Fading away: Aussie celebs who have lost half their weight in the last year – but don’t accuse them of being on Ozempic!

A new wave of extreme weight loss has hit Australia’s celebrity scene.

And while many stars have admitted to using hit Hollywood weight loss drug Ozempic, many Aussie celebrities insist they have shed the kilos all on their own.

Ozempic and its sister drug Wegovy work by lowering blood sugar levels and suppressing glucose made in the liver.

It spurs on weight loss by mimicking the actions of GLP-1, or glucagon-like peptide-1, a hormone in the brain that regulates appetite and feelings of satiety.

From Jackie ‘O’ Henderson to Tones And I, take a look at some of the local stars who are fading away before our eyes – but just don’t accuse them of being on Ozempic!

Jackie ‘O’ Henderson

Radio shock jock Jackie ‘O’ Henderson, 49, has been making headlines for her incredible weight loss.

The mother-of-one miraculously lost over 18kg in the space of a year after previously struggling to shed unwanted kilos.

Speculation Jackie had taken Ozempic first started swirling when she appeared on the cover of Stellar magazine in May last year, after losing an enormous amount of weight.

However Jackie has always insisted she achieved her weight loss by going on WW (Weight Watchers), for which she was an official ambassador.

She has also previously denied undergoing gastric band surgery.

‘When the Ozempic rumours first came out, I was like, ‘Oh, are you joking?” she told the the Something to Talk About podcast last August. 

‘I know how hard I’ve worked and I haven’t taken that,’ she said, stating for the record that she did not take the diet drug.

‘I was frustrated when those were coming out and I found the more I was defending myself, the more I felt, okay, this is a losing battle,’ she added.

In November, Jackie once again expressed frustration after WW, under the leadership of CEO Sima Sistani, started to embrace semaglutide drugs like Ozempic.

Reacting to the news on the The Kyle and Jackie O Show, Jackie exclaimed, ‘That makes it look like I was definitely on Ozempic!’

She jokingly added, ‘I was like a guinea pig in that experiment.’

Newsreader Brooklyn Ross then asked Jackie if she was ‘annoyed’ she had to lose weight ‘the hard way’ instead of just using a semaglutide for a quick fix.

‘I mean, they make a good point and I’m really impressed that they’re with the times,’ she said.

‘You see so many people doing it and being successful and it not really being that hard for them.’

Jackie also recently admitted the exact amount she weighed before deciding to embark on her weight loss journey.

She made the confession during The Kyle And Jackie O Show after the radio program welcomed a caller on-air who weighed 85kg.

Curious, newsreader Brooklyn Ross turned to Jackie and asked her, ‘Do you know what the biggest [you weighed] was?’

‘The biggest was 80’, she replied.

Elle Ferguson

Fashion influencer Elle Ferguson, 38, recently sparked concern after sharing a shocking video of her very thin figure.

The blonde, who famously quit The Block in 2022, took to Instagram to showcase her latest collaboration with women’s fashion label Ena Pelly.

In the video, Elle showed off an outfit consisting of a T-shirt, layered with an oversized leather jacket while she wore nothing but a pair of opaque tights to cover her extremely slim legs.

The post attracted several comments from fans who expressed their worries over the model’s tiny frame.

Elle has never spoken about whether she takes any weight loss medication.

Instead, she has always credited her rigorous exercise regimen for her svelte body, having shed 10kg during Covid-19 lockdowns after started working out six days a week.

Last month, Elle gave insight into her fitness journey, which saw her go from being a non-runner to being able to run 10K during lockdowns.

Elle admitted she had been warned off running throughout her life and told she didn’t have the ‘physique’ for it, before her AFL star fiancé Joel Patfull encouraged her to take up the sport.

Revealing exactly how she trained towards running 10K, Elle admitted ‘consistency’ was the key as she gave an insight into her intense six-day regime.

Of her fitness journey, she said: ‘It’s been going well. We have not hit 11k, I’ve had to accept 10k is my happy place – from a non-runner to 10k! It’s been amazing, I also think it’s been good to just break the barrier down for women to run.

‘I grew up being told running wasn’t for me – I was too tall and didn’t have the physique for it – and then Joel was like ‘everybody can run’. I was like ‘no I’m not built for running’ and he was ‘like everyone can do it’.’

‘There was no magic potion. The rule was that I had to stay on the treadmill for an hour and I could not get off – rain, hail or shine, I had to stay on for an hour,’ she went on.

‘I walked for an hour at 6.5 the speed, and then I got to 6k and I thought ‘what happens if I put 30 seconds of slow running in every 1k?’ and gradually I turned the 30 seconds into a minute, and a minute into two, then two into five – and literally that’s how I did it.

‘I remember going on to Instagram and looking at run clubs and healthy hints and things like that, but I thought do you know what, if I’m going to do it, I’m going to do it. So that’s how I did it.

‘But consistency was key, that was the big thing, I was six days a week for an hour each day no matter what. Setting the boundaries for myself to have that hour every day was really important.’

‘Now it’s a happy place, throughout the first year it was an angry place – yes hell! – but now it’s a happy place,’ she added.

After picking up a six-day exercise regime in lockdown, Elle revealed she has stuck to the intense schedule ever since, joking that she has an ‘addictive personality’.

Chrissie Swan

Radio personality Chrissie Swan, 50, lost a reported 90kg in three years and has cited her daily 10km walks, a new diet and sobriety as the secret behind her slimdown. 

She has never spoken about whether she takes semaglutide medication like Ozempic or has undergone any surgical procedure to assist her with losing the kilos.  

The Masked Singer judge did briefly touch on her weight loss in an interview with The Australian Women’s Weekly in 2022, confirming that Melbourne’s lengthy Covid lockdowns were the catalyst for her health and fitness kick.

She said the ‘enormous’ lifestyle changes she’d made over the previous 12 months had improved her life in so many ways.

‘I’m not going to talk about the size of my a**e,’ she said, adding: ‘I’m not going to tell you what I eat in a day. Because I’ve read those stories and they make me feel bad about myself.’

She went on to confirm that Melbourne’s lengthy Covid lockdown was the catalyst for her health and fitness kick.

‘We couldn’t go out to dinner, we couldn’t go to a friend’s house, they couldn’t come to us, we couldn’t go outside five kilometres,’ she said, adding: ‘All we could do was walk, and so that’s what I did.’

In another interview with The Herald Sun, Chrissie said she felt amazing and had never been happier as she approached 50.

‘I have never been happier or more centred. It is actually great and I don’t think you can feel that way until you have done the years. I wouldn’t be 20 for quids,’ she said.

Speaking to The Imperfects podcast in March, Chrissie said walking had changed her life for the better.

‘I was 45 and I went, ‘I reckon I’m halfway to dying’,’ she said.

‘Am I happy with this going on? Am I happy with who I am with other people, am I happy with who I am for me? What do I want to change? And then I started to walk, and I get emotional thinking about it because walking has absolutely changed my life.’

Tones and I

Singing sensation Tones and I has shocked fans with her dramatic weight loss in recent months.

The Dance Monkey hitmaker, real name Toni Watson, has never publicly spoken about losing weight, nor the method she has undertaken to transform her physique. 

However this hasn’t stopped the pop star, who has also started wearing tighter-fitting clothes and more glamorous makeup, from maing headlines for her new look. 

Earlier this month, Tones And I shared images to Instagram of herself looking very svelte while posing for a photo shoot.

She was inundated with praise, with a number of her A-list pals heaping compliments on the pop star.

‘Hot, talented, beautiful, gorg etc etc’ wrote Aussie singer Thelma Plum in the comments, while American rapper Macklemore added heart and fire emojis.

Radio star Brittany Hockley chimed in: ‘Girllllll it’s because of YOU. Incredible’ while American reality star Chrishell Stause added heart emojis.

She also flaunted her slimmed-down figure earlier this month as she performed at the Liv Golf league in Adelaide.

Posting to Instagram, the Johnny Run Away hitmaker shared photos of herself at the event looking almost unrecognisable in a black turtleneck top, matching mini skirt and black tights.

‘You must feel fabulous because you look and are fabulous,’ one user commented on the post, while another curious follower asked how Tone and I had ‘lost so much weight’.

Fifi Box

Fifi Box has also managed to shed an impressive amount of weight in recent years.

The Melbourne radio personality, 47, has not spoken about the secret behind her recent slimdown, but in the past has credited exercise and diet programs for her ever-shrinking physique.

The radio star has made no secret of her past dieting struggles, previously admitting she was self-confessed sugar addict and a ‘yo-yo dieter’.

In 2014, Fifi announced that she had lost 15kg after having her first child Trixie, telling Who magazine: ‘To be in my late 30s now and to have the best body I’ve ever had, it’s amazing.’

‘I sorted out my life, and losing weight was an added advantage,’ the single mother-of-two added.

At the time, Fifi said she had been following a low-carb diet plan and cooking all of her meals, as well as running, walking or cycling three to four times a week.

In 2020, the Hit Network presenter also revealed how she had been cruelly fat shamed after giving birth to her second child Daisy in 2019.

She said on Fox FM breakfast show she had ‘struggled to lose the baby weight’ but would drag herself off the couch for a walk.

Fifi then said she ran into a familiar face who made off-colour remarks.

‘A friend came in for a cuddle, which is weird because we are in a coronavirus world where you’re meant to socially distance, and as he’s hugged me he says, ‘There’s a lot to cuddle!” she said, recalling the jive.

‘It’s hard enough to get myself out there exercising and then to be reminded. It’s not fun when people highlight you’re carrying weight.’

Osher Günsberg

He’s been open about his weight struggles in the past, but it seems Osher Günsberg has recently found the secret to maintaining a slim physique.

The presenter, 50, who recently lost two gigs after Channel 10 axed his shows The Bachelor and The Masked Singer, has been looking noticeably svelte in recent months.

While the father-of-one has not spoken about the secret behind his new frame, he previously spoke about altering his ‘mind and body’ to lose 9kg in 10 weeks back in 2018.

At the time, he also stripped off to reveal his buff physique in a photoshoot on the cover of Men’s Health Australia.

Speaking to the publication, Osher said he ‘ate terribly’ and ‘hated himself’ before embarking on a health journey.

He also revealed that exercise had helped him unlock the key to keeping his mental health issues from negatively impacting his food and diet choices.

Osher started his 10-week journey at 83 kilograms, with 22 per cent body fat, and finished at 76.5 kilograms and 11 per cent body fat, with 2.5 kilograms of muscle gained.

The Channel Ten star had previously battled OCD, alcoholism, anxiety and body dysmorphia.

In 2020, he told The Daily Telegraph that fitness was a part of his daily routine.

‘Just do it every day. Do what you can every day, and understand that what works for some rich person on Instagram might not work for you. Just do what you can,’ he said of his fitness mantra.

Osher even admitted to buying sand bags whenever he travels so he can use them for weight training.

Discussing his diet, Osher said: ‘I try to prepare as many meals as I can. If that means making a big batch and throwing it all in the fridge, then that’s perfect.

‘I’ll make enough for two days at a time and I will eat the same thing. That way, you know you are eating well and you have good food waiting for you, no matter what you are doing.’

Roxy Jacenko

PR maven Roxy Jacenko has lost over 15kg in recent months, but claims her slimdown isn’t due to Ozempic despite previously using the weight loss drug.

In April, the Singapore-based blonde, 44, admitted she had previously used Ozempic to lose weight but had purchased it on the black market.

She had two pens worth delivered from Nowra, NSW to Sydney in an Uber that cost her $2500, but suffered an overdose after taking four times the amount prescribed to her by a doctor.

‘The aftermath of it was I think I’m going to die’ she revealed to 7NEWS Spotlight.

‘In the morning, I was driving to work. I was sweating. I was so hot and then I just kept vomiting nonstop.

‘That night, I ended up in hospital. They had never seen this before. This was the first they had seen of an Ozempic overdose’ Roxy explained.

‘Like the shaking, my whole body was shaking, I couldn’t control my legs. It’s like I had no control of my body.’

Roxy said she spent three days recovering from epilepsy style seizures.

She added: ‘Literally, I truly thought this is it. I’ve been sick in my time. Cancer was a walk in the park compared to how bad I felt for those three days.’

Since then, Roxy has taken a much healthier approach to weight loss, having shed over 15kg in the space of six months by taking control of her diet and exercise regimen.

‘No alcohol, clean eating, body weight exercises only and walking (and the gym element 3-4 times a week dependent on work schedule,’ she said of her weight loss secrets in an Instagram post in March.

At the time, she weighed 51.9kg.

In April, Roxy however sparked concern when she told fans her weight had dropped down to 50.5kg.

Roxy’s BMI, which is calculated using your weight and height, considered her to be underweight.

For her height of 168cm, the PR maven’s weight would need to weigh at least 53kg to be in the healthy range.

A month later, the mother-of-two revealed she was so anxious about her recent botched PR boot camp giveaway saga that her weight had dropped to just 49 kilos and that she has ‘fainted twice’.

Jordan Barrett

Australian supermodel Jordan Barrett has sparked concern among fans for his very slim appearance following a recent weight loss.

He first sparked concern in February 2023 when fans noticed him looking incredibly gaunt, with fans fearing he was taking his diet and exercise regimen too far.

While Jordan has never publicly spoken about his weight loss, it appears his physical transformation started when he began training for the New York City marathon.

The event, which took place in November 2022, required intense cardio workouts and could well have contributed to his transformation.

Following the marathon Jordan continued to maintain a very slender look, and in February 2023 the model announced he was training for another marathon.

‘Countdown, Vienna marathon, 60 Days. This time I’ll be running raising funds for LDA Les Disparus Anonymes,’ he captioned pictures of himself training at the time.

He fuelled concern yet again in March this year after he was pictured stepping out after the pre-Oscar party at Chateau Marmont looking very gaunt.

While the catwalk king’s slender body was swamped beneath a baggy hoodie and parachute pants, his sunken facial features and protruding cheekbones were hard to ignore.