The Ozempic Epidemic
Ozempic has become a celebrity go-to, and diabetics are experiencing shortages – but here’s why the drug isn’t the problem.
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Host Nikki Glaser joked that the Golden Globes this week was “Ozempic’s biggest night”, and it was on the nose. Celebrities are getting thinner and thinner, as we return to the 2000s trend of ‘cocaine skinny’. In fact, the American Society of Plastic Surgeons have determined that we’re entering the ‘ballet body’ era – slim figures, even if you have to starve yourself to get there.
Ozempic, a weight-loss drug that is intended for those with medical conditions that limit ability to lose weight, is being bought up illegally by celebrities across the globe. It seems like the perpetrator here, making us all expect ourselves to shrink as we see everyone on the internet doing it with ease. This is dangerous thinking. Here’s what the Ozempic Epidemic is doing in 2025, and why the drug isn’t the villain of this story.
Skinny is back and we should be concerned, according to Chioma Nnadi, the editorial director of British Vogue. Partly due to the rise in Ozempic giving celebrities a new route into intense weight loss, and partly just the natural tendency to make trends of body types, the stick figure style is in. The Hollywood Reporter reported that plastic surgeons are seeing patients dissolve their fillers, reverse butt-lifts and request breast reductions – less is now more. The Kardashians are a key example of this, looking less curvy than their previously iconic look.
Christina Grasso, co-founder of a peer-support group for those with eating disorders in the entertainment industry, has noted how weight loss jabs have shifted the way we talk about each others’ bodies. She says to The Cut, “The casual way in which people are happy to discuss these drugs now has just opened up the floor for people to feel more comfortable openly commenting or critiquing other people’s appearances again.” The internet has no problem guessing who is and isn’t using Ozempic, shaming those who they think do, and condemning those who they think need it. It’s an impossible battle to win; if you’re skinny, you’re cheating, and if you’re not, you’re not trying hard enough.
With celebrities being able to buy prescriptions for these jabs, which are usually only available to those with certain medical conditions, the average clothing size of a celebrity is getting smaller and smaller. Celebrities shape the way people, especially young people, feel about themselves, and if a bigger person can’t see themselves represented, it can feel like they’re doing something wrong. Average body types are becoming less and less common on the red carpet, and it’s starting to hurt.
At this point, you might be thinking that Ozempic, and the celebrities using it, are sounding pretty terrible. It’s easy for a product or celebrity to be the villain – especially if the real villain is an entire social attitude. But everyone is feeling the pressure to reduce themselves, even celebrities. Often, especially celebrities. Taylor Swift spoke about her eating disorder in her 2020 documentary Miss Americana, and Oprah said that access to an unnamed weight loss drug felt like “like relief, like redemption, like a gift”. With the entire internet’s eyes on you, how else are you meant to feel when something offers freedom from body criticism?
Ariana Grande has faced widespread body criticism and accusations of using Ozempic. She responded on TikTok, saying “I know personally, for me, the body that you’ve been comparing my current body to was the unhealthiest version of my body. I was on a lot of antidepressants and drinking on them and eating poorly, and at the lowest point of my life when I looked the way you consider ‘my healthy,’ but that, in fact, wasn’t ‘my healthy.’” Whether her body is healthy or not at the moment is impossible to decide, but also not any of our business. Thousands of people analysing the way your body has changed over the last few years is enough to send anyone into therapy.
At the same time, though, an Ariana Grande fan has spoken to The Cut about how her eating disorder has been triggered by seeing such rapidly shrinking bodies across the internet. Both celebrities and fans are suffering, and it’s neither’s fault. Everyone is a victim here of the way we expect human bodies to look, regardless of health issues or personal circumstances.
Before Ozempic, there were gastric bypasses, and before that, extreme dieting. The problem of negative body image has been a constant throughout history, in comparison to the ideal body type. There’s evidence up to 10,000 years ago that there were ideal body types, even if they were different to how they are now. We’re just seeing more of ourselves now, with mirrors and cameras and social media, so our judgements are becoming more and more extreme.
An article by The Conversation notes, “Despite the belief that weight loss will improve body satisfaction, we found that in a sample of over 600 men and women, weight loss had no impact on women’s negative body image and was associated with increased body dissatisfaction in men.” It’s a fruitless task, reducing ourselves for the sake of satisfaction that will never arrive. There is a way out of this – stop setting these impossible standards.
Health is what matters, and Ozempic was created to help those with medical conditions achieve that. The medication is not the issue. It’s the way we’ve made people hate themselves enough to use it on healthy bodies. Let’s stop nitpicking other people’s bodies and guilting people for trying to fit in – instead, let’s tackle the reason people are shrinking themselves in the first place.
If you or a loved one is experiencing negative self image or an eating disorder, reach out to friends and family to get help. In the UK, text SHOUT to 85258 to speak with volunteers, available 24/7. There are similar text helplines and therapy services available across the world.
