Amy Schumer reveals medical culprit behind her ‘horrible’ Ozempic experience

Amy Schumer is reflecting on her ‘horrible’ experience with Ozempic and why a certain ‘gene’ made it almost impossible for her to keep taking it.

The comedian, 43, first started on the weight-loss medication — originally used for the treatment of type 2 diabetes — nearly three years ago in 2022.

But Schumer had to stop the once-weekly injection after suffering from extreme nausea and vomiting.

Schumer later learned that she has the GDF15 gene, which means her body produces ‘abnormally low levels’ of the GDF15 hormone that ’causes taste aversion, nausea and vomiting,’ as per the HER Foundation.

The hormone is produced during pregnancy as well as ‘by organs under stress and by tumors.’

‘I have this gene – GDF15 – which makes you extremely prone to nausea which is why I was so sick during my pregnancy,’ revealed Schumer, who welcomed a son with husband Chris Fischer in 2019, on Wednesday’s episode of SiriusXM’s The Howard Stern Show.

The Trainwreck star’s GDF15 sensitivity later affected her Ozempic use.

‘So, I tried Ozempic almost three years ago and I was like bedridden, I was vomiting and then you have no energy but other people take it and they’re all good,’ she explained.

While she lost 30 pounds taking the drug, Schumer said that it prevents her from being able to play with her three-year-old son Gene.

‘I lost 30 pounds so quick [on it]. I looked great and I couldn’t lift my head off the pillow, so what’s the point?’

Schumer joked that all the positives being advertised about Ozempic are ‘red flags’ and that even Oprah Winfrey — who admitted to taking a GLP-1 to lose weight — is now skinnier than Stern.

Schumer first spoke about taking Ozempic in 2023 as she called out fellow celebrities for lying about using the semaglutide drug to shed pounds. 

The actress told Andy Cohen on his late-night talk show Watch What Happens Live that Ozempic made her ‘skinny’ and ‘sick.’

While she saw immediate results, Ozempic was not ‘livable’ as a weight loss option.

‘I was one of those people that felt so sick and couldn’t play with my son. I was so skinny, and he’s throwing a ball at me, and [I couldn’t],’ she told Cohen.

Earlier in the episode, Schumer told stars to ‘just stop hiding’ the fact that they take Ozempic.

‘You are on Ozempic or one of those things or you got work done. Just stop hiding it. Be real with the people,’ she said.

Schumer then used her own transparency around her changing figure as an example.

‘I have this gene – GDF15 – which makes you extremely prone to nausea which is why I was so sick during my pregnancy,’ revealed Schumer, who welcomed a son with husband Chris Fischer in 2019, on Wednesday’s episode of SiriusXM’s The Howard Stern Show

‘When I got lipo, I said I got lipo,’ exclaimed the star, who famously underwent liposuction in January 2022 and dropped to 170lbs.

Schumer’s been extremely candid when it comes to speaking about her health in recent years.

Her Ozempic comments come just days after she spoke on the Call Her Daddy podcast about how cruel comments about her having a ‘moon face’ led to her Cushing syndrome diagnosis.

If it weren’t for the trolls on social media pointing out her swollen face, the comic said she wouldn’t have found out she had the condition as quickly as she did. 

‘A year ago, the Internet really came for me,’ the Emmy-winning actress, 43, recalled going viral for her ‘swollen’ face.

At first, she said she ignored the comments about her appearance until doctors started sharing their thoughts on possible diagnoses.

The comedian — who also made a ‘scary to say’ sex confession during her podcast appearance — ‘I was like, “Okay, everybody, like, relax.”‘

Then, she recalled starting to see physicians commenting on her appearance too.

‘So, I tried Ozempic almost three years ago and I was like bedridden, I was vomiting and then you have no energy but other people take it and they’re all good,’ she explained

While she lost 30 pounds taking the drug, Schumer said that it prevents her from being able to play with her three-year-old son Gene

‘Doctors were chiming in in the comments and they were, like, “No, no, something’s really up. Your face looks so crazy.”‘

She noticed that people were speculating that she could have Cushing syndrome — a condition which occurs when the body has too much of the hormone cortisol for a long time, according to the Mayo Clinic.

The condition can result from the body making too much cortisol or taking steroids for an extended period of time.

Main symptoms of the syndrome include a fatty hump between the shoulders, a rounded face, and pink or purple stretch marks on the skin.

‘At first, I was like, “F*** off,”‘ the stand-up comedian said about seeing an influx of comments about her having a ‘moon face.’

Then, she recalled how she was ‘getting steroid injections for my scars’ from her breast reduction surgery and Cesarean section after she and her husband Chris Fischer welcomed their son Gene, now five, in 2019.

‘So I was getting these steroid injections and so it gave me this thing called Cushing syndrome — which I wouldn’t have known if the internet hadn’t come for me so hard,’ the Trainwreck star explained.

The I Feel Pretty star later revealed that her doctor diagnosed her with Cushing syndrome in February 2024.

She recalled how she was about to start filming her upcoming comedy movie, Kinda Pregnant, at the time.

Her Ozempic comments come just days after she spoke on the Call Her Daddy podcast about how cruel comments about her having a ‘moon face’ led to her Cushing syndrome diagnosis; Schumer seen in February 2024

If it weren’t for the trolls on social media pointing out her swollen face, the comic said she wouldn’t have found out she had the condition as quickly as she did 

‘I learned I had this condition, and that I had something called moon face, and I’m starring in a movie,’ she said. ‘And there’s a camera right in my face.

‘Everyone’s like, “You look great,”‘ she recalled until one of her friends shared some blunt honesty and told her that her face looked ‘a little bit insane.’

Schumer said she ultimately ‘got rid’ of the syndrome with encouraging words.

‘I was feeling really down on myself before I started filming this movie,’ she said on the podcast.

‘I was, like, really having trouble figuring out how I was going to star in a movie while I had this going on.’

She said she started feeling better when director Lorraine Caffery told her: ‘You know, I think you look f***ing great.’

Schumer said: ‘I just needed one person to amp me up.’