Sharon Osbourne says she 'lost 42 pounds' since Ozempic, can't gain weight: 'I'm too gaunt'

Sharon Osbourne is opening up about the negative side effects she's experienced since using Ozempic, a drug meant as a treatment for those with Type 2 diabetes.

"I'm too gaunt and I can't put any weight on," Osbourne, 71, told The Daily Mail in an interview published Friday. "I want to, because I feel I'm too skinny. I'm under 100 (pounds) and I don't want to be. Be careful what you wish for."

The reporter described her as "a tiny bird" and noticeably smaller than when they spoke just 18 months prior.

"I started on Ozempic last December and I’ve been off it for a while now, but my warning is don’t give it to teenagers, it’s just too easy," Osbourne said. "You can lose so much weight and it’s easy to become addicted to that, which is very dangerous.

"I couldn’t stop losing weight and now I’ve lost 42 pounds and I can’t afford to lose any more," she added.

The TV personality implied that she's faced a lot of criticism for her appearance, but says she has "never really cared what people say about the way I look because I know I’ve paid a fortune to try and look attractive."

"I was never a beauty. I was never blessed that way," the former co-host of "The Talk" said.

How does Ozempic work for weight loss?

Ozempic has been at the center of controversy in Hollywood, where its rumored use has received a lot of attention, particularly by already-thin celebrities. The brand-name drug for semaglutide is just one of many in a drug class known as incretin mimetics.

"Semaglutide sends signals to the appetite center in your brain to reduce hunger and increase fullness," according to Dr. Deborah Horn, an assistant professor in the surgery department at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston. "This helps you feel full with smaller meals and decreases the need for snacks. … (The drug) decreases what we call 'food noise' so that we aren't thinking about food as much or using food to try and solve other problems."

Exclusive clip:Oprah Winfrey talks Ozempic, being 'shamed in the tabloids' for weight

In June 2021, the Food and Drug Administration approved semaglutide – under the brand name Wegovy –  as a treatment for chronic obesity. Since then, interest in the drug, which requires weekly injections, has skyrocketed. 

Contributing: Delaney Nothaft

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