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Macy Gray, 56, Says She Was Hospitalized for Ozempic Side Effects

She visited the emergency room while filming The Surreal Life.

By Kayla BlantonPublished: Aug 08, 2024 8:30 AM EDT

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R&B singer Macy Gray, 56, opened up about Ozempic side effects on The Surreal Life.
She was ultimately hospitalized due to complications related to the drug.
“I can’t even walk very much without losing my breath,” she said.

During her time on MTV’s The Surreal Life: Villa of Secrets, Macy Gray has been open about her experience taking Ozempic for weight loss. First, she detailed uncomfortable side effects, and ultimately, the 56-year-old was hospitalized for complications related to the drug.

The problems initially crept up in the form of constipation, she shared on the July 23 episode of the show, per People. “Oh, boy my stomach hurts,” she told her cast mates Kim Zolciak and Johnny Weir. “I took Ozempic. I can’t go to the bathroom, and I was up all night.”

Zolciak responded: “Ozempic does that. You have to be really careful, you know.”

Ozempic is a prescription injectable medication approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the management of type 2 diabetes, but is also used off-label to aid weight loss.

In a following episode of The Surreal Life, Gray’s condition worsened. She had shortness of breath. “This sucks because I’m here all the way in Colombia and I really just want to give it my all, but I just feel awful and I just want it to go away,” she told the cameras. “This is not going well. I can’t even walk very much without losing my breath.” Off-screen, a set medic reminded Gray that she’s taking a medication that affects her pancreas, and suggested she go to the hospital.

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Constipation and digestive upset are common Ozempic side effects, Florence Comite, M.D., founder of the Comite Center for Precision Medicine & Health previously told Prevention. Though Gray has not commented on her diagnosis, fatigue and pancreatitis—which is inflammation of the pancreas—are potential complications, but less common ones, he added.

After Gray got a ride to the emergency room, her cast mate Chet Hanks told the others what happened. “She hasn’t been eating,” he said, to which X Factor star Ally Brooke replied: “I know why. It’s the shot. That’s what happens. It literally happened to, like, my friends.”

Thankfully, Gray seems to have recovered, given that she appeared in the show’s most recent episode. In a confessional, she explained that she opted to try Ozempic because she’s “kind of a vain person.”

“I’ve gained a lot of weight over the past couple years, and this is right about the time when everybody starts talking about this Ozempic,” she said. “So, I thought, okay, I’m not taking [the weight] off the right way, let me see if I can get one of these.”

It’s unclear if she’s still taking the drug.