Sure, it might feel like Ozempic has only just became a big topic of discussion, but the reality is that A-listers in America have been using it for weight loss for years.
Originally designed for treating type 2 diabetes, the medicine is often also used to help people drop the pounds with many celebrities opening up about their experiences with using it.
And one of those is British actor and comedian, Stephen Fry who had ‘astonishing results’. While Ozempic is not FDA approved as a weight loss drug, the 67-year-old said he got it from his doctor over in the US ‘years ago’.
However, just like other medicines, the injectable comes with its side effects and for Fry that included making ‘him vomit five times a day’.
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Previously speaking on the River Café Table 4 podcast, the Blackadder star said he ‘happened to be in America’ and had ‘read about’ Ozempic ‘years ago’.
"I asked my doctor in America, my physician, as they like to call them, and he said, 'I think I can get you some',” Fry explained.
“He tried me on it and [for] the first week or so I was thinking, 'this is astonishing. Not only do I not want to eat, I don't want any alcohol of any kind. This is going to be brilliant'.”
Back in August 2019, he told BBC Breakfast that he’d managed to lose five-and-a-half stone within four months simply by eating sensibly and walking a lot. It’s not clear if that weight loss ran alongside the same time period when the actor was taking Ozempic.
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However, soon after Fry started using the medicine, he ‘started feeling sick’.
“And I started feeling sicker and sicker and sicker,” the former QI host explained.
“I was literally throwing up four, five times a day and I thought, 'I can't do this'. So that's it."
While appearing on BBC Breakfast, Fry said he had peaked at nearly 21 stone that year and felt ‘relieved’ following his weight loss.
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As well as the nausea and vomiting he suffered, other common side effects of Ozempic include diarrhoea, stomach pain and constipation.
The same feeling of sickness is something Amy Schumer also experienced as a result of the medicine as she said it left her ‘bedridden’.
“I was like, vomiting — and then you have no energy. But other people take it and they’re all good,” she previously explained.
Please speak to a health care professional before seeking out medications for weight loss.
Topics: Stephen Fry, Celebrity, Health
Jess Battison