WeightWatchers launches a GLP-1 culture podcast with Dear Media

WW International, the company long known as Weight Watchers, has partnered with Dear Media to launch a weekly podcast called "The Weigh In," which the two companies describe as an effort to reduce stigma around GLP-1 weight-loss medications ^[1]. The show is Weight Watchers' first podcast dedicated to GLP-1s ^[1], and outside coverage has framed it as part of the company's push to "crush GLP-1 stigma" ^[2].

Full video episodes post every Wednesday on YouTube, with audio available on other podcast platforms ^[1]. The show is hosted by Samhita Mukhopadhyay, Weight Watchers' Head of Content and Impact and a former executive editor of Teen Vogue ^[1]. Mukhopadhyay has written about her own use of a GLP-1 medication, which she began after losing her father to diabetes-related complications ^[1]. Season one guests include The Cut editor-in-chief Lindsay Peoples, fashion stylist Erin Walsh, and Weight Watchers' own Chief Experience Officer Julie Rice ^[1]. The first episode is set to release September 16, 2026 ^[1].

In announcing the show, Dear Media's president of global entertainment, Mark Mullett, said GLP-1s are "changing the way people think and talk about health" and that there is a need for "more candid conversations around what that means in day to day life" ^[1]. Mukhopadhyay said she wanted to create a place to talk about "shame, identity, and how to take care of yourself without drowning in self-hate" ^[1]. Julie Rice framed the show as an extension of the company's 60-plus years of community-based support, now applied to what she called the "GLP-1 era" ^[1].

Weight Watchers describes itself as the most studied commercial weight management program in the world and says it now offers U.S.-based clinical interventions and access to GLP-1 medications "when clinically appropriate," delivered alongside coaching and community support ^[1]. The podcast launch comes as the company positions itself less as a traditional diet program and more as a broader weight-health brand built around the medications, though the sources reviewed here do not detail specific business or subscriber figures tied to that shift.

Why it matters for patients

For people already on a GLP-1 or considering one, the show offers another venue where patients and public figures talk openly about side effects, identity, and relationships tied to the drugs, subjects Mukhopadhyay says are often left out of clinical conversations ^[1]. That kind of peer discussion can be useful context for people weighing their own experience against what they hear from friends, family, or online.

At the same time, the podcast is produced and hosted by the company that sells GLP-1 access and coaching services, which is worth keeping in mind when evaluating what gets discussed and how. The sources describe the show's stated goal as reducing stigma ^[1] and note it is also the company's most visible consumer-media effort tied to the medications ^[1], but they do not include independent data on how the show affects patient decision-making, safety understanding, or use of the medications.

What happens next

The first episode is scheduled to publish September 16, 2026, with new episodes released weekly on Wednesdays afterward ^[1]. Season one is set to include additional guest interviews beyond those already named, though the sources do not specify a total episode count or an end date for the season ^[1].