Wegovy renewed validation as it began being described widely as the weight-loss drug that had the stamp of approval from one of the world's richest people. 

Within a year of Musk's post, it was reported that Novo Nordisk — the healthcare giant behind drugs like Wegovy and Ozempic — was valued at over $400 billion, surpassing the economy of its native country Denmark. Unlike its counterpart Ozempic, which was approved by the FDA for treating type 2 diabetes, Wegovy was given legitimacy as a weight management drug from the get-go in 2021. 

Kelly Clarkson has been on a health journey for years. The reason some people sat up and took note only now is because the Grammy winner opened up about the use of medication to attain her weight goals. Clarkson was interviewing Whoopi Goldberg on "The Kelly Clarkson Show" when the conversation turned to weight-loss and both women acknowledged they had opted for treatments. Though Clarkson did not name the medication she took, she was quick to clarify it wasn't Ozempic. The singer, who was diagnosed as pre-diabetic, said that the medicine was "something that aids in helping break down the sugar" and that she avoided it for quite a while before trying it. "My doctor chased me for two years, and I was like, 'No, I'm afraid of it. I already have thyroid problems," she said.

Clarkson has been dealing with thyroid and other autoimmune issues since 2006 and, at her heaviest, she weighed 203 pounds. By 2018, she was down by 37 pounds, owing to changes in her diet. She told Today's Hoda Kotb at the time, "I don't really take medicine unless I absolutely need it." She further iterated that for her, the weight transformation was a milestone not for how it changed her appearance but the fact that it helped her cut down on her thyroid medication intake.

When Tracy Morgan, whose belly-flashing antics have been a longtime staple of his comedy career, stopped by "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon" in 2024 and was asked by the host what he had been doing to stay in shape. He answered without missing a beat: Ozempic. The frankness inspired laughs from the audience. But what Morgan said next would likely have caused many takers of the weight-loss drug to get into a flap. 

"I've learned to out-eat Ozempic. I've gained 40 pounds," Morgan said, to which Fallon replied: "I've never heard of anyone gaining 40." The claim made headlines but should have been taken with a pinch of salt, coming from a stand-up comedian — and a "Saturday Night Live" alum at that.

Morgan later clarified to E! News that his comment about Ozempic's inefficacy was made in jest. "That was just a joke," he said. "Ozempic did great by me and I was glad to use it." He went on to explain that the weekly injections had helped cut down his appetite to just "half a bag of Doritos."  

Amy Schumer is as real as she is funny. The comedian has been more than open about her weight changes — both gains and losses. During an appearance on "Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen" in 2023, Schumer spoke candidly about her less-than-satisfactory experience with Ozempic and how the side effects of the viral drug didn't prove to be "livable" for her. "I was one of those people that felt so sick and couldn't play with my son," she explained. Though her own trial of the drug fell short, Schumer remarked that its use among celebrities was higher than what they'd like to reveal to the public. 

Besides weight-loss drugs, Schumer has also admitted to trying liposuction because, as she told The Hollywood Reporter, "I'd reached a place where I was tired of looking at myself in the mirror." The procedure, which brought her down to 170 pounds, didn't leave Schumer with any regrets — evident in an Instagram post she made in 2022 where she shared about it and proclaimed, "I feel good." In 2024, Schumer revealed that she'd been diagnosed with Cushing syndrome when conversations about her "moon face" took over the internet after an appearance she made on Jimmy Fallon's show. 

Unlike other celebrities who willingly opt in for medications to bring down their weight, Chelsea Handler claimed she was put on them involuntarily and without knowledge. Describing her curious experience with Ozempic on the "Call Her Daddy" podcast in 2023, the comedian revealed that she was prescribed semaglutide by her anti-aging doctor. Unaware that it was the very drug famous on the market as Ozempic, Handler took the injection, which her doctor said was great for dropping a few pounds. 

She realized what it was only some days later when she met up with a friend who said she felt nauseous since she was on Ozempic. "And I was like, 'I'm kind of nauseous too.' But I had just come back from Spain, I thought I was jet-lagged," Handler recalled. It was then that her friend told her that she'd actually been taking Ozempic. "I'm not on it anymore. That's too irresponsible," she stated. Though she disavowed the use of the popular drug, saying she felt it would eventually "backfire," she later appeared on Etalk and called the medication "a miracle for anyone who's ever struggled with their weight." 

Sharon Osbourne has always spoken straight from the shoulder about the years of cosmetic procedures and treatments she has undergone. As such, it was hardly shocking when she opened up about her use of Ozempic during her seemingly endless journey of transformation. It was, however, unusual to see a celebrity talk as honestly about the drawbacks of the weight-loss drug as she has. "You can lose so much weight and it's easy to become addicted to that, which is very dangerous," she told the Daily Mail in 2023, a year after she started on Ozempic injections. 

The drug brought Osbourne's weight down by over 40 pounds, which was more than what she would have liked. "I'm too gaunt and I can't put any weight on. I want to, because I feel I'm too skinny," she said, also warning against making this drug available among younger generations. Despite the mixed feelings she has about the drug, Osbourne, much like her daughter Kelly, supports free choice in the matter. As she told E! News, "It's not a dirty little secret when you've taken something to help you lose weight, which is perfectly fine." 

While some in the medical community have cautioned against the use of diabetes drugs as weight-loss medications, but Dr. Terry Dubrow is not one of them. The plastic surgeon and host of reality TV series "Botched" has given glowing reviews of Ozempic, even calling it "the biggest medical breakthrough in history," according to Us Weekly. Dubrow pointed to the fact that these semaglutide medications going viral at the moment were hardly new inventions and had been studied thoroughly. "It's really good as a reset, or you get down to the body weight you want, you either stay on it, on a low dose, or you go off it and say, 'OK, I'm going to make better food choices.'"

The celebrity doctor's endorsement of Ozempic and Mounjaro can be backed by his personal experiences with both drugs. He told E! News in 2024 that he gave Mounjaro a shot after witnessing its popularity among his patients. "I thought it was amazing. I didn't have that much weight to lose," he said. Drugs like Mounjaro cut down a person's appetite and can lead to side effects like nausea, and Dubrow cited both as reasons for eventually going off the drug. He was keener to give Ozempic a try again after briefly testing it.