Marie Osmond is sharing her thoughts on the Ozempic craze.
“I don’t think [it’s] long-term effective,” Osmond, 64, exclusively told Us Weekly on Friday, January 5, of using diabetes medications like Ozempic and Mounjaro for weight loss.
She continued: “I think you have to learn that food is not your enemy and you have to do it the right way. That’s my personal opinion. And it’s healthier that way. I totally believe in health and taking care of your heart and your organs and keeping this machine that we have that houses our soul healthy.”
Osmond has long been singing the praises of Nutrisystem, which 15 years ago helped her shed 50 pounds — and has helped her keep it off since. She even teamed up with the brand to design a weight loss program specifically designed for women ages 50 and up called Complete 50.
“At 50, we as women — our hormones go crazy,” Osmond explained. ”That middle [body] fat, that’s what ended up taking my grandmother’s and my mother’s life. And I knew genetically I was predisposed to it. So, [Complete 50] is the answer. I mean, if you want to go weigh it and cook it and measure it and do all the stressful things, but I just wanted to get the weight off. And they do it in such a great way that they give you foods that you crave. You don’t feel like you’re starving.”
The singer admitted that she accepted her 50-pound weight gain as inevitable and “almost gave up [before] Nutrisystem.” However, everything changed when one of Osmond’s sons encouraged her to prioritize her health.
“My son came to me on behalf of all the kids. I was divorced, and they said, ‘Mom, you’re all we have,’” Osmond recalled. “That was so hard, because you know you’re overweight, and 50 pounds on me is a lot. And it was one of those knife-in-the-heart [moments] that I needed.”
Osmond emphasized that weight loss is “not about being” skinny for her; it’s about feeling her best.
“Weight ages us and it causes so many other side effects,” she told Us. “I get on the floor, I play with my grandkids, I’m out being active, I’m living my best life. At 50, you kind of go, ‘This is who I am. Like it or lump it. I’m going to have fun.’ And to me, health is everything. I would love to have had my mother longer. I know she would’ve loved to have her mother longer.”
Osmond is the mom of eight children. She shares daughters Jessica, 36, Rachel, 34, Brianna, 27, and Abigail, 21, and sons Brandon, 27, Matthew, 24, and Michael, who died by suicide at age 18 in 2010, with ex-husband Brian Blosil. She also shares son Stephen, 40, with husband Stephen Lyle Craig, whom she divorced in 1985 before remarrying him in 2011.
“He was always my best friend,” Osmond told Us of Craig. “He said [before we got remarried], ‘I love you, but I need to make sure that I want to love seven more children.’ … And boy, they love him. Oh, he is dad. They just adore him, and he is so good with them.”
With reporting by Christina Garibaldi
