Dr. Terry Dubrow blasts fitness guru Jillian Michaels’ anti-Ozempic claims: ‘Do not listen to her!’
Dr. Terry Dubrow is calling out Jillian Michaels for trying to convince people not to take Ozempic, which he dubs a “miracle weight loss drug.”
“As a board-certified physician and a certified expert for the California medical board, I’m not here to debate scientific and medical issues with a personal trainer,” he told TMZ on Tuesday.
Dubrow, 65, explained that when someone with “great influence” like Michaels disses the drug it can “limit people’s interest in treating the ‘disease’ of obesity” with drugs like Ozempic — a Type 2 diabetes medication used for weight loss.
“What Jillian has said is that there is going to be A: a massive fallout with the long-term use of Ozempic, people are going to get used to it like they get used to coffee, and [B:] the side-effects are so bad you shouldn’t even try it,” he explained.
Michaels previously told People that she got several of her friends and family members to stop using the “dangerous” weight loss drug due to the severe side effects, which she claimed left her loved ones feeling “like s—t.”
“Once they get off of the drug, it does the rebound effect,” she claimed. “So you’re not gaining anything. You get off the drug in a year and go all the way back. You’ve not learned anything. You’ve not built any physical strength or endurance. You haven’t learned how to eat healthy.”
While Dubrow said that Jillian is “absolutely right” that proper “diet and exercise” is “critical” to overall health, he argued that she can’t deny the positive impact of the drug.
“To ignore or belittle these incredible, miracle weight loss drugs is sending the wrong message,” he said. “Do not listen to her, ladies and gentlemen!”
“If you are obese, you are at risk for major causes of mortality. Anything you can do to lower your body fat, including diet and exercise, that’s safe — and these drugs, again, have been around for a decade, they are safe.”
However, Michaels, 49, clapped back at Dubrow on her Instagram Stories just hours after his interview with the outlet was published.
The personal trainer reposted a July 2023 interview in which Dubrow warned that Ozempic could potentially “slow down your intestines and predispose you to intestinal obstruction.”
“@DrDubrow a year ago you were cited in @nypost article on Ozempic possibly COSTING YOU YOUR LIFE,” she wrote atop a screenshot. “Why the sudden about face as an Ozempic poster child 🤔.”
She then posted screenshots of all the potential side effects listed on the website for Ozempic as well as several articles pointing to all the dangers of the drug.
“I don’t deal in opinions,” she wrote. “Unfortunately for you, trainers can read the side effects, the studies, the articles AND THEN seek extra guidance from all the doctors on my podcast.”
She also pointed out the fact that Dubrow even tried the drug himself only to stop taking it due to the side effects.
The plastic surgeon told Page Six last week that he gave Ozempic a shot and “thought it was amazing” — despite not having “much weight to lose.”
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“I wanted to try it because so many of my patients were on it and I wanted to see what it was like when you’re not diabetic and you only have 10-15 pounds to lose,” he explained, admitting that he experienced “some side effects” like “low-grade nausea.”
However, the worst side effect was his lack of appetite — which he said took “all the joy of eating away” and was the reason he stopped taking the medication.
“I thought, ‘You know what, I kind of want to get my appetite back. The holidays are coming, I want to enjoy myself,’” he told us.
Ozempic, an FDA-approved prescription drug, is one of the brand names for Semaglutide — also known as Wegovy — which impacts the brain to maintain satiety and suppress one’s appetite.
Dubrow isn’t the only celeb to have tried the miracle drug as the list of Hollywood stars on Ozempic seems to just keep growing.
One of the most outspoken proponents of the drug in recent months has been Oprah, who Michaels claimed is getting a piece of the pie.
The fitness trainer speculated during an interview with Page Six earlier this month that the TV personality “has a financial incentive with Ozempic” due to her 10 percent stake in WeightWatchers.
“Oprah, I believe, is one of the biggest shareholders of WeightWatchers, and WeightWatchers is now in the Ozempic business,” Michaels told us.
“I believe [WeightWatchers] bought a company that provides access to these drugs, now there is a financial interest in these drugs. I think it’s important to put that out there right off the bat.”
