Trigger warning: Weight loss and extreme dieting
‘I didn't starve myself, but I was so strict...’ These were the alarming words Kim Kardashian used to describe her 16lb weight loss over just three weeks in the run-up to the Met Ball in May. Kim had set herself the task of fitting into a gold dress once worn by Marilyn Monroe, in order to meet the ‘Gilded Glamour’ brief for the event. Although Kim said that she had ‘worn a sauna suit twice a day, ran on the treadmill, completely cut out all sugar and all carbs, and just ate the cleanest veggies and protein’, rumours began to swirl on TikTok that there was something else behind Kim’s weight loss.
While Kim hasn’t mentioned anything about using it, it has been suggested on multiple platforms online that she could be using insulin regulating drugs such as Ozempic – which lower blood sugar by stimulating insulin secretion in a glucose- dependent manner, causing weight loss as a side effect. However, there is no evidence Kim has tried the drug, and she has not commented on the rumours.
In a TikTok viewed 2.5million times, Beverly Hills surgeon Dr Gary Motykie questions, ‘Is Ozempic Kim Kardashian’s secret weight loss drug?’ That set ‘Ozempic’ trending on the platform, with videos using the tag viewed almost 300 million times and thousands of users sharing their Ozempic ‘weight-loss journeys’ with their followers. Earlier this year, it was even reported that a shortage of the drug had been sparked in this country by the TikTok trend, with GPs in the USA asked to prioritise the medication for people with the condition. The Wall Street Journal ran a story in October which described Ozempic as ‘the Talk of Hollywood, Tech and the Hamptons’ – after it was rumoured that Elon Musk’s recent weight loss was fuelled by Ozempic. Talk show host Andy Cohen tweeted: ‘Everyone is suddenly showing up 25 pounds lighter. What happens when they stop taking #Ozempic ?????’
Dr Jane Leonard, a GP who also appears on Channel 4’s Embarrassing Bodies, says she has been aware of a growing emphasis on weight-loss services in clinics. ‘In 2017 I got approached by a beauty clinic who were setting up a weight-loss clinic to run alongside their existing weight-loss procedures such as 3D lipo,’ she tells Grazia, adding that she told them she couldn’t get involved because of the huge red flags involved. As for Ozempic itself, she cautions: ‘This medication is only FDA approved for patients with Type 2 diabetes and patients who have obesity alongside it, but it’s not approved for weight loss alone. If you have kidney or thyroid problems, cardiovascular problems or are dehydrated, it can be very unsafe.’
Other than the health risks and drug shortages, this obsession has set other alarm bells ringing. It’s been suggested that the return to Y2K fashion trends could be behind a return to a skinny aesthetic on the catwalks. A report in Vogue noted that the most recent fashion weeks displayed a dip in size-inclusive casting.
Actor and activist Jameela Jamil, who founded I Weigh in 2018, tells Grazia that she is distressed by this seeming resurgence in the fetishisation of thinness. ‘It signals the comeback of extreme thinness, at speed, and drags us back to a trend we were starting to crawl out of. With all the progress about self-worth that we’ve made... is thinness still seen as this superior? It’s about vanity and impatience – and it’s the height of diet industry corruption.’