Stephen Fry says his ‘astonishing’ weight loss came at a price, after a ‘fat jab’ caused him to vomit up to five times a day.
The actor, 66, was an early proponent of Ozempic, an obesity drug that is all the rage in Hollywood – with celebrity fans including Sharon Osbourne, 71, and Amy Schumer, 42.
But Fry has become the latest big name star to warn of the dangers of the drug after feeling its grim after-effects, The Mirror reports.
The star says he happened to be in America when he read about Ozempic, and asked his doctor about getting a prescription.
Initially, Fry says he was pleasantly surprised by the drug’s effectiveness and found it stopped all of his cravings for food and alcohol.
Comedian and actor Stephen Fry, 66, says he lost an astonishing five stone in just four months after taking the weight loss drug Ozempic – but he suffered chronic bouts of vomiting
Fry says he was at his heaviest in April 2019 when his weight came to nearly 21st
He said: ‘The first week or so, I was thinking, “This is astonishing. Not only do I not want to eat, I don’t want any alcohol of any kind. This is going to be brilliant.
‘The I started feeling sick, and I started getting sicker and sicker and sicker. I was throwing up four, five times a day and I thought, “I can’t do this”. So that’s it. The new variant, Tirzepatide Mounjaro, makes it even worse apparently.’
Fry, who is married to comedian Elliott Spencer, says he was at his heaviest in April 2019 when his weight came to nearly 21st.
But by August of that year, he had lost five and a half stone after taking the drug.
He attributes his obsession with food to his childhood in Norfolk, and the cook Mrs Riseborough employed by his parents Marianne and Alan. He told Ruthie’s Table 4 podcast that she was a ‘good English plain cook’.
‘She didn’t do anything terribly fancy. But everything she did was just right, pies and tarts and things like that. She made pork pies, we had a game larder and we’d have birds hung. She was wonderful.’
Ozempic is used to improve glycemic control for type 2 diabetics, and the NHS advises only a weight management specialist should prescribe it.
Common side effects of the drug are said to include nausea, diarrhoea, abdominal pain and vomiting, while some users have reported thyroid tumours after having an adverse reaction to the jab.
Sharon Osbourne has voiced both the benefits and negative effects of using the drug, telling ITV’s Loose Women she stood by using it and that the injections worked.
However, she stated last year that she did regret continuing to take the jabs after her weight dropped below seven stone (45kg), telling interviews ‘I’m too gaunt’ and ‘Be careful what you wish for’.
Despite Sharon’s words of caution, her daughter Kelly, 39, boasts that Ozempic is ‘amazing’ and ‘isn’t as boring as working out’.
Fry says he was at his heaviest in April 2019 when his weight came to nearly 21st. But by August of that year, he had lost five and a half stone after taking the drug
Stephen Fry, 66, revealed in a chat about longevity that he doesn’t want to live past 100 because he would ‘hate to be that lonely’ and that he ‘likes the idea of death’ (pictured in 2023)
Stephen’s comments about loneliness come five years after he was last seen with husband Elliott Spencer, 36 (last pictured at the Rocketman UK Premiere in May 2019)
In January, Fry revealed that he does not want to live past 100 because he would ‘hate to be that lonely’.
Speaking about longevity to Evgeny Lebedev on his podcast Brave New World, on the episode where David Walliams was also interviewed, Stephen admitted that he ‘likes the idea of death’, and it is the ‘idea of decay’ that shakes his boots.
He explained: ‘Personally, I’m not particularly interested in longevity for myself. I’m interested, as I think most people are, in the idea of an old age that is as pain-free as possible and where there isn’t too much cognitive loss…
‘But I am not someone who wants to live longer than the rest of my friends.’
He continued: ‘If everybody – my family and friends – lived into their 120s, then maybe I’d be quite happy to pass 100. But as it is, I would hate to be that lonely Flying Dutchman figure so beloved of history…
‘The survivor, all of whose dependents and acquaintances have since died. I would find that deeply upsetting.’
Stephen also opened up about how living in California has made him worry over how easily influenced people are by trendy health fads.
The comedian blamed the boom in people following health trends on ‘snake oil salesman’.
Stephen said: ‘The trouble is, there are so many snake oil salesmen out there, and those of us who follow health trends can see that they go in different directions.
‘At the moment, there’s a great deal of interest in the human microbiome, so people are insisting on fermented foods and probiotics, none of which I think are entirely proven to help in any way – except perhaps for those with specific conditions like irritable bowel syndrome, or Crohn’s disease.
Stephen shared: ‘I’m interested, as I think most people are, in the idea of an old age that is as pain-free as possible and where there isn’t too much cognitive loss’ (Pictured aged 14)
‘But nonetheless, I know lots of people, particularly in California – where I am at the moment and which is always what you might call a leader in this kind of thing – who drink nothing but kombucha and eat lots of sauerkraut because they’ve read somewhere that it will somehow help them live longer and cleaner – that strange word, “clean” eating.
‘I’m very dubious, I’m very skeptical, but in a positive way. So many of these things are just about having something to sell.’
His opinion on living longer than a century may be bleak, but that hasn’t stopped him from jumping on the bandwagon of other fads, as he admitted to fasting.
Intermittent fasting is going for extended periods without eating, followed by some time of eating normally.
Stephen revealed that he will not eat for 16 hours a day.
‘I’m also interested in my own health, I suppose largely because I hate the fact that I have a propensity to put on a lot of weight,’ he added.
