Harvey Fierstein Lost 120 lbs. on Zepbound: 'Being Fat Is Not a Choice'
The Broadway icon said he’s a “great believer” in the weight-loss medication, which helped him after he weighed 310 lbs. following the Covid-19 pandemic
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Harvey Fierstein shows off his weight loss in New York.After gaining weight during the Covid-19 pandemic, Harvey Fierstein says that he’s now lost 120 lbs., — all thanks to weight-loss medication.
In typically irreverent Fierstein fashion, the Broadway icon, 70, joked that his slimmed-down appearance was due to “drugs” — before sharing that he’d been taking the weight-loss medication Zepbound, with Page Six.
“I’ve been skinny before, that’s the sad part,” he said. “I’ve been skinny, I’ve been fat, I’ve been skinny, I’ve been fat.” Fierstein told the outlet that he gained weight during the Covid-19 pandemic, explaining, “I considered those my free years.”
“I existed on the screen of my Zoom,” the Hairspray alum said. “So I wrote my autobiography, [2022’s I Was Better Last Night.]”
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Harvey Fierstein in April 2022.Related: Tori Spelling Reveals She Took Mounjaro to Lose Her Baby Weight: 'I Don’t Feel Shamed'
However, following Covid, Fierstein says he hit 310 lbs. — which led him to enlist the aid of the injectable medication Zepbound, which the Food and Drug Administration approved last year to treat obesity. Like Mounjaro, Zepbound is a brand name for tirzepatide, which aids in weight loss by reducing appetite and improving the way the body breaks down sugar and fat.
“What’s different is what the drug actually does for you, which is: I don’t feel like I’m dieting,” the Mrs. Doubtfire star said. “I feel like a normal person. I can go and have dinner with friends and not have to eat every piece of bread on the table, and then not go have ice cream when I’ve done with dinner.”
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Harvey Fierstein in New York in June 2024.Related: Weight Loss Drugs Like Mounjaro Are Now Available Through Eli Lilly's Telehealth Platform
“I know what it is to be full like a normal person,” said Fierstein, who explained that he gained about 15 lbs. after going off the medication, and has since remained stable at around 200 lbs.
“People don’t understand that being fat is not a choice,” he said. “It’s something that your body is out of whack and this puts your body in whack.”
“I’m a great believer in it,” he said.
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