The Real Housewives Of Ozempic: Erika Jayne Is The Latest Bravo Star To Deny Using The Weight Loss Drug

By Emily Richardson | Celebrity | August 3, 2023 |

By Emily Richardson | Celebrity | August 3, 2023 |

On Monday night, Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Erika Jayne appeared on Watch What Happens Live. Before you could say, “Tom’s house was broken into, and he confronted the burglar and then he had to go have eye surgery and then my son had to go over and help and then, my son, he rolled over his car five times on the way home,” host Andy Cohen pointed out that Erika looked like “a whisper of herself.” He said, “Um, you look great, you looked great before, by the way… how did you - you lost, seemingly…” Erika, adversary to widows and orphans across the globe, kindly put Andy out of his misery: “Yeah, I lost weight.” But, before she launched into her inevitable Ozempic denial, she provided us with this disclaimer:

Let me just start off by saying, you know, I wanna make sure I don’t trigger anybody, because we have this conversation in Beverly Hills and we have a cast member with an eating disorder…

Erika’s talking about her co-star Crystal Kung Minkhoff, who’s been open about her struggle with bulimia. Last season, Crystal confided to Erika about her guilt over eating a lot during the holidays. “I wanna get rid of it,” she told Erika. “Like, I can’t be with it.” 52-year-old Erika responded, “Well, I always think, take laxatives and get rid of it!” HUH. Thanks for the tip? Later, a cocktail waiter served Erika a chicken tender. She proceeded to wave it in Crystal’s direction while yelling, “You can’t have this! It’s a chicken tender!” Obviously, Erika faced a ton of backlash for her tone-deaf behavior, hence her WWHL trigger warning.

After Erika covered her “I don’t wanna offend anybody” bases, she confirmed that she had “come down in weight”, and she did it “hormonally.” Andy replied, “Hormonally. Not Ozempically?” Erika explained that she was going through menopause, so she “took it all down.” The other guest on WWHL, Jackie Hoffman, cut in to say what we were all thinking: “Who loses weight in menopause?” Erika responded, “Me! I went to the doctor, I said ‘get it off!’” Wait, what? So what did the doctor do? We never found out. Andy changed the subject, and everyone moved on. Here’s the clip:

Add Erika to the growing list of Real Housewives who have denied taking diabetes drugs in order to slim down. Since last year, Erika’s Beverly Hills co-star, Kyle Richards, has repeatedly shut down Ozempic accusations. She attributed her weight loss to a change in diet, an intense workout regimen, quitting drinking, and getting a breast reduction. Last month, we learned Kyle miiight be separating from her husband of 27 years, Mauricio Umansky. Kyle denied People’s initial report, but admitted the couple had experienced “a rough year.” Some fans on social media backtracked their “concerned” cries of “OZEMPIC!”, and admitted Kyle’s weight loss could have to do with stress.

But not all Housewives Ozempic denials are so complicated. After Real Housewives of Orange County star Emily Simpson denied using the drug to lose 30 pounds, she eventually admitted she’d been on it for a month in the winter because she was “pre-diabetic.” Emily explained that Ozempic was a “great kickstart for me to lose five to seven pounds”, but she decided to go off it cuz it made her feel lethargic. In May, her co-star, Gina Kirschenheiter weighed herself on camera to prove she wasn’t on any weight loss medication. She captioned her TikTok: “I’m a size 6. If i wasnt eating i would be a 2. Go kick rocks.”

Then there’s The Real Housewives of New Jersey. Cast members Margaret Josephs, Jenn Fessler, and Dolores Catania have all admitted to using diabetes drugs to drop weight. Margaret confessed to using a weekly GLP-1 agonist injection similar to Ozempic. A few months ago, Jenn Fessler went on WWHL and attributed her “glow up” (Andy Cohen’s words) to a facelift, nose job, and weight loss meds. Andy responded, “Like Ozempic?” Jenn replied, “You said it, I didn’t. But whatever works, here I am.” During her appearance on the show, Dolores straight up admitted to dropping 20 pounds on Mounjaro:

Like Crystal Kung Minkhoff, Real Housewives of New Jersey star (OK, demoted “friend of”) Jackie Goldschneider has been open about her eating disorder. She’s recovering from a nearly twenty-year battle with anorexia. Jackie has claimed “a lot of people in the Housewives world are on Ozempic”, and her RHONJ friends going on the drug actually made her recovery “harder.” She explained it was tough for her when “suddenly, no one’s eating when we go out to dinner.” On the latest RHONJ reunion, Jackie expressed her concern about weight loss drugs leading to eating disorders:

“I don’t think it’s a bad thing to want to lose weight. I mean, I know more than anyone how addictive it is to want to lose weight. I think the problem is gonna be one day people have to go off of it. And then the studies show that you gain all the way back pretty quickly.”

“You’re going to have all these people who are addicted to being thin, who suddenly are saying, ‘Oh, my God, what do I do? How do I get back to being thin?’ And that’s where dangerous habits are going to come in and that is what scares me.”

An unhealthy obsession with weight loss isn’t the only thing Ozempic users have to worry about. Yesterday, a Louisiana woman filed a lawsuit against drugmakers Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly for failing to adequately warn patients about the possible risk of stomach problems associated with Ozempic and Mounjaro. 44-year-old Jaclyn Bjorklund claims she was “severely injured” after taking the two diabetes drugs. Jaclyn says she’s experienced persistent, excruciating vomiting and stomach paralysis. Her attorney says 400 people have come forward with similar gastrointestinal injuries caused by the meds, and he ultimately expects to see “thousands of such cases.”

Surprise surprise, the “miracle” weight loss drug meant for diabetes patients comes with a terrifying hitch. My thoughts and prayers go out to all The Real Housewives of Ozempic and their gastrointestinal tracts during this harrowing time.