Jackie Goldschneider is “horrified” by the latest celebrity weight-loss fad drug, Ozempic — especially because it seems to be a hit among friends of hers in the “Real Housewives” world.
“You should know that I can talk about Ozempic all day. It gets me so fired up,” the “Real Housewives of New Jersey” star, 46, says on Page Six’s “Virtual Reali-Tea” podcast. “I’m horrified by it.”
Goldschneider, who has been vocal on the Bravo reality show about her eating disorder battle, continues, “There’s going to be a lot of people with eating disorders. … You start dropping massive amounts of weight. That’s so addicting. That’s how I spiraled into anorexia.”
Today, the former attorney says she is in a “great place” in her recovery.
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“This is the first time in my life that I’ve really learned to love myself and really accept myself,” she tells us. “I had to learn that weight has nothing to do with happiness.”
Still, Goldschneider admits that her social circle’s fascination with semaglutide — an antidiabetic medication sold under brand names like Ozempic and Wegovy and used for chronic weight management, according to the FDA — has been difficult to navigate.
“It made my recovery harder, from a selfish standpoint, because I wanted to come back into a world where everyone around me was eating and loving food and enjoying life,” she explains.
“I wanted to come back to that and I didn’t because a lot of people in the ‘Housewives’ world are on Ozempic, a lot of my friends are in the ‘Housewives’ world, so it was tough for me to come back and suddenly no one’s eating when we go out to dinner.”
Kyle Richards, who has been flaunting a toned physique via social media as of late, is one of the “Housewives” fans have accused of using the drug to slim down.
The “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” OG, 54, has repeatedly shut down the speculation, however.
“I’ve never tried Ozempic, none of those diet drugs,” she told Page Six earlier this month. “And now hearing that diabetics can’t even get their hands on it, it would be extremely irresponsible to do that, so it’s extra offensive to me.”
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Goldschneider clarifies that she isn’t “saying anyone in particular is on it,” but she notes that she “looked up to some people” who she felt “had a very normal relationship with food” — and now rely on Ozempic to stay svelte.
She says the trend has “opened [her] eyes” and “made [her] even more disgusted” with the diet industry at large. (The mother of four previously branded Ozempic an “eating disorder in a needle.”)
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Goldschneider details her experience with disordered eating and her journey to self-love in her forthcoming memoir, “The Weight of Beautiful,” set to publish Sept. 26.
“This is a story I’ve spent my whole life hiding, the story of how diet culture took over my life, plunging me into a world of starvation, filled with shame and secrets, that lasted almost 2 decades long,” she wrote in an Instagram post Wednesday.
“This is also a story of recovery. It’s a story that will blow you away.”
“The Real Housewives of New Jersey” airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET on Bravo.