Yahoo News Raven-Symoné Says She Doesn't Want People to Use Ozempic for 'Glamazon Purposes'
"Do what you gotta do. Just make sure you save some medication for the people that actually need it,” the actress said
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Raven-Symoné is the latest celebrity to share her thoughts on the recent Hollywood weight loss trend involving the Type 2 diabetes drug Ozempic.
"I have pre-diabetes and diabetes in my family," the Raven's House star, 37, told E! News in an interview published Tuesday. “If I'm not careful with my intake of types of foods, I am more susceptible to getting diabetes.”
“So, I think it's very important we understand certain medications are made for certain people and to not take that away just for glamazon purposes,” she explained.
Related: Stars Who've Spoken About Ozempic — and What They've Said
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“However, for those who need it, I know people that are on it as well and they need it and it definitely helps to regulate hormones,” continued the actress.
She shared: “I think it's sad because we can regulate our own hormones and manage our sugar levels by eating the correct foods and cutting our addiction of sugar off, but we'll get there when we get there.”
“Do what you gotta do. Just make sure you save some medication for the people that actually need it,” added the longtime Disney Channel star.
Ozempic and Wegovy are brand names for semaglutide, which works in the brain to impact satiety and is the latest Hollywood weight loss trend. Their competitor, Mounjaro, the brand name for tirzepatide, is a once-weekly injectable prescription medication that helps overweight or obese people with Type 2 diabetes lose up to 15% of their body weight, drug maker Eli Lilly said on April 27.
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Other celebrities have expressed concern about using the FDA-approved antidiabetic medication to lose weight, even when not medically necessary.
Real Housewives of New Jersey star Jackie Goldschneider said on Page Six's Virtual Reali-Tea podcast in February that she was "horrified" at how many people are taking Ozempic.
"I can talk about Ozempic all day. It gets me so fired up," Goldschneider, 46, said, noting that she's scared it will lead to eating disorders. "I'm horrified by it."
“You start dropping massive amounts of weight. That's so addicting," she said at the time, noting her own recovery from an 18-year eating disorder. "That's how I spiraled into anorexia. You get addicted to this new body and to the attention that comes with it.”
"I think patients need to work with their provider to evaluate and assess their obesity, their degree of obesity, and what treatments may be best for them," Ania Jastreboff, M.D., PhD., an obesity medicine physician scientist at Yale University, told PEOPLE in January when asked how someone can determine if they are a candidate for these medications. "Those treatments may include medications like the ones we're speaking about today. They may include bariatric surgery. So, those types of these treatments need to be discussed with patients' providers."
Dr. Caroline Apovian, co-director of the Center for Weight Management and Wellness at the Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, recently told PEOPLE the Hollywood trend was "concerning."
"You're taking away from patients with diabetes," Apovian explained. "We have lifesaving drugs… and the United States public that really needs these drugs can't get them."
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