Ozempic Celebrities are often scrutinized for their weight loss, particularly those who walk the red carpet looking especially slim. But some are being accused of using an off-label medication — the diabetes drug Ozempic (also known as Semaglutide) for weight loss — that’s causing real health problems.
The popularity of Ozempic and its cousin Wegovy — which doctors prescribe to people who need chronic weight management and have Type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure or high cholesterol — has led to them becoming more widely available for people without those conditions. But some celebrities, like Chelsea Handler and Kyle Richards, have used the injections to lose weight — for which they were never prescribed — and that’s a problem.
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“I think it’s dangerous that these drugs are being used as weight loss injections,” She-Hulk star Jameela Jamil said in a Jan. 16 Instagram post, adding that it was making the drug unavailable to those who need it. She also noted that those flying blind with the drug could face side effects, including thyroid tumors and pancreatitis.
She-Hulk star Raven-Symone has weighed in on the trend, too, noting that celebrities’ and others’ desire to slim down with the medicine has caused a shortage of it for those who actually need it. She told PEOPLE that she supports celebrities doing whatever they need to do to lose weight, but she wants “the medication to be there for the people who actually need it.” Meanwhile, Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Danielle Staub slammed a fan who asked about whether her slimmed-down figure was due to Ozempic in June 2023.