Rosie O'Donnell Reveals the Drug That Transformed Her Life After Childhood Trauma

Rosie O'Donnell has credited one drug for "saving" her life after opening up about childhood trauma. In a recent interview with PEOPLE , the 64-year-old described Mounjaro as a "miracle drug" after losing around 60 pounds since starting the medication three years ago following a diagnosis of type 2 diabetes. "I've had trouble with my weight my whole life," O'Donnell said. While the weight loss has been significant, she said the biggest change has been how the drug "quieted the food noise," describing it as life-changing. Rosie O'Donnell has credited one drug for "saving" her life after opening up about childhood trauma. Credit: Amanda Edwards / Getty The former talk show host said she wanted to be open about taking the medication despite some people feeling uncomfortable discussing weight-loss drugs. "I know some people are ashamed to talk about it, but I wanted to share how it helped me, and I don't like secrets as a whole," she said. O'Donnell said she has steadily lost "a pound or two a month for three years". "So Mounjaro saved my life," she said. "I’ve lost a pound or two a month for three years. I really wish I could do commercials for Mounjaro and they would drop the price instead of paying me." "Because when I see people struggling with obesity, I want to say I know the shame that we carry and the humiliation that is dealt to people who are overweight." She says childhood grief changed everything The comedian traced her struggles with weight back to 1973, when her mother, Roseann O'Donnell, died. "When my mom died, all of us children gained weight," she recalled. She explained that her father would give the children money to shop for the family's groceries while they were still very young. "My father would give us a one hundred dollar bill, and we would go to Foodtown to do the food shopping. Now if you're 11-years-old and you're shopping for a family of five, there's nothing nutritious about it," she said. "It was Entenmann's and Cap'n Crunch and we would always say, 'Subtotal please,' and when it got near one hundred, we'd put back the chicken and the hamburger meat." She added: "Everyone got heavy. Everyone was in such grief and trauma." O'Donnell also reflected on the pressure she felt throughout her years in television, revealing she often worried more about how she looked than her performances. "When I would do late night, my biggest concern wasn't my set, it was, did I look fat?" she said. Recalling one of her earliest television appearances, she continued: "The first time I did a talk show, it was Pat Sajak and people were saying 'You were so good,' and I'd go, 'How did I look in that blazer?' I wasn't even heavy then." Today, she says the weight she has lost has transformed how she feels physically. "I feel much healthier and more powerful in my physicality," she added. Rosie O'Donnell also spoke about her facelift. Credit: Bruce Glikas / Getty Why she changed her mind about cosmetic surgery O'Donnell was candid about recently undergoing a facelift after previously believing she would never have cosmetic surgery. She confessed she once had a "moral" objection to facelifts and considered herself "head of all women who would never" have one. However, after losing weight with Mounjaro , she said the changes to her face became hard to ignore. She described the excess skin caused by weight loss as looking like she was "melting with intention". Initially, she tried embracing the changes, telling herself her appearance was "natural" and "earned." But then she reached "a point where acceptance starts to feel like lying". Mayim Bialik spoke about her experience with GLP-1 drugs. Credit: Jerod Harris / Getty Other celebrities have shared mixed experiences O'Donnell isn't the only celebrity to speak publicly about GLP-1 medications. In June, actress Mayim Bialik revealed she experienced severe side effects while taking a GLP-1 drug, including "explosive, uncontrollable diarrhea," "sneezing attacks," cramping, bloating and "full-body aching". Meanwhile, actress Jenny Mollen said she experienced heavy bleeding while "microdosing" a GLP-1 medication alongside other peptides. She recalled "hemorrhaging" before fainting several times and being taken to hospital, although she later said she wasn't certain the medication itself was entirely responsible. "I don't know if it was the GLP-1 necessarily," Mollen explained . "I think it was because I think it was messing with my hormones a little bit. I think had I stayed on it I would have been fine. But getting off it and then back on it is what screwed me." Featured image credit: Bruce Glikas / Getty