How the new wave of diet drugs tackle weight loss, addiction & even dementia

Namilia, a label worn by celebrities including Charlie XCX, Rihanna and Kylie Jenner, courted controversy with its I Heart Ozempic top. Photo / Getty Images

With new-generation drugs now approved in New Zealand for weight loss, debate still rages on whether they are the best way to tackle obesity.

Three years ago, Evelyn Ebrey wrote an article for the website Fashion NZ headlined “Representation Matters: Why Plus-Size Models are Not a Trend”. She looked at how perceptions of beauty were starting to shift and fashion brands were responding by making clothes in larger sizes. Back then, the body positivity movement was in full swing and seemed to be creating lasting change.

Next, Ebrey teamed up with producer/director Julia Parnell to develop a documentary series that would cover those same themes. That series, Cutting the Curve, launches on RNZ Video on August 25. But the story they have told is not the one they expected to tell.

Since they started making their documentary, the landscape has changed. Plus-size models are working less than before. The most recent Vogue Business size inclusivity report found that at the Autumn/Winter 2025 shows, there was a drop in the number of curvy models on the catwalk. Only 0.3% were plus-sized (NZ size 18+), down from 0.8% last season. And only 2% were mid-size (NZ size 10-16), down from 4.3% last season.

Julia Parnell, left, and Evelyn Ebrey: Not the story they expected to tell. Photo / Supplied

Berlin-based fashion label Namilia even sent a model down the runway wearing a tank top emblazoned with the phrase “I Heart Ozempic”. Meanwhile, Cutting the Curve follows Samoan Kiwi Isabella Moore, a successful plus-size model in London, as she wonders whether she needs to take a weight-loss medication for the sake of her career.

Ebrey identifies the 2022 Met Gala as the moment things started going backwards. “Kim Kardashian lost a whole bunch of weight in three weeks to squeeze into Marilyn Monroe’s dress and that felt like a cultural shift,” she says. “We were talking about skinny again. That was when Ozempic was starting to take off in America and it’s kind of snowballed since then.”

The arrival of GLP-1 agonist drugs, which have revolutionised obesity treatment, has undoubtedly contributed to the move towards thin being back in.

“They are absolutely at the heart of it,” says Parnell. “It’s not that the body positivity movement is over, but when something like Ozempic makes it so easy to lose weight, people are reverting to what has always been a societal standard. As is said in the documentary, skinny always seems to win.”

Between 8 and 10% of Americans are taking GLP-1 drugs, according to PwC, which reports that in 2023, semaglutide became the best-selling drug in the US. Among the well-known people who have publicly acknowledged using GLP-1s are Oprah Winfrey, Elon Musk, Rosie O’Donnell and Sharon Osbourne (who lost too much weight and has stopped taking Ozempic). Many other famous figures have been quietly shrinking.

Although these medications have been slower to land in New Zealand, an older drug, Saxenda (liraglutide), which is delivered daily via an injection with a pre-filled pen, is under assessment by Pharmac to be funded for weight loss. And in March, Medsafe approved the newer treatments Ozempic for diabetes and Wegovy for weight loss. Both medicines are injected weekly and contain the same active ingredient, semaglutide.