‘Never heard it put like that before’: Author’s remark about weight stuns Dr. Gupta

12 years ago, you wrote this essay, Hello, I’m Fat. It’s that essay that led to the book. It led to the creation of this Hulu TV show. So that was 12 years ago, roughly 1213 years ago. How have things changed, do you think, since then, 12 years ago? I don’t think there was any. Generalized cultural awareness that maybe it’s bad to stigmatize fat people. It was not just normal, it was, like, honorable. To try to eradicate fat people, that’s not exactly the case anymore. And there’s still just a lot of structural barriers to fat people being able to fully participate in public life. A lot of that has not gone away. You know, in terms of hiring discrimination, the way fat people are treated at the doctor, the way that people think about accessibility with these medications, these GLP one agonists like Ozempic and Lagovi and Monjaro’s another one. What role do you think they have, what we’re hearing? Lindy is that they’re likely to become the biggest class of drugs actually taken in the developed world. You know, I want to say up front that I do believe in bodily autonomy and I know how hard it is to live in a fat body, and I understand when people don’t feel like they can do it anymore. It’s really, really exhausting. You feel really surveilled all the time. You feel like you have no privacy. Having had my weight fluctuate, I know for a fact that the smaller you are, the nicer people are to you. And it’s just like heartbreaking to know that. And so I understand why people are tired and don’t want to do it anymore. I get it 1000%. I think the dangers are in the way that pharmaceutical companies market these medications to really vulnerable people exploiting those vulnerabilities, you know, knowing that people are desperate to change their bodies because they’re treated so poorly. Like wouldn’t you be happier if you had this different body, this comment you just made that when you are thinner, people are nicer to you. That touches me for something. I mean that’s that’s a really powerful comment. I and it I don’t know it makes me a little chokes me up a little bit. People will be kinder to you. They will take you more seriously they. They’re friendlier. They’re more welcoming. Think about what it’s like to live your life and no one’s ever kind to you. And then you’re also told that this is your fault, and that the fact that you haven’t changed your body in the way that society wants you to. Says all these negative things about who you are, your capabilities. So it doesn’t matter why people are fat, you know it doesn’t matter. You should treat people with respect and kindness regardless.