No.Nonsense.

Over the weekend, we had a stark reminder of the increase of thin-seeking when Kelly Osbourne, daughter of Ozzy, shocked the world during her latest public appearance, looking skeletal. Anyone who stays up on pop culture knows that Kelly has had an ongoing love/hate relationship with weight. She has struggled over the years to maintain a healthy weight, yo-yoing up and down. This weekend, however, she was not only down- she was emaciated.

She has previously made comments about Ozempic but denies using it herself. She responded to those commenting on her current look by saying that she is still dealing with the grief of her father’s passing and is unable to eat. That may be but her shrinking began before her father’s death and reached concerning proportions afterwards.

Whether through overuse of a GLP-1 medication or through her grief, the point that I want to make is why her family and her doctor have not intervened to say the situation is untenable and she is literally starving herself to death.

A couple of years ago, the body positivity movement said to be happy as you are, no matter your size, and encouraged an overall unhealthy lifestyle where diabetes and heart disease were on the rise. The turn in that movement has now led to the opposite extreme of being skeletal thin, encouraging an unhealthy lifestyle.

I, too, have had my own love/hate relationship with my weight, losing large amounts only to gain it back and then some. Just over three years ago I was obese with markers for diabetes and heart disease, both of which are prevalent in my family. I am in my 50s with a preteen son who made it clear to me that my lifestyle (including smoking/vaping) were making it so that I could very well not meet my promise to always be there for him. So I made some changes.

I had tried a couple of different programs with little result. For a woman entering menopause, losing weight is extremely difficult because the hormones are working against her. I went on a very intensive weight loss program with a strict eating regimen and had considerable success. However, when I tried to transition to a maintenance level of eating, the weight began to creep back up. I met with my doctor and the clinical pharmacist at the clinic and discussed my challenges. I had issues with my blood pressure spiking and we determined that keeping my weight under control, along with a low dose blood pressure medication, kept everything at a healthy level. We collectively decided that I would use a GLP-1 for maintenance only- I was at a healthy weight and just needed to keep it there. I like sweets but I had trained myself to not go overboard with my amount of food. The GLP-1 helped to keep everything in check.

I understand the concerns that people who understand a lot more of the science than I do have about the GLP-1s. They are not for everyone and can cause considerable issues for some people. They should never be used as a quick fix to lose weight. You cannot sustain any sort of healthy lifestyle without making changes in that lifestyle. These medications should never be a means to absolve the user from accountability for their choices. I have serious reservations about these subscription services where the masses can access these medications without supervision from their own primary care physician who knows the full scope of their personal and family medical history. And these medications should never be for the purpose of simply looking good in a pair of skinny jeans.

I am proud of the work I did and the results I have achieved. I am happy that I am in a much healthier state. And, yes, I quit smoking and vaping also. I feel better in my 50s than I did in my 40s. I am able to be fully present for my son. And I have no shame in saying that I take a shot once a week to stay this way. But I do it in the right way, for the right reasons, and with the right supervision.

And for Kelly, I hope she finds peace in her mind and reclaims a healthier self for her children. I did.