Whoopi Goldberg and Sunny Hostin disclose Mounjaro use on "The View"

"The View" co-hosts Whoopi Goldberg and Sunny Hostin said during the show's Hot Topics segment on March 19, 2024 that they had each used Mounjaro, the tirzepatide injection, to lose weight ^[4][1]. The on-air conversation came a day after Oprah Winfrey's ABC special about obesity drugs and weight stigma ^[4].

Goldberg said she reached nearly 300 pounds while making the 2022 film "Till" ^[4]. She said she had severe back pain in 2021 and was treated with steroids as part of her recovery, which led to weight gain ^[4]. "I had taken all those steroids and was on all this stuff," she said, "and one of the things that helps me drop the weight is Mounjaro" ^[4][1]. She also said she had not registered the change at first: "I just always felt like me, and then I saw me and I was like, Oh, that's a lot of me" ^[4].

Hostin said she gained 40 pounds during the Covid-19 pandemic and later lost it after being prescribed Mounjaro ^[4]. "All I did was eat. I love to cook and I found out I love to eat. And I was horrified by the fact that I would have to come out on air. So I took Mounjaro," she said ^[4][1].

Hostin also described a hostile response to her weight loss. "I got all these nasty emails saying you're too skinny and why did you do this and you're taking the drug away from diabetics," she said ^[4][1]. She added that "there is shame when you've gained weight, and I had never experienced that kind of shame before," and said she agreed with Winfrey's framing that obesity is a disease ^[1][4]. When co-host Joy Behar asked, "How is it a disease when you were just eating everything?", Hostin replied, "I didn't have the disease, I wasn't clinically obese" ^[4]. Goldberg responded, "I was" ^[4].

The segment was a reaction to "An Oprah Special: Shame, Blame and the Weight Loss Revolution," which aired on ABC on March 18, 2024 and streamed on Hulu the next day ^[4]. In February 2024, Winfrey announced she was leaving the WeightWatchers board after nine years and donating her stock to avoid a potential conflict of interest over her own use of weight-loss medications ^[4].

Why it matters for patients

Celebrity disclosures do not change what a drug does, but they do change what patients hear. Both outlets covering the segment described Mounjaro loosely as a "prescription weight loss medication similar to Ozempic" ^[4][1]. That shorthand blurs an important distinction: Mounjaro and Zepbound are both tirzepatide, and Ozempic and Wegovy are both semaglutide, and the brands differ in which conditions they are approved to treat. The sources do not say whether Goldberg or Hostin were prescribed Mounjaro for type 2 diabetes or for weight, and neither host discussed doses, how long they used the medicine, cost, insurance coverage or side effects. Those details are not known from this reporting.

The emails Hostin described also point to a real friction in the market at the time: people with diabetes accusing weight-loss users of consuming limited supply ^[4][1]. Reader comments under the Deadline article echoed that, with several people saying they had waited weeks for their prescriptions ^[4]. The sources do not include manufacturer or FDA data on supply, so the extent of any shortage cannot be judged from this coverage.

The other practical takeaway is about the conversation itself. Two well-known people on a network daytime show described weight gain tied to specific causes — steroid treatment for back pain in one case, pandemic-era eating in the other — and said medication helped ^[4]. That is a different frame from willpower, and it is the frame Winfrey's special pushed ^[1][4]. Patients weighing these drugs may find that useful context, but television disclosures are not clinical evidence and say nothing about how any individual would respond.

What happens next

No follow-up was announced. The ABC special remained available on Hulu starting March 19, 2024 ^[4]. The sources do not indicate whether either host planned to say more about their treatment.