The Project star Meshel Laurie reveals whopping 60kg weight loss as she pleads for government to add Ozempic to PBS
The Project panellist, 51, has been open about her extreme physical transformation after undergoing gastric bypass surgery in 2016, which resulted in the TV host looking completely unrecognisable.
Meshel appeared on the Kyle and Jackie O show on Tuesday, where she admitted to having recently taken weight loss medication Mounjaro and credited the drug with helping her lower the scale.
She called on the Albanese government to add the GLP-1 injectable drug, similar to Ozempic, to the PBS to subsidise the cost and make it more affordable for Australians, describing the effects as "amazing" and "life-changing".
"I have to make a plea to the government to add this medication to the PBS, please, because it costs over $600 a month," she said.
"For a lot of people, it's prohibitive."
"If obesity costs Australia about $12 billion a year, then surely, we can afford to make this medication more affordable."
Mounjaro was initially used for treating type 2 diabetes until it gained popularity for its weight loss effects in recent years.
The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) in 2024 expanded the drug's usage to encompass obese or overweight Australians with weight-related health issues like high blood pressure, heart disease or sleep apnoea.
Speaking about the reported side effects, including stomach pains, Mishel said she hasn't experienced any.
She said even if she had, it would be "worth it" to continue achieving a physical transformation while bypassing any "exercise" in the process.
"As I said, I did everything else before. So, I lost a bit of weight, I lost about 30kg.
"And then about a year ago, I started using Mounjaro.
"And that has not only knocked off the next 30-40kgs, but it has absolutely dealt with the problem. Like, I don't think about food anymore."
Elsewhere in the wide-ranging interview, Meshel opened up about the personal heartbreak that spurred her to lose weight in the first place.
'My dad died of Type 2 Diabetes (in) 2019,' she said.
'But for the five years before that he lived with the kids and I.
'I was watching (him suffer) in real time, out the kitchen window, because he was in a granny flat. I didn't put him in the driveway; he had a flat.'
The media personality was a regular on Ten's The Project from 2014 to 2018, after which she was sacked while on leave for her father's health.
Meshel said she was ready to go back to work after 12 weeks, only to be told all the "spots were filled for the next couple of months"
'In fact, I was never notified that I was being let go," she said on Instagram.
Meshel subsequently carved out a career as an author and published her bestselling novel, Buddhism for the Unbelievably Busy, in 2017, followed by CSI Told You Lies: Giving Victims a Voice Through Forensics in 2021.
In Buddhism for the Unbelievably Busy, Meshel declared she was "embarrassed" about having had surgery to lose weight.
"Yes, it's embarrassing to have to go to that length to rein my body in, but I'd rather be embarrassed than unable to walk," she wrote.
"In a way, I feel lucky to have had such clear signals from my body that I needed to turn my health burner back on, when I still had time to do something about it."
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