Heather Gay isn’t holding back her feelings about using Ozempic for weight loss, despite being an advocate for self-love over the years.
“You represented body positivity and now some women are saying it’s kind of a copout,” ABC News’ Deborah Roberts says in Us Weekly’s exclusive first look at the docuseries, IMPACT x Nightline: The Skinny Confessions: After Ozempic, which drops on Hulu on Thursday, February 29.
Gay, 49, agrees with Roberts, 63, saying she’s heard it’s like she has “sold out” and is no longer “relatable” because she opted to use the medication, which is meant for diabetes patients to lose weight.
“It’s disappointing [and] sad to know that body positivity was all a big lie,” Gay confesses. “Because it’s better to not be overweight.”
Roberts then touches on a statement from Mary Cosby, Gay’s costar on The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City, about her designer outfit. While appearing on Watch What Happens Live in October 2023, Cosby claimed that Gay’s Gucci corset must have been fake because she had never seen the brand make a “size 14.”
When Roberts asks about how the comment makes her feel, Gay shares that Cosby’s words felt “typical.”
“It feels like something I’m very used to,” she admits. “I’m old enough to know that I have wasted a lot of years blaming myself and feeling guilty and shame over my lack of ability to be thinner. And if I had just known there was a medicine that would make me thinner with little to no effort I would have taken it 30 years ago and probably had a different life.”
Ozempic is the brand name for a semaglutide, which is a drug that was developed to treat type 2 diabetes. The injectable medication has become popular for weight loss, as it suppresses the user’s appetite. Many stars, including Gay, have admitted to using the prescription as an aide in their weight loss journeys.
Gay revealed in November 2023 that she had been taking Ozempic for quite some time but hadn’t dropped an excessive amount of weight yet.
“[I’m] on the Ozempic train,” she said to People at the time. “I’ve been on it for a long time but hadn’t really seen much results. And I haven’t had massive results, but enough for people to notice, which is great.”
The reality star confessed that since she began to slowly shed a few pounds, she noticed that some people in her circle have acted differently towards her.
“You lose five pounds, people are nicer to you,” she said, noting that it was a “discouraging” thought. “It’s just the way the world works and that makes me sad for women. But happy that I’m down five.”
IMPACT x Nightline: The Skinny Confessions: After Ozempic drops on Hulu on February 29.
