The Medication That Gave Amy Schumer A Boost On Her Weight Loss Journey

Amy Schumer has kept things transparent about her weight loss journey. The choice was an honest one, one that the comedian-turned-actor came to after entering the film scene. As she explained to The Hollywood Reporter in March 2022, "Everybody on camera is doing this s***, I just wanted to be real about it." On the "Howard Stern Show" in January 2025, the comedian revealed that three years prior, she had used the weight loss drug Wegovy, which had a successful result. Dropping down 30 pounds, the celebrity saw a major transformation in her body, but also admitted to feeling as though the side effects of the medication were making her shrivel away. 

Wegovy had Schumer experiencing extreme nausea, which she described as a horrible experience. She eventually made the decision to quit the medication. The side effect was nothing new to Schumer, who explained that, due to a genetic disposition, she is prone to nausea. While the change-up put a temporary pause on her journey, Schumer was able to find a solution that didn't cause her terrible side effects. In March 2025, Schumer announced her use of Mounjaro in a since-deleted Instagram post. The comedian told her followers about her experience on other medications and her start with Mounjaro before ending the video in true Schumer fashion (via People). "But I'm having a really good experience, so I wanted to keep it real with you about that." 

The public's knowledge of Ozempic has skyrocketed since the recent boom in commercialization and celebrity endorsement of the type 2 diabetes medication. As a result, brands like Mounjaro have been lost in the mix or simply written off as Ozempic spin-offs, despite the fact that Mounjaro actually works a little differently.

Like some other popular weight loss drugs at the moment, Mounjaro, also called tirzepatide, is a treatment medication for Type 2 diabetes. The drug encourages the GLP-1 receptors as well as GIP receptors to increase insulin and decrease blood sugar. As research shows, Amy Schumer's better response to the shot may be from the design of the drug. Unlike Wegovy or Ozempic, which solely targets GLP-1 receptors to mimic the feeling of fullness, tirzepatide balances out its effects by activating GIP receptors, which in turn eases the feeling of nausea that can develop through GLP-1 induction. For individuals like Schumer, who have a predisposition to develop nausea, Mounjaro was a logical solution. 

However, it's important to note that at higher dosages, Mounjaro can still cause side effects of nausea and vomiting. This is alongside the drug's other side effects, which include dehydration, kidney injury, pancreatitis, and gallbladder problems. Despite these additional effects, Mounjaro has been proven to have a higher success rate in lowering A1Cs and encouraging more weight loss in individuals who use it when compared to semaglutide (the active ingredient in Ozempic and Wegovy).

Amy Schumer had a health scare with her chronic pain that had previously been dismissed as typical period cramps. But as Schumer got older, the pain persisted. "I've been in so much pain, you know, my whole life — not just the week of my period," she told CBS News in December 2022. It wasn't until after the birth of her son that Schumer was diagnosed with endometriosis. 

Ever the comedian, she joked about the response she got when asking her doctors how to move forward with the diagnosis. "I was so happy to be diagnosed cause I was like, 'Okay, great. What do we do?'" she regaled the audience and Jimmy Fallon on his late-night show, "and they said, 'Oh, well we haven't been able to study it because it only happens to women.'" 

Schumer's ability to view her diagnosis under a comedic lens aided the actor's approach to her subsequent surgeries following her diagnosis. As a means to combat her endometriosis, Schumer underwent a hysterectomy. After healing from the surgery, the comedian had liposuction. The actor felt it important to note the change in her appearance and clarify her use of surgery to prevent any misleading assumptions, noting (via Dear Chelsea), "I just wanted to say that, because if anybody sees me in pictures or anything and they're like, she looks thinner, it's because I had a surgery."