Copyright Us Weekly
Brooks Nader is opening up about her addiction to using GLP-1 medications for weight loss. “If I didn’t get a job, I would say to [my old agency], ‘Can we get feedback from the client?’” Nader, 28, recalled in an interview with Bustle published on Wednesday, November 5. “The direct feedback was I needed to lose 30 pounds. I didn’t shed one tear over it. I don’t feel bad for myself. I just say, ‘The facts are they want me to lose weight. How can I achieve that?’” She shared that once she “started GLP-1,” her “career took off.” “I’m not saying it’s OK. I’m not saying it’s right. I think everybody is different — but I lost 30 pounds, and I booked all the jobs,” she explained. Nader documented some of her journey with GLP-1 use on season 1 of her reality show, Love Thy Nader, which she starred in with her sisters Grace Ann Nader, Sarah Jane Nader and Mary Holland Nader. After watching Brooks get candid about the side effects of using weight loss drugs on the show, fans had reached out to her and said, “I’m also addicted to GLP-1. I’m ashamed to talk about it because there’s such a stigma around it. It’s a crutch for me,” she told Bustle. Brooks related to her fans. “I’m still on it. It’s a crutch for me, too. It’s not healthy. I should get off it; I’ll be honest about that,” she said. The Sports Illustrated Swimsuit model exclusively opened up to Us Weekly in August about her experience with Ozempic, which is a type of GLP-1 drug. The medication is used to manage diabetes by regulating blood sugar levels and appetite which often leads to weight loss. “I was kind of sick of being at cocktail parties or fashion events where someone I knew six months prior had lost a random 80 pounds,” she told Us. “I’m like, ‘You look amazing,’ and they’re like, ‘Oh, I just started working out.’ I didn’t love everyone lying about it. I had a weight loss, and why lie? So I was like, ‘I’m on Ozempic!’” Brooks shared that she always encourages people to “do something to make you feel more beautiful.” “No hate on you if you want a nose job or a boob job. Just do it. Who cares?” she said. During an episode of Love Thy Nader, Brooks’ sisters held an intervention after they became concerned that she was using too many weight-loss drugs. “I typically micro-dose GLP-1, this weight loss drug,” Brooks explained in a confessional. “But now since I have Maxim coming up, and I’m probably gonna be half-naked, I’m upping my dose a little because I want to be extra snatched. But at the same time, the symptoms of the weight loss drug, they’ve gotten a lot worse recently.” Later that day, they had a psychologist come to their apartment and talk to Brooks about her usage of weight loss drugs. “My career has just started to take off, and I don’t think that it’s a coincidence that it just started to take off once I altered myself and lost weight [and] fixed my nose,” she said in a confessional. “All the things my team told me I needed to change, I did.” Brooks added, “I know my sisters are coming from a place of love, I just find that you don’t know until you’re in that position how to handle it.” The model later admitted, “I think that I have maybe an unhealthy relationship with weight and food because of the industry that I’m in, but I don’t think that I have an eating disorder.” If you or someone you know is struggling with substance abuse, contact the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357). If you or someone you know struggles with an eating disorder, visit the National Alliance for Eating Disorders website or call their hotline at +1 (866) 662-1235. Text “ALLIANCE” to 741741 for free, 24/7 support.
