Al Roker slams people judging Kelly Clarkson for weight-loss drug confession: ‘Back off’
Al Roker wants people to lay off Kelly Clarkson and others who have admitted to using weight-loss drugs.
“There’s too much judgment going on,” Roker said during the “Today” show’s third hour Tuesday while talking about Clarkson’s recent confession that she used an unspecified medication to lose 60 pounds.
“People, as long as they’re working with their doctors and being healthy about it, people ought to just back off and let them live their lives,” he continued.
The weatherman, 69, pointed out that he has “fought” obesity himself and even underwent gastric bypass surgery in 2002 to lose 100 pounds.
“Listen, I took a raft of stuff when I had bypass surgery. It’s not easy, whatever you do, so get off people’s backs,” he urged viewers.
During the fourth hour of “Today,” Hoda Kotb and Jenna Bush Hager also praised Clarkson, 42, for her decision to do what she needed to feel “healthy.”
“She gets to lose weight any way she wants to lose weight,” Kotb, 59, said on “Today with Hoda & Jenna.”
Bush Hager, 42, agreed, chiming in that she found it “so interesting that people feel like they’re owed explanations” when celebrities slim down.
“I get the transparency of it, because it’s a hard journey for a lot of women to talk about their bodies and their weight, and I know that there’s this huge movement,” she acknowledged.
The co-hosts pointed out that Oprah Winfrey even hosted a TV special in March about the benefits of using antidiabetic medications like Ozempic and Mounjaro to lose weight.
“And to fight your life doing everything and still running up against a brick wall,” Kotb sympathized.
Kotb also pointed out that Clarkson said she was hesitant to take any sort of medication until her doctors encouraged her to help “break down the sugar.”
“I get being afraid of it. It’s like, ‘Wait, I’m not sure I wanna do it this way,’ but there’s also a point where she made that choice,” Kotb said.
The television personalities ended the conversation by gushing about how Clarkson looks “happier” and “healthier” than ever.
The “American Idol” alum was chatting with Whoopi Goldberg, who previously admitted to taking Mounjaro, on her talk show Monday when she candidly related to her guest’s journey.
“I’ve lost a lot [of weight] as well,” she said on “The Kelly Clarkson Show,” adding, “Mine is a different one than people assume, but I ended up having to do that, too, because my blood work got so bad.”
Clarkson denied using Ozempic but did not disclose the prescription drug she took.
