Sharon Osbourne’s Weight Loss Journey: From Bariatric Surgery to Atkins to Ozempic
Learn why she said she's 'done' chasing after unrealistic goals
No weight loss process is without its ebbs and flows, and that often goes for celebrities like Sharon Osbourne, too. The veteran media personality underwent lap band surgery in 1999, but had it removed years later. Then, Osbourne made headlines when she lost “too much” weight while taking Ozempic. Here, we take a look at her weight loss journey, including what worked and what didn’t.
The start of Sharon Osbourne’s 100-lb. weight loss efforts
Osbourne has been outspoken about struggling to manage her weight, and even before the era of weight loss medications, she went public with what she’s tried to slim down.
She had lap band surgery
According to Us Weekly, Obsourne discussed her 1999 gastric band surgery, which helped her lose over 100 pounds, during a candid interview with Entertainment Tonight. And while it helped her lose weight, she ultimately revealed that she regretted the decision because it made it difficult for her to properly digest food.
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“I felt like such a cheat when I had that band on my stomach,” she reportedly told ET in 2014. “People are saying, ‘You look wonderful!’ And I’d go, ‘Thank you, I just have to leave and vomit.’” Osbourne had the band removed in 2006.
She changed her diet
The former The Talk co-host revealed her underlying issue with her eating habits. “We all have our own little addictions that we do not in moderation but too much, and mine is food,” she said in her ET interview. “I mean, I am a food addict.”
Upon realizing that she would need to adjust her relationship with food for sustainable weight loss, Osbourne began following the low-carb Atkins diet, even joining the company as a brand ambassador. “I’d be fibbing if I said I don’t cheat, because I do cheat,” she told the outlet. “I cheat a lot on my diet. We all do.”
But rather than punishing herself for the occasional indulgence, Osborne said, she tried to course-correct and continue to move forward. “I don’t guilt myself out,” she said.
Sharon Osbourne’s weight loss with Ozempic
While Osbourne was seemingly able to maintain her weight loss for some time, she later turned to Ozempic to jump-start her efforts again. In a November 2023 interview with Daily Mail, Osbourne revealed that she spent months using Ozempic, which is FDA-approved to treat adults with type 2 diabetes often prescribed off-label for weight loss.
“I started on Ozempic last December, and I’ve been off it for a while now, but my warning is don’t give it to teenagers; it’s just too easy,” she told the publication. “You can lose so much weight and it’s easy to become addicted to that, which is very dangerous.”
In August 2023, Osbourne explained her motivation to take Ozempic on Bill Maher’s “Club Random” podcast. “You have a weight problem, and you’ve tried everything, and then somebody says, ‘Take this injection and you’re going to be skinny,’” she said.
She experienced Ozempic side effects
The Osbournes alum went on to reveal to Maher that while she did notice reduced appetite, she also experienced gastrointestinal side effects such as nausea and vomiting while on Ozempic for the first few weeks. “After a couple of weeks, it goes, and you’re just fine,” she said of the stomach trouble. “You feel fine, just not hungry.”
Osbourne says she lost too much weight
In September 2023, Osbourne told E! that she was at her lowest weight at the time and was aiming to regain a few pounds.
“In my life, the heaviest I was 230 pounds and I’m now under a hundred,” she told the outlet. “And I want to maintain at about 105 because I’m too skinny. But I’m trying to have a healthy balance.”
She also revealed in her Daily Mail interview that she lost a total of 42 pounds while using Ozempic and “can’t afford to lose any more.” In fact, Osbourne told the publication she stopped taking the drug after one year because she “couldn’t stop losing weight.”
“I was injecting myself with Ozempic and I lost three stone in four months,” she said. “Too much. I now weigh seven stone and can’t put on weight. Ozzy says I look like Nancy Reagan.”
She struggled to regain weight
Despite an expressed desire to see the scale climb slightly, Osbourne said she was unable to add weight. “I’m too gaunt and I can’t put any weight on,” she told the Daily Mail.
Osbourne later told Good Morning Britain hosts that her body wasn’t “listening” to her efforts to reverse a bit of her weight loss, adding that her husband was concerned about her health.
“I think I went too far,” she confessed to Howie Mandel on a 2024 episode of his podcast Howie Mandel Does Stuff.
Osbourne said she’s done trying to lose weight
In a 2024 interview with The Guardian, Osbourne said at age 72, she’s done chasing after unsustainable weight loss goals and going from one extreme to the other. “I’ve finally become more accepting of my body, my looks,” she told the outlet. “I’m through with the weight loss and all that cosmetic stuff.”
“I’m just an ordinary person who got lucky and I didn’t take advantage of that,” Osbourne said on the U.K. talk show Loose Women. “I never want to forget I am blessed and been really lucky in my life.”
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