Here, DEEP DIVE lays bare all of the disturbing side effects of slimming jabs, exactly how they work inside your body and the definitive list of celebs taking them…
Written by Luke Andrews
Miracle weight-loss drugs like Ozempic have burst onto the scene in recent years, hailed as a potential fix for the West’s spiraling obesity crisis. But long before skinny shots became available to the masses, they were already Hollywood’s worst-kept secret – quietly used by celebrities to slim down behind the scenes.
Now, as the stigma fades and the drugs are doled out to millions, a wave of stars are coming forward to share their experiences, telling both their success stories and the unexpected side effects that have changed their face, bum and even feet.
Here, DEEP DIVE lays bare all of the disturbing side effects of slimming jabs, exactly how they work inside your body and the definitive list of celebs taking them…
Step by step, how Ozempic and other fat jabs work
Semaglutide mimics glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1), a naturally occurring hormone released in the small intestine when you eat. It tells your brain you’re full and slows digestion.
After years of rigorous scientific trials, semaglutide has been chemically modified to last far longer than the body’s own, short-lived supply of GLP-1. As a result, it keeps people feeling fuller for longer.
Revealed: ALL of the side effects
Novo wasn’t trying to create a miracle weight-loss drug. The Danish firm had, for decades, been perfecting a drug that helps regulate insulin for type 2 diabetics.
Their first success was liraglutide, branded as Victoza (approved in 2010 for diabetes), and later Saxenda (approved in 2014 for weight loss).
Then they engineered semaglutide, a long-acting GLP-1 analogue. By tweaking the structure – attaching a fatty acid chain to the molecule – they made it bind to blood proteins and resist breakdown. The result? A drug that only needs to be injected once a week, not daily.
Semaglutide entered clinical trials in the early 2010s, and the first major study results were published around 2016. These quickly revealed a powerful side effect: Patients were reporting dramatically suppressed appetites and unprecedented weight loss.
By the time the Danish pharmaceutical giant realised what it had on its hands, the race to recast semaglutide as a slimming jab was already underway.
The weight loss effects were so striking that Novo pivoted — launching a major clinical trial specifically for obesity, this time using a slightly higher dose of semaglutide. Landmark results were published in 2021 in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) and made headlines around the world.
Patients lost an average of 15% of their body weight, or 2st 6lbs — numbers previously only seen with surgery to shrink the stomach. By comparison, those given a placebo but following the same 500-calorie deficit and activity program shed just 2.6kg (6lbs). Side effects like nausea and diarrhea were dismissed by experts as ‘predictable’ and not serious enough to raise alarm.
Later that year, semaglutide was approved under a new brand name: Wegovy. Novo hailed it as the beginning of ‘a new era’ in the fight against obesity.
But the now-infamous list of semaglutide’s side effects was lost amongst the fanfare. The company described the drug’s safety profile as ‘well-tolerated’. Yet, the breakthrough NEJM study revealed that 44% of users experienced nausea and a third suffered diarrhea — double the rate in the placebo group.
As with the Covid vaccines, the full picture of side effects only started to emerge after the drugs, and rivals that work in identical ways, went mainstream and were rolled out to millions. Reports soon surfaced of vision loss, thyroid tumors, gastroparesis (stomach paralysis), and severe pancreatitis.
One early warning came in the form of a study suggesting semaglutide may increase the risk of non-arteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy (NAION), an ‘eye stroke’ that cuts blood flow to the optic nerve, causing sudden and sometimes irreversible blindness. The risk appeared to be extremely slim, however..
Although developed to stabilize blood sugar, semaglutide has paradoxically worsened certain complications in some diabetics – particularly those affecting vision.
Like NAION, diabetic retinopathy is another risk that can lead to permanent blindness. Novo’s own leaflet warns of temporary blurred vision, which experts say may result from sugar-level fluctuations distorting the eye’s lens.