Josh Peck poked fun at himself for losing weight without the assistance of Ozempic.
“When you lose 100 pounds naturally and then Ozempic,” Peck, 37, captioned a video he shared via Instagram on Wednesday, February 21.
Peck followed the recent trend of using the audio of the Glee cover of “Rose’s Turn” from the Broadway musical Gypsy. In the clip, the actor mouthed the lyrics, “All that work and what did it get me?”
Hollywood stars have recently sparked controversy for turning to Ozempic, which is originally a medication used for type 2 diabetes, to help them quickly drop weight. Tracy Morgan and Amy Schumer have admitted to using the prescription, as have reality stars Emily Simpson and Heather Gay. (Other celebrities, including Rob Lowe, have warned against taking the drug for something other than its intended use.)
Long before the Ozempic craze, Peck decided to prioritize getting in shape while he was a teenager starring on Drake and Josh. Peck revealed in his 2022 memoir, Happy People Are Annoying, that he nearly weighed 300 pounds as a teen.
“For me, when I think of childhood, the singular, powerful, and all-consuming memory that comes to mind is being fat,” Peck wrote. “I have good memories from childhood too, of course, I grew up with a deep awareness that I was loved, decent, cared for, and blah blah blah, but FAT, very very fat.”
Peck was inspired to lose weight after playing a bully in the 2004 film Mean Creek, as opposed to the “fat, funny kid” he was often cast as. After earning critical acclaim for his performance, Peck decided to pursue more difficult roles and make a lifestyle change. He was able to lose 120 pounds through diet and exercise.
Following his drastic weight loss, Peck struggled with other demons including a drug addiction.
“At 17, I lost all this weight, but I was like the same head but in a different body. I thought, ‘I’m at the finish line. I did it. Now I just don’t have to worry about anything,'” he reflected on a November 2023 episode of the “Cancelled with Tana Mongeau” podcast. “But quickly, I was still plagued with the same thoughts and things that had plagued me my whole life. Dad issues, you name it.”
Dedicated to bettering his overall health, Peck eventually sought help to treat his addiction. He got sober at age 21 in 2008 and has stayed on the path since.
“I’m lucky to have found recovery through a 12-step program almost 14 years ago and it’s something that I still do regularly to this day,” Peck said to Page Six in August 2022. “It gives me a lot of structure in my life. It’s really the bedrock of my life and from it, all these wonderful things have been built.”
