Tess Holliday speaks out about the wave of plus-sized artists using weight loss drug Ozempic to shed pounds during a recent interview with TNND Entertainment.
The plus-sized model and activist spoke to our entertainment reporter Courtney Tezeno backstage before her Teen Vogue Summit panel on Sept. 20 and addressed the alarming trend of stars turning to Ozempic. When asked if she thinks artists like Lizzo and Meghan Trainor chose to slim down pushes us back or forward in the fight for body positivity movement, she had a hot take.
“Yeah, of course, it’s hard to see plus-size icons shrinking before us. I’m still here, and they’re still who they are. They’re just in different bodies, and that’s okay,” Holliday, 40, said.
“I think what other people do with their bodies should not push anyone forward or back. I think the only thing pushing us forward or back is our current administration. It has nothing to do with people’s bodies.”
Back in April, the supermodel clapped back at a troll who suggested she take Ozempic, an FDA-approved prescription medication for people with type 2 diabetes.
“Just take the Ozempic, nobody will judge,” one critic wrote.
Holliday responded, “The funny thing is, you would judge. It’s kind of like when you are plus size and not palatable, you’re kind of screwed either way.”
“You’re damned if you do, damned if you don’t,” she added.
Holliday, who has a USA Today best-selling book out called “Taking Up Space, Y’all,” opened up about how the hardest chapter to write in her book was the one that addressed her “disordered eating.”
“Eating disorders are at an all-time high, especially in our youth,” she shared. “As someone that is dealing with disordered eating, and so many people who are, I wanted to have that in there so that others could get help sooner.”
The model and author is known for her #EffYourBeautyStandards campaign. While she continues to be an inspiration for the curvy community, she said the new era of Ozempic is another fad, adding to the long list of methods used to fit universal beauty standards.
“If it wasn’t Ozempic, there were machines that shook fat off us, there were diet pillsSo I think people should live and let live. Let people do what they want to do with their bodies,” she concluded.