Little Mix’s Jade Thirlwall says she often receives negative comments about her gaining weight.<\/p>\n
“I have a daily battle with myself not to go on Ozempic,” Thirlwall said.<\/p>\n
She said she has a history of eating disorders and doesn’t know “where taking something like that would end for me.”<\/p>\n
Little Mix<\/a>‘s Jade Thirlwall says she is resisting Ozempic<\/a> despite the public scrutiny around her body.<\/p>\n In an interview with The Guardian<\/a> published Saturday, the singer said that many of the negative comments she receives are about weight gain.<\/p>\n “I have a daily battle with myself not to go on Ozempic,” Thirlwall told The Guardian. “I don’t judge people that do, but because I have a history of eating disorders<\/a>, I don’t know where taking something like that would end for me.”<\/p>\n Thirlwall said she had only been out of the hospital for a few months after treatment for anorexia when she auditioned for “The X Factor<\/a>” in 2011 at 18.<\/p>\n “Historically, if I’ve ever felt that something is out of my control, then restricting food has been a means of controlling my life in a very toxic way,” she said.<\/p>\n Little Mix was formed on “The X Factor” in 2011, comprising Thirlwall, Leigh-Anne Pinnock, Perrie Edwards, and Jesy Nelson. Nelson left the group<\/a> in 2020 amid backlash over Blackfishing<\/a>, and in 2022, the band went on hiatus to focus on their solo careers.<\/p>\n Thirlwall said that much of the scrutiny around her body comes from people comparing her to her younger self<\/a>.<\/p>\n “Now I’m in my 30s and the healthiest I’ve ever been, but every time I post a picture, there are comments saying, ‘She must be pregnant.’ The sad thing is that it’s usually women,” Thirlwall said.<\/p>\n “But people are used to seeing me in a group environment five or 10 years ago when I was stick-thin because I was in my early 20s with an eating disorder,” she said.<\/p>\n A representative for Thirlwall did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent by Business Insider outside regular hours.<\/p>\n Ozempic and Wegovy are brand names for semaglutide, an injectable drug originally developed for diabetes. In 2021, the FDA approved\u00a0semaglutide\u00a0for use in weight management<\/a>. The drug works by regulating hunger signals<\/a>, allowing people to feel full while eating less.<\/p>\n However, it has side effects<\/a> such as nausea, diarrhea, and constipation. Some patients also reported feeling disgusted<\/a> by the foods they used to enjoy.<\/p>\n Dr. Francesco Rubino, the chair of metabolic and bariatric surgery at King’s College London, told Business Insider in 2022 that it was common for people to regain the weight<\/a> after stopping treatment.<\/p>\n Several doctors also told Business Insider in July that they’ve seen a sharp increase in patients on GLP-1 medications when they enter treatment for eating disorders<\/a>.<\/p>\n In recent years, many Hollywood celebrities have addressed speculation about whether they’ve used weight-loss drugs<\/a>.<\/p>\n In May 2023, NBA star Charles Barkley<\/a> said he lost over 60 pounds in six months after taking Mounjaro while eating healthily and exercising. Later that year, in December 2023, Oprah Winfrey<\/a> said she uses weight-loss medication to help manage her weight.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, stars such as Lizzo, Kelly Clarkson, and Jesse Plemons, have denied using such medications, attributing their weight loss instead to lifestyle changes.<\/p>\n