“You know, you do miss food a little bit,” Arthur admits. “But not that much.”

“It’s really fun for them to have their jeans hang off of them like they’re a Hadid. There is an addictive quality to it.”

If thin is an unspoken virtue, then part of its virtuousness comes from having worked for it, earned it. “I think everyone’s always been wary of weight loss that isn’t a struggle and a result of hard work and denial.” Ozempic is a diet that’s not a diet, wellness that’s only wellness for the person you’re taking it from, whose ease feels like a... See more

“It’s like everyone is so psychologically damaged from living a two-dimensional life,”

“Should anyone suddenly appear svelte, I just assume it’s Ozempic,” says Lauren Santo Domingo, the social fixture and chief brand officer of Moda Operandi. “However, if they elaborate unprompted on their new diet, then I know it’s Ozempic.”

“The truth is we really don’t know,” says Lofton, the NYU doctor. “We don’t have enough evidence in those people because we never studied it in those people. So we have to find out.”

From a medical perspective, their effectiveness is thrilling, and patients welcomed them with practically religious reverence. Paul Ford, who has always struggled with his appetite, wrote in Wired that “where before my brain had been screaming, screaming, at air-raid volume — there was sudden silence” once he was on one of these drugs. “At an... See more

et’s be clear: For those who need them — medically rather than cosmetically — the drugs are a godsend. The primary indication for Ozempic and Mounjaro — and the only condition they are currently FDA-approved for — is the treatment of type-2 diabetes (the lifestyle-contingent, typically adult-onset diabetes, as opposed to the rarer type-1 diabetes,... See more

Although it’s been approved and prescribed since 2017, the buy-in of Hollywood, openly or not, took Ozempic from medicine to status symbol. The message that dramatic weight loss is now readily, effortlessly available for those who can afford it spread across text chains and friend groups along with referrals to willing prescribers. Not since Botox,... See more