On Monday, the actress Melissa McCarthy posted a photograph to Instagram during which she was sporting a tiered, sea-foam-green robe at a gala she had attended alongside the director Adam Shankman. Though the photograph itself didn’t trigger a lot of a stir, one remark — which occurred to be from the entertainer Barbra Streisand — did. It learn, partially, “Did you take Ozempic?”
Screenshots of the remark started circulating quickly after, with many viewers criticizing Ms. Streisand for inquiring publicly whether or not one other movie star was taking a weight-loss treatment. (Others puzzled if Ms. Streisand realized the remark had been posted the place others may see it.) The remark has since been deleted.
On Tuesday afternoon, Ms. Streisand addressed the pushback. She had gone on Instagram to see images of flowers she had obtained for her birthday, she wrote in a submit on her Instagram and X accounts. “Below them was a photo of my friend Melissa McCarthy who I sang with on my Encore album,” Ms. Streisand wrote. “She looked fantastic! I just wanted to pay her a compliment. I forgot the world is reading!”
Ozempic is a part of a comparatively new class of medicines, utilized in treating diabetes and weight problems, which have surged in reputation in recent times. While it’s accepted by the Food and Drug Administration just for diabetes, folks have more and more been utilizing Ozempic off-label to reduce weight. Researchers are investigating whether or not these medicines can deal with a spread of different circumstances, together with sleep apnea, alcohol use dysfunction and continual kidney illness.
As the medication have grown in reputation, so too has the stress for public figures to reveal whether or not they’re utilizing them. Some have made an occasion out of unveiling they take treatment — maybe none extra notably than Oprah Winfrey, who introduced in People journal that she was taking a weight reduction drug and “done with the shaming.” She later hosted a prime-time particular dedicated to weight stigma and the brand new medicines. Elon Musk was one of many earliest proponents, writing on Twitter in 2022 after being requested how he had develop into so “fit, ripped & healthy” that he was taking one other drug, Wegovy.
Some specialists fear that fixating on who’s and isn’t taking the medication can transmit a dangerous message about our bodies and weight. “It should not be something that people necessarily have to hide,” mentioned Dr. Melanie Jay, director of the N.Y.U. Langone Comprehensive Program on Obesity. “But it’s also none of anyone’s business.”
The alternate might have taken off as a result of it “breaks still-evolving etiquette about Ozempic, weight loss and diet,” mentioned Dr. Adrienne Bitar, a lecturer in American research at Cornell University and the writer of the e book “Diet and the Disease of Civilization.” Publicly questioning whether or not an individual takes Ozempic may learn like a form of insult, she added, given the stigma that surrounds taking treatment to reduce weight.
Ms. Streisand’s remark was more than likely innocuous, mentioned Kate Manne, an affiliate professor of philosophy at Cornell University and the writer of the e book “Unshrinking: How to Face Fatphobia.” But even so, it alerts a form of “surveillance” of Ms. McCarthy’s physique, she mentioned.
“Probably she didn’t mean anything by it,” Dr. Manne mentioned. “But that doesn’t mean it’s not harmful.”
Ms. McCarthy, for her half, doesn’t appear troubled. Asked by TMZ on Tuesday whether or not the remark had crossed a line, Ms. McCarthy replied, “I think Barbra is a treasure, and I love her,” earlier than waving the reporter away.
