Ozempic has become the byword for semaglutide and similar drugs that cause weight loss, regardless of which brand a person is taking or why, and there have even been shortages of the drugs as people clamour to get their hands on them.

Ozempic and Wegovy are both forms of semaglutide, a drug originally developed for diabetes. They are brand names used by the drug manufacturer, Novo Nordisk. Semaglutide was FDA-approved to treat obesity in 2021. Tirzepatide, marketed as Mounjaro, is a similar “game-changer” drug. It is yet to be approved for weight loss, but can be used off-label for this purpose.

They work by suppressing appetite, but side effects such as muscle loss, nausea and diarrhoea have been reported – and it’s common to regain the weight after stopping treatment.

So which celebrities have been associated with the drug, and what do they have to say about it?

1. Amy Schumer

During an appearance on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen in June 2023, Amy Schumer said she was on Ozempic “like a year ago”. She said she lost weight, but it made her so sick that she couldn’t play ball with her then three-year-old son, Gene.

“You’re like, ‘OK, this isn’t liveable for me,’ but I immediately invested because I’m like, ‘Everyone and their mum is gonna try it,’” she said.

Meet Arnold Schwarzenegger’s 5 kids, including his love child on his new docu

Schumer then criticised celebrities who aren’t honest about taking weight-loss drugs. “Everybody [is] lying, everyone’s like, ‘Oh, smaller portions.’ Like shut the f*** up, you’re on Ozempic or one of those things,” she said. “Just be real with the people.”

2. Charles Barkley

NBA star Charles Barkley said he lost over 28kg in six months after taking Ozempic competitor Mounjaro, also known as tirzepatide, while eating healthily and exercising. Speaking on The Pat McAfee Show in May, the 60-year-old said he started at 160kg and now weighs 131kg, and he hopes to reach 122kg.

“It’s been great. I’m starting to feel like a human being, not a fat-a** any more,” Barkley said, adding that his motivation is to live longer. “My doctor, she is amazing. I know a lot of people take Ozempic, but my doctor prefers Mounjaro.”

3. Remi Bader

Model and TikTok creator Remi Bader said she was prescribed semaglutide because she was pre-diabetic – but began binge-eating again after coming off the drug.

Speaking on the podcast Not Skinny But Not Fat in January 2023, Bader said she gained back more weight than she’d lost. “I was like, ‘I bet the second I go off I’m going to get starving again,’ and I did,” Bader said. “My bingeing got so much worse, so then I kind of blamed Ozempic.”

4. Elon Musk

In October 2022, business magnate Elon Musk wrote on Twitter that he was taking the brand of semaglutide.

He credited his weight loss to “fasting” and “Wegovy”, saying the semaglutide helped him get “fit, ripped, and healthy”.

Who’s the richest Depp? The family’s net worths, ranked

5. Chelsea Handler

Comedian Chelsea Handler said she took semaglutide without knowing what it was. Speaking on the Call Her Daddy podcast in January, Handler said her “anti-ageing doctor just hands it out to anybody”.

“I didn’t even know I was on it,” Handler said. “She said, ‘If you ever want to drop five pounds, this is good.’”

When Handler told a friend who was also taking the drug that she felt nauseous and was taking something called semaglutide, the friend told her that semaglutide is Ozempic, but she said she stopped using the drug.

6. Khloé Kardashian

In January, Khloé Kardashian posted an image of herself on the cover of Sorbet magazine on Instagram. One person commented, “The fact she uses diabetic [sic] medication to get this skinny is disturbing.”

7. Rosie O’Donnell

In January, comedian Rosie O’Donnell said she had lost 4.5kg since Christmas by taking tirzepatide and drinking less soda.

O’Donnell said in a series of TikTok videos that her appetite significantly decreased and she spends less time thinking about food. “I’d say it feels like freedom. Freedom from intrusive thoughts about food, about what you’re eating,” she said. “I think it’s fantastic.”

What happened when the world’s two richest men met for lunch?

8. Kyle Richards

Kyle Richards said outright that she is not on weight-loss drugs. After posting a photo in workout clothes on Instagram on January 5, The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star received many comments from people speculating she was taking semaglutide. In response to one person who said she was on Ozempic, Richards said: “Do not spread lies. I’m not on Ozempic.”

Speaking to Extra in February, Richards said she finds the accusations “frustrating”. “I cannot stand people saying that because people that know me know that I’m up every day at like 5, 6am at the latest … I’m in the gym for two hours,” she said. “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.”

9. Crystal Kung Minkoff

Referring to taking semaglutide, Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Crystal Kung Minkoff told British media: “Of course I’ve thought about it.” But she said as someone who has struggled with an eating disorder her whole life, “it’s not a good place for me, personally for my recovery”.

She said she’d always looked for things to “fix it” for her, but added that she’s currently in a “really good place” with her eating disorder recovery.

10. Dolores Catania

Real Housewives of New Jersey’s Dolores Catania said she took Mounjaro on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen, saying that she wanted to tell the truth about her experiences.

Who’s the richest Vanderpump Rules reality TV star? Net worths, ranked

Catania “got on the bandwagon” as she didn’t want to come to the RHONJ reunion looking bigger than any of her castmates, she admitted. She added she did also have a trainer and her only side effect was a lack of hunger.

11. Margaret Josephs

Real Housewives of New Jersey star Margaret Josephs revealed in March that she also takes a weight-loss drug, but didn’t specify which GLP-1 agonist she was taking. She said she lost 10kg since starting a new “wellness regime” of peptides, hormone-replacement pellets and a GLP-1, and now takes the weight-loss drug to maintain her current weight.

Josephs maintains that the drug she’s taking is not intended for diabetes patients and said it doesn’t come from the same company as the diabetes drugs do.

12. Julia Fox

Julia Fox has denied taking Ozempic during an interview with Entertainment Tonight. The Uncut Gems star said: “All these people are coming for me saying that I take the weight-loss things … people are saying that I’m taking Ozempic or whatever it’s called.”

Fox said that she’s not on the medication and never has been. “I would never do that. There are diabetics that need it,” she said.

13. Sharon Osbourne

11 iconic on-screen couples who hated each other in real life

Sharon Osbourne, ex-host of The Talk and wife of Ozzy Osbourne, said she took weight-loss injections for four months, which helped her lose 13.6kg. Speaking on the UK version of The Talk, Osbourne said that during the first couple of months of taking the drug, she felt nauseous and her stomach was upset.

No longer on the drug, she said she now “eats normally” and hasn’t put the weight back on.