Does Celebrity Chatter about Weight-Loss Drugs Help or Harm?

Many celebrities are talking enthusiastically about their experiences with weight-loss drugs — especially semaglutide-based glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor agonists (GLP-1 RAs; Ozempic, Wegovy). It’s no surprise that the recent Golden Globes was dubbed “Ozempic’s biggest night.” That show exemplified the fervent celebrity chatter that has helped send prescriptions for these drugs skyrocketing.

Comedian Tracy Morgan, for example, told the Today show he got a prescription for Ozempic “and I ain’t letting it go.” In a recent y!entertainment article recounting Morgan’s experience, 17 other celebrities opened up about their use of the drugs.

Concerningly, comedian Chelsea Handler revealed on the “Call Her Daddy” podcast that her anti-aging doctor “just hands (Ozempic) out to anybody. I didn’t even know I was on it. If you ever want to drop 5 pounds, this is good.”

Experts say celebrity attention has both upsides and downsides. Celebrities bring visibility to the drugs’ efficacy in helping with weight loss — needed or not — potentially encouraging use among those who can benefit. However, they can overlook potential side effects or who’s an appropriate candidate for these drugs.

In fact, lack of regulation over what can be said about these and other prescription treatments has led all countries except the United States and New Zealand to ban direct-to-the-public endorsements of prescription drugs by celebrities.

But social media can easily overcome this barrier. The financial forecasting company Woodseer recently examined the effectiveness and issues surrounding celebrity endorsement of pharmaceutical products, looking specifically at Novo Nordisk (manufacturer of both Ozempic and Wegovy).

“Active promotion” of Wegovy by Elon Musk and Amy Schumer has led to success that “seems to be explosive,” according to Woodseer’s report. “Unlike previous type 2 diabetes and weight-loss medications, Ozempic and Wegovy’s current thriving and forecasted stable growth has been mostly influenced by two events:…Trustworthy clinical trials worldwide and an increased demand due to successful celebrity endorsement.”

A 2src23 article published by the American Academy of Health Behavior addressed the influence of celebrity athlete endorsement in weight-loss advertisements targeting men. The authors wrote, “Findings suggest the presence of a celebrity athlete endorser made weight-loss advertisements more believable to consumers, even when ads contained obviously false claims.”

The practice is unlikely to abate anytime soon. As Woodseer found, “Novo Nordisk demonstrates how celebrities’ contributions were both effective in global promotion and problematic for public health agencies. Novo Nordisk’s latest financial report confirmed that the company continues to grow in sales and global reach.”

Experts Address the Impact of Celebrity Promotion

To gauge the power of celebrity endorsements and testimonials in the real world, particularly following comments made during the Golden Globes and in anticipation of the Oscars on March 2, Medscape Medical News spoke with endocrinologists on the front line.

While every practice differs,our interviewees agreed that celebrity endorsements are a mixed bag, increasing public attention and awareness of the drugs as a potential weight-loss tool, but often not disclosing the full picture — for example, efficacy hinges on concomitant diet and exercise, the need to take the medication long-term, and the risks for side effects that can impair quality of life.

Here’s what our interviewees told us.

Priya Jaisinghani, MD, New York University Grossman School of Medicine, New York City, said, “Celebrity interviews and discussions can serve as a powerful platform to promote meaningful conversations about obesity, recognizing it as a chronic disease, and increasing awareness of evidence-based treatment options.”

“By sharing personal experiences and normalizing the use of these medications, such discussions can play a pivotal role in reducing stigma both around weight and the use of GLP-1 therapies,” she said. “This destigmatization can foster a more supportive environment for individuals seeking medical care for obesity. Such endorsements can also increase awareness of emerging pharmaceutical therapies, motivating patients to explore evidence-based treatment options.”

Nevertheless, she cautioned that celebrity culture often promotes unrealistic beauty standards.

“For individuals in vulnerable populations, this emphasis on external image rather than health outcomes may inadvertently bring forth body image issues or create harmful comparisons. This dual-edged influence underscores the importance of framing these conversations in a way that prioritizes health and evidence-based care over superficial ideals.”

She also warned that celebrity narratives can oversimplify the complexity of obesity treatment or promote drugs as a “quick fix,” rather than as part of a comprehensive, medically supervised plan.

“Misrepresentation of these therapies can undermine public trust and potentially lead to misuse or unrealistic expectations among patients.”

Clinicians should encourage patients to share information they’ve encountered in the media and discuss it openly during their visits, she added. “This creates an opportunity to address questions, clarify misconceptions, and provide evidence-based guidance tailored to the patient’s unique needs and health goals.”

Caroline Messer, MD,Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York City, andHofstra School of Medicine, Hempstead, New York said, “Celebrities clearly influence my patients. Every few weeks, I receive an influx of questions based on recent celebrity posts. For example, for the past few weeks, I have received many queries regarding microdosing. Prior to that, there were several weeks where patients only wanted to discuss the risk of gastroparesis. When Kourtney Kardashian’s Lemme Gummies hit the market, my inbox blew up.”

Echoing Jaisinghani, she said, “Celebrities help normalize these medications and remove the stigma. The downside of influencers is clearly that they are not medical professionals and often spread misinformation. Patients often come to us with myriad misunderstandings.”

Peminda Cabandugama, MD, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, said his patients also seem to be influenced by celebrities talking about GLP-1 RAs, and often discuss what they’ve heard with him. He agreed that celebrities increase awareness about the drugs but said that patients may get the impression that taking the drugs alone would be enough for them to manage their weight. “This causes them to not always follow the bedrock of weight management, which is diet and exercise.”

Furthermore, celebrities tend to have access to more resources than the typical patient, such as personal chefs and on-call personal trainers.

“Patients need to realize that it is not just the medication that is helping the celebrity achieve their long-term goals,” and that the medications are not necessarily easy to obtain.

He cautioned that celebrity-driven marketing can give the impression, “that weight management is a ‘one-size-fits-all’ solution,” instead of “an amalgamation of multiple modalities and a change in lifestyle that is helped by different tools for different people.”

Anne Peters, MD, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, said that her patients, all of whom have diabetes, “tend to ask me for recommendations, not celebrities.”

“I am sure celebrities influence people’s opinions, but I think people with a trusting relationship with their healthcare providers tend to listen to us,” she said. “I don’t mind if a celebrity makes a patient aware of a medication that could help, but ultimately it is the conversation with the healthcare professional that should determine suitability.”

Celebrity influence becomes more complicated when it drives people to online pharmacies that may not fully vet which medications are appropriate, an approach Peters wouldn’t advise even if “the recommendation came from a celebrity or a neighbor.”

However, she noted that celebrities have been used for public service announcements and are good at creating awareness for public health issues.

Barbara Gisella Carranza Leon, MD, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, believes her patients also are being influenced by celebrities.

“Patients are coming to the clinic requesting specific medications. This does not happen with most diseases.”

Like other experts, she pinpointed unrealistic expectations as a key problem. Patients may not realize that weight-loss results vary from person to person. Celebrity comments may also encourage inappropriate use among those who aren’t candidates for these medications.

“The cost of the medication is a big barrier for access. However, given that patients see the weight-loss results of these medications, they go to extreme lengths to try to get them, including using compounded medications.”

On the other hand, she agreed that “having celebrities talk about the topic is good because there has been a lot of bias about obesity. Now we are talking about it and its complications.”

She also questioned whether celebrities who don’t achieve their expected weight-loss results are ever asked to share their experiences.

Research on the effects of celebrity influence and persuasion on patients’ requests for the drugs or willingness to take them would be helpful, she said.

“Obesity is an epidemic. It is not going away anytime soon. The more we learn about how to help our patients, the better.”

Readers are invited to share their experiences with celebrity influence in their practice in the “Comments” section.

Jaisinghani is a speaker for Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk. Carranza Leon is a consultant for Novo Nordisk. Messer, Peters, and Cabandugama declared no relevant conflicts of interest.