In the months after enduring a devastating miscarriage in 2020, Chrissy Teigen claimed she was left to battle severe image issues.
So much so, that the TV presenter turned to the weight loss drug Ozempic, which she now credits for having changed her life.
For those in need of a reminder, in 2020, she and husband - musician John Legend - announced they were expecting a baby boy.
At 20 weeks, however, Teigen's health took a serious blow, and after several doctor's appointments, she was diagnosed with a partial placental abruption, which describes the accidental detachment of the placenta from the wall of the uterus.
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Not only did this deprive her son of oxygen and nutrients, but it also left the model hospitalised with excessive bleeding.
Despite doctors' efforts, 39-year-old Teigen's pregnancy was terminated, as the baby wouldn't have been able to survive and her own life had been placed at risk.
Speaking on her Self Conscious podcast this week, where she discussed her subsequent reliance on Ozempic, the mother-of-four began her surprising confession reflecting on her loss.
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"I had two babies and then I lost a baby a little over 20 weeks," Teigen recalled in conversation with author Johann Hari. "And then my body was just completely stuck. It was like in shock almost.
"When I had lost that baby at 20 weeks, I had probably gained an extra 40 pounds that I wasn't comfortable with."
Having grown tired of her low self-esteem, she decided to give Ozempic a try, hoping the Type-2 diabetes medication would help her shed a few pounds. Opting not to reveal when she began taking the drug, she revealed, however, that she took the injectables for a year.
Though she 'noticed no results' for the first three-four months, she eventually began feeling better in herself.
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Teigen went on to add, however, that the weight loss did remind her of all she'd lost the year prior.
"All of a sudden, I was finally able to lose the weight that was so reminding me of the baby that I had lost," she confessed. "I felt mentally better because I wasn’t constantly, like, in this deep depression of seeing this pregnant belly with no baby in it.
"I also felt released from the prison of thinking about food in bad ways. Good food in bad ways."
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She continued: "It’s insane what it did for not only me physically, but mentally."
Sharing a clip of the podcast episode on Instagram, Teigen expressed her desire to remove taboos surrounding the medication.
"It’s time to talk about that dirty little buzzword word. The one that gossip writers adore for the sheer fact it is such a polarizing, clickbaity topic that really gets people talking (and judging)," she wrote, adding: "Ozempic."
The star went on to summarise the decision again, telling her followers: "I was, existing in a body that didn’t feel like mine, with absolutely nothing to celebrate - just the constant reminder that this body that once carried life for 20 weeks, was now just a…sad reminder."
Topics: Chrissy Teigen, Celebrity, US News, Pregnancy, Ozempic
Rhianna Benson