Andy Richter got real about his Dancing With the Stars weight loss, attributing part of his slimdown to taking GLP-1 medication.
“This show has also been a physical transformation for me because of the exercise, and I’ve lost weight,” Richter, 59, said on the Wednesday, November 12, episode of Julianne Hough’s “The Morning After (Show)” on YouTube.
Richter then revealed that exercise alone isn’t responsible for his slimmer figure.
“Thank you, Zepbound. Zepbound helped a lot,” he confessed, referring to the injectable prescription medication containing tirzepatide, which can help adults lose weight.
The comedian went on to say he thinks it’s “silly” that there is so much judgment about using GLP-1s like Zepbound or Ozempic.
“I don’t have any qualms about using science to help me over something,” Richter told Hough, 37, comparing it to his usage of antidepressants in the late ’80s when many of his friends were unaware of how helpful they could be to his mental health.
“I had friends who said, ‘It’s going to change you,’” he recalled of taking antidepressants, noting that some people talk about weight loss drugs the “same” way.
Richter said his perspective on GLP-1s is that “this is obviously a problem for people, [so] let them take a medicine that helps them get past it.”
While his sit-down with Hough was released on Wednesday, it was taped before he and dance partner Emma Slater were eliminated from season 34 of DWTS on Tuesday, November 11.
Although Richter admitted he was not the “best dancer” on the show, he called the experience life-changing.
In addition to it being “physically transformative,” the competition gave him a renewed sense of self and fuel to finally check things off his to-do list as he grows older.
“I came into this show reluctant about doing this thing,” Richter said. “It was beaten out of me. It was driven out of me over repetition over having to do it.”
Throughout the show, Richter found a “love” of dance and a desire to “mean it” when he says he’s going to have a healthier lifestyle.
“Now it’s like, when this show is done, knees willing, I am back in the gym,” the actor declared. “I haven’t needed to do anything but dance. I am curious when I get back on an elliptical, like, how long I can go and how much higher I can do the resistance.”
Richter also revealed that his “opinion on what I am capable of physically is brand-new.”
Andy Cohen revealed the secrets behind his slimmer figure after losing “a good chunk of weight” this summer. The king of Bravo tea, 57, brewed up a personal pot of his own on the Tuesday, September 9, episode of his SiriusXM show, Andy Cohen Live, during which Cohen admitted it would be “hypocritical” to not […]
Ahead of Richter and Slater’s DWTS elimination, the contestant reflected on how he’d grown as a dancer following his ballroom debut in September.
“I was thinking I won’t be able to cut it,” Richter said in an October show rehearsal package. “Now, I have to admit all this physical activity has made me feel better about myself.”
He shared that two months into the competition, “I definitely felt like, ‘Well, I’m older now, I can’t do as much as I used to.’ And now, I’m like, ‘Yes you can, you lazy bum.’ I just feel like a better person now. I feel more alive.”
Dancing With the Stars airs on ABC and Disney+ Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET.
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