On Monday, actress Melissa McCarthy posted a photo on Instagram in which she wore a tiered, green seafoam gown to a gala she attended with director Adam Shankman. While the photo itself didn’t cause much of a stir, a comment — which happened to be from entertainer Barbra Streisand — did. It read, in part, “Did you take Ozempic?”
Clips of the comment began circulating soon after, with many viewers criticizing Ms. Streisand for publicly asking whether another celebrity was taking a weight-loss drug. (Others wondered if Ms. Streisand realized the comment had been posted where others could see it.) The comment has since been deleted.
On Tuesday afternoon, Ms. Streisand addressed the pushback. She had gone on Instagram to see pictures of flowers she had received for her birthday he wrote in a post on her Instagram and X accounts. “Below them was a picture of my friend Melissa McCarthy who I sang with on my Encore album,” Ms. Streisand wrote. “She looked fantastic! I just wanted to give her a compliment. I forgot people read!”
Ozempic is part of a relatively new class of drugs used to treat diabetes and obesity that have grown in popularity in recent years. While it’s only FDA-approved for diabetes, people are increasingly using Ozempic off-label to lose weight. Researchers are investigating whether these drugs can treat a range of other conditions, including sleep apnea, alcohol use disorder and chronic kidney disease.
As drugs have grown in popularity, so have public figures to disclose their use. Some have made an event out of disclosing that they are taking medication—perhaps none more notable than Oprah Winfrey, who announced to People magazine that she was taking a weight-loss drug and “ended the shame.” He later hosted a special on weight stigma and new drugs. Elon Musk was an early proponent, tweeting in 2022 after being asked how he had gotten so “fit, ripped and healthy” that he was taking another drug, Wegovy.
Some experts worry that focusing on who does and doesn’t take the drugs can send a damaging message about body and weight. “It shouldn’t be something that people necessarily have to hide,” said Dr. Melanie Jay, director of NYU Langone’s Comprehensive Obesity Program. “But it’s also nobody’s business.”
The exchange may have taken off because it “breaks down still-evolving etiquette around Ozempic, weight loss, and diet,” said Dr. Adrienne Bitard, lecturer in American studies at Cornell University and author of “Diet and the Disease of Civilization.” Asking in public whether a person is taking Ozempic can be a form of insult, she added, given the stigma surrounding taking weight-loss drugs.
Ms. Streisand’s comment was probably harmless, said Kate Manne, an associate professor of philosophy at Cornell University and author of “Unshrinking: How to Face Fatphobia.” But even so, it signals a kind of “surveillance” of Ms. McCarthy’s body, she said.
“He probably didn’t mean anything by it,” Dr. Manne said. “But that doesn’t mean it’s not harmful.”
Ms. McCarthy, for her part, doesn’t seem troubled. Asked by TMZ on Tuesday if the comment crossed the line, Ms McCarthy responded: “I think Barbra is a treasure and I love her,” before shooing the reporter away.