Key Takeaways
- Paloma Elsesser called the glamorization of Ozempic and similar weight-loss drugs harmful, arguing that the trend strips people of “the agency to live.”
- The model questioned whether “my body, my choice” applies to prescription weight-loss drugs and urged people to “think critically, not be critical.”
- Elsesser also linked the Ozempic era to conservative, anti-woke rhetoric and warned about a rise in pro-eating-disorder content on TikTok.
Paloma Elsesser thinks that the glamorization of Ozempic and similar weight-loss drugs isn’t a good thing for society as a whole.
The 34-year-old model, who became the first plus-size model to win Model of the Year at the Fashion Awards in 2023, made an appearance on Vogue’s The Run-Through podcast and suggested the rise of Ozempic can be correlated to the rise of “conservative” and “anti-woke” rhetoric. “I think the Ozempic era that we’re talking about is harmful because it kind of takes away the agency to live in the way that I would hope people and women and young girls and young people can think about their bodies in this world,” she shared. Around the 32-minute point of the podcast, which can be seen above.
Elssesser also said that she’s seen a rise in “pro-eating disorder content” on platforms such as TikTok, which is especially worrying considering so many young people have unfiltered access to such content.
“II think people are just being like, ‘Okay, this is not it,’” she continued. “We’re seeing celebrities and people… I think people are upset. … I think that women should have agency. I am critical of applying my body, your body, your choice to this conversation because it’s like… ‘Is it your choice?’ It’s not. It’s a prescription, so it doesn’t actually feel like a choice. … I don’t know, maybe I said something problematic. … The number one central tenet, like, anything that I try and live and encourage is to just think critically, not be critical.”
Watch the full episode up top.
