Ashley Tisdale Rejects Ozempic Trend: Embracing Body Positivity Amid Hollywood’s Ultra-Slim Obsession

The growing popularity of GLP-1 medications, initially intended to treat type 2 diabetes but being written more and more for weight loss, continues to propel a complex cultural conversation regarding the two concepts. High School Musical's Ashley Tisdale was recently candid about her own opinion, confessing that she has resisted using the medications even after admitting she was "tempted" — especially after having a baby.

Tisdale commented on the current cultural trend "back to seeking ultra-skinny everything," but ultimately decided a GLP-1 was "not the right choice for me." The two-time mom exercises self-acceptance, emphasizing that bodies are "meant to grow, heal, stretch, and adapt" and not to be shaped by fleeting trends. She acknowledged that while weight loss had been more rapid with the medication, she had taken a path of "working hard to accept my body as it's evolved." She has "zero judgment" for those taking the medication, stressing that the right thing is what makes one feel "strong, confident, and at home in your own body."

This cultural argument regarding aesthetic use is squarely contrasted with novel clinical evidence of significant non-aesthetic health benefit. A recent large-scale analysis presented at a major medical meeting is an example that demonstrated GLP-1 receptor agonist (GLP-1RA) medications would confer significant protection against hazards associated with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). Investigators pulled information from just under 1.8 million patients with type 2 diabetes. Although the one-year mortality risk was reduced in all patients who were treated with a GLP-1 drug versus no therapy, the risk was out of proportion higher in patients diagnosed with sleep apnea. For example, sleep apnea patients treated with a GLP-1RA had a mortality risk of 1% vs. 2.5% for those not treated with the drug. This would suggest that state of OSA may be an "effect modifier" within the relationship between drug use and death reduction. The evidence supports growing focus on these drugs as treatment for conditions like sleep apnea in obese adults, and researchers suggest that sleep apnea status must be considered when GLP-1 drugs are prescribed.