Rosie O’Donnell speaks candidly on 3-year Mounjaro weight loss and overcoming ‘food noise’
In an era where many celebrities remain tight-lipped about their dramatic weight loss transformations, veteran comedian and actress Rosie O’Donnell has opted for complete honesty.
The 64-year-old recently sat down with “People” magazine to candidly discuss her three-year weight loss journey, revealing how the diabetes and weight loss medication Mounjaro transformed not only her health but also her relationship with food.
O’Donnell explained that she was prescribed Mounjaro after being diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes three years ago, long before GLP-1 medications became a Hollywood talking point.
“Doctor said, ‘Could you take a shot?’ And I was like, ‘I guess so.’”
She admitted she had never even heard of the medication at the time.
“He said, ‘It’s this thing called Mounjaro.’ I couldn’t even pronounce it at first.”
Rather than increasing her dosage rapidly, O’Donnell chose a gradual approach. She spent her first year on the 2.5mg dose, her second year on 5mg and is now in her third year taking 7.5mg.
The steady approach paid off.
“I’ve lost about a pound or two a month for three years, and I have had no side effects.”
Perhaps the biggest surprise, she said, was how the medication changed her relationship with food.
“I was stunned at how it quieted the food noise.”
The actress, who has publicly spoken about struggling with her weight throughout her life, said the treatment has given her newfound freedom and empathy for others facing obesity.
“When I see people struggling with obesity, I want to stop and go, ‘I know what it feels like. I know the shame that we carry and the humiliation that is dealt to people who are overweight.’ I want to take it away, like it took mine away.”
She even joked that instead of being paid to endorse the medication, she would rather pharmaceutical companies make it more affordable.
“I really wish I could do commercials for Mounjaro, and they would drop the price instead of paying me.”
Why she decided to have a facelift
After losing a significant amount of weight, O’Donnell said she was left with excess skin and deep facial lines that affected how she felt about her appearance.
She revealed that people would often ask if she was upset because the loose skin around her mouth made her appear sad.
“I lost so much weight that I had a lot of excess skin… I had two very large marionette lines, and it made me look really sad.”
Encouraged by friends who had undergone similar procedures, O’Donnell eventually decided to have a lower deep-plane facelift, choosing a technique that would preserve her facial expressions while addressing the areas that bothered her most.
“I didn’t want my face to be frozen or to be unrecognisable. I just wanted to get rid of exactly what it got rid of.”
Wrestling with feminism and cosmetic surgery
The decision was not one she made lightly.
O’Donnell admitted she struggled to reconcile cosmetic surgery with her long-held feminist beliefs, questioning whether changing her appearance was influenced by society’s expectations of women.
“As a feminist, I always felt like, ‘Well, this is the patriarchy. This is the male gaze, and this is not anything that I believe in.’”
She also recalled an emotional conversation with her 13-year-old son, Clay, who challenged her decision.
“Clay said, ‘Young girls look up to you. What does your legacy stand for if you do this?’”
The conversation prompted months of reflection before O’Donnell ultimately decided that feminism is about personal choice.
“I changed my mind for about six months. Then I decided, ‘I have to do what’s right for me.’ That’s the real power of feminism – that women get to decide what they want to do with their body and when.”
For O’Donnell, the weight loss and facelift were not about chasing perfection, but about feeling more comfortable in her own skin after decades of struggling with obesity and self-image.
