Iskra Lawrence shares Ozempic concerns: 'I was really scared...'
Iskra Lawrence was "really scared" by the rise of Ozempic.
The 34-year-old model previously suffered from an eating disorder so had massive reserves over the controversial Hollywood drug - which was initially intended as a treatment for diabetes but has a side effect of weight loss - and became concerned when the whole thing became shrouded in mystery over whether certain public figures had or hadn't used it.
She told Us Weekly: "You know what I’ve always said, and I’ll stick to it, ‘Your body, your business. I was terrified when I first heard about Ozempic and then started realising that whether they were direct about it or secretive about it, it did seem like my peers or people that I looked up to in the industry had potentially been taking it or you don’t know and you’re questioning it.
"I was really scared coming from an eating disorder background that it was just going to emphasize this obsession with thinness. I also was really worried because it can cost money [and] then going to divide and create this disparity of people with lower income who didn’t have access to this drug and people who did and feeding into this really divisive, classist fatphobia"
The catwalk star "didn't know how to feel" about the drug at first but did acknowledge that it has been "life-changing" for some of her friends.
She said: "There were so many thoughts. I didn’t really know how to feel about it. However, I’ve had multiple close friends who were not online, just mom friends — from women that I know in Austin and in the business, and they have found it life-changing. Either they felt demotivated or felt like they’ve tried things in the past that never seemed to really move the needle for them in the sense of a healthy lifestyle change."