If you keep up with the Hollywood scene, you may have noticed that certain celebrities seem to be shrinking right before your eyes—and chances are you've heard of Ozempic, the medication that's rumored to be behind some of those transformations.
Ozempic is a brand name for semaglutide, a drug that's also sold under the names Wegovy and Rybelsus. Raoul Manalac, MD, an obesity expert and senior director of clinical experience for Ro's Body Program, explains that semaglutide is a "GLP-1 receptor agonist," which slows down the digestive system, reduces hunger, and lessens food cravings. This can lead to dramatic weight loss. And although Ozempic is approved by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) only for use in diabetes patients, it's often prescribed off-label to people trying to shed pounds.
While many stars have denied taking Ozempic and others have spoken out against it, some have no qualms about admitting that they've used medication to slim down, whether it's Ozempic or another GLP-1 receptor agonist, such as Mounjaro. Read on to find out which stars have admitted that their new physiques are (at least in part) thanks to medication.
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1 | Dolores Catania
Dave Kotinsky / Stringer / Getty ImagesWhen the Real Housewives of New Jersey star appeared on Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen, host Andy Cohen remarked that she was looking thin and asked if she was on Ozempic, People reports. "Yeah," she said, explaining that "I wasn't going to come to [the Housewives] reunion looking bigger than anyone else, so I got on the bandwagon."
2 | Chelsea Handler
Featureflash Photo Agency / ShutterstockOn the podcast Call Her Daddy, comedian Chelsea Handler admitted that she didn't even realize she was taking Ozempic. It wasn't until she was out to lunch with a friend who was on the drug and they both felt too nauseous to eat that she made the connection. She told her friend she was taking semaglutide, and her response was, "that's Ozempic."
"I'm not on it anymore," she told host Alex Cooper. "I stopped taking it ... I'm an irresponsible drug user, but I'm not gonna take a diabetic drug. ... That's not right for me."
3 | Elon Musk
Noam Galai / Stringer / Getty ImagesElon Musk, the love-him-or-hate-him CEO of Tesla and Twitter, credited Wegovy—which, unlike Ozempic, is FDA-approved for weight loss, with his slimmed physique. When one of his Twitter followers asked what the secret to his newly slender bod was, Musk replied, "fasting," before adding, "And Wegovy."
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4 | Remi Bader
Jamie McCarthy / Getty ImagesTikTok star and model Remi Badergot candid about her Ozempic use on the podcast Not Skinny But Not Fat back in January. Bader said she was prescribed the drug due to prediabetes and insulin resistance, but that after shedding some pounds, she stopped taking it and "gained double the weight back."
Bader explained that although she did initially lose weight on Ozempic, "I didn't wanna be obsessed with being on it long term," and that after she discontinued the medication, "my bingeing got so much worse. So then I kind of blamed Ozempic."
5 | Jennifer Fessler
Bravo / YouTubeDolores Catania isn't the only Real Housewives of New Jersey star to open up about Ozempic on Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen. When her co-star Jennifer Fessler made a recent appearance, she told Cohen that in addition to a facelift and a nose job, she "took peptides" to "lose a lot of weight."
When Cohen pressed further, asking if she was talking about Ozempic, she replied, "You said it, I didn't. But … whatever works, here I am."
6 | Rosie O'Donnell
Amy Sussman / Getty ImagesIn mid-January, the actor and beloved former talk show host, who has Type 2 diabetes, told Instagram followers that she'd lost 10 pounds since Christmas.
When fans asked how she did it, she followed up with a TikTok video explaining that her doctor had put her on Mounjaro—and added that she'd also "stopped drinking anything except water" after the holidays, with the exception of a champagne toast one night.
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7 | Golnesa ‘GG’ Gharachedaghi
Araya Doheny / Stringer / Getty ImagesThe Shahs of Sunset star got a little spicy on Instagram when coming forward about her weight loss. "I did what all the people are doing, and lying about. I'm on the weight-loss shots, honey, okay? I'm just not gonna lie about it, because I always keep it real about what is fake."
She explained that she'd previously had steroid injections for a health condition, which caused her "to really pack on some weight." She said her doctor prescribed semaglutide, which is given as a weekly injection, to help her drop the weight.
8 | Margaret Josephs
Jamie McCarthy / Getty ImagesReal Housewives of New Jersey star Margaret Josephs told People that she lost 22 pounds thanks to taking peptides and hormone-replacement therapy. "It's been life-changing," she told the magazine. "I feel so lucky to have found something that's really working for me."
While Josephs did not say she is taking Ozempic specifically, GLP-1 receptor agonist medications such as semaglutide are often referred to as "peptides."
