Kathy Bates revealed she has lost 100lbs over the span of six years amid speculation from fans that she has taken Ozempic.
The Misery star, 76 – who recently announced that she will retire from acting after her stint on CBS’ Matlock reboot – discussed her weight loss journey during an interview with Variety published on Wednesday.
While talking to the outlet, she gushed about her role in Matlock and explained that prioritizing her health as well as losing weight helped her keep up with the filming schedule.
‘It’s helped me tremendously that, over the last six or seven years, I’ve lost 100 pounds,’ Bates expressed. ‘I don’t think I’ve been this slim since I was in college.’
Kathy stated that she was at her heaviest weight back in 2011 when she was starring in the NBC series, Harry’s Law, and admitted, ‘I had to sit down every moment that I could.’
Kathy Bates, 76, revealed she has lost 100lbs over the span of six years amid speculation from fans that she has taken Ozempic
‘It was hard for me to walk. I’m ashamed I let myself get so out of shape, but now I have a tremendous amount of energy.’
Some fans have speculated that Bates achieved her weight loss through Ozempic, with one recently taking to X and penning, ‘They got Kathy Bates on ozempic???? D**n.’
Another social media user typed out, ‘kathy bates on ozempic now too… we’re losing our fat empresses…’
Bates has previously opened up about her weight loss and in 2019, talked to Extra about the inspiration behind putting her health first.
‘This is the best health I’ve been in in years and I’m so grateful – it’s a miracle,’ she told the outlet at the time after losing 60lbs.
The Titanic actress explained, ‘I was facing diabetes – it runs in my family – and I really didn’t want to live with that.’
Kathy said she learned, ‘After you eat for 20-30 minutes, you experience an involuntary sigh.’
‘It’s communication between stomach and brain telling you you had enough…and what I discovered is if you listen to that sigh and push that plate away for just five minutes, you realize you’re satisfied and you don’t have to eat more.’
‘It’s helped me tremendously that, over the last six or seven years, I’ve lost 100 pounds,’ Bates expressed. ‘I don’t think I’ve been this slim since I was in college’; seen in April in Toronto
She added, ‘It was hard for me to walk. I’m ashamed I let myself get so out of shape, but now I have a tremendous amount of energy’; seen in 2020 in NYC
In 2003, the star was diagnosed with ovarian cancer and later battled breast cancer after her diagnosis in 2012.
She underwent a double mastectomy, but ‘developed a disease called lymphedema after that.’
Lymphedema occurs due to ’tissue swelling caused by an accumulation of protein-rich fluid that’s usually drained through the body’s lymphatic system,’ per the Mayo Clinic.
During a recent interview with The New York Times earlier this month, Bates revealed she’s ready to retire, after her new CBS series Matlock runs its course.
Kathy plays Madeline Matlock in a gender-flipped reboot of the original Matlock series that ran from 1986 to 1995 starring Andy Griffith.
The actress has earned an Oscar, two Primetime Emmys and two Golden Globes throughout her storied career.
Bates revealed to the outlet she’s ready to call it a career… which she was actually planning before Matlock came around.
She revealed that a recent movie shoot last year (she won’t identify which movie) had caused her to seriously consider retiring… before the Matlock script came her way.
‘It becomes my life. Sometimes I get jealous of having this talent. Because I can’t hold it back, and I just want my life,’ she said.
Weeks after telling her agents she wants to retire, they sent her the Matlock pilot script, and she found herself surprisingly connecting with the character, Madeline Matlock.
Some fans have speculated that Bates achieved her weight loss through Ozempic, with one recently taking to X and penning, ‘They got Kathy Bates on ozempic???? D**n’
Another social media user typed out, ‘kathy bates on ozempic now too… we’re losing our fat empresses…’
During a recent interview with The New York Times earlier this month, Bates revealed she’s ready to retire, after her new CBS series Matlock runs its course
She said that the injustices she faced early on in her career mirror the plight of her title character.
‘Everything I’ve prayed for, worked for, clawed my way up for, I am suddenly able to be asked to use all of it. And it’s exhausting,’ she said.
‘This is my last dance,’ Bates insists about her retirement after Matlock, which got an 18-episode order from CBS ahead of its September 22 premiere.
Bates added that she connected to the character because they both use their work as a conduit for their grief.
‘Maybe on some deep level that’s why I was attracted to this,’ Bates admitted in the interview.
Her co-star Skye P. Marshall, who plays another lawyer in the show, had nothing but praise for her work ethic.
‘When she gets a script and she reads through it, you will see her challenge the directors, challenge the writers in a very healthy way,’ Marshall said.
‘She is an all-around beautiful warrior who is so intuitive, so intelligent and unwilling to tolerate any injustice for anyone,’ she added.
‘This is my last dance,’ Bates insists about her retirement after Matlock, which got an 18-episode order from CBS ahead of its September 22 premiere
Though the actress didn’t exactly see herself that way, with the interviewer mentioning she began to cry towards the end of the interview.
‘I have no right. I see the state of the world, and here I am sitting in a posh restaurant in a posh town with a posh career, going home to a posh house, and what right do I have to cry?’ Bates said.
And while recently talking to Variety, she also briefly discussed whether she has plans for retirement.
‘My friends say I’ll probably be like Molière and die in my chair on the stage because it really is a life force for me,’ Kathy said.
