Tim McGraw and Faith Hill’s daughter Gracie McGraw, 29, shared that using Ozempic enabled her eating disorder to return: “I think it was probably one of the worst things I’ve ever done for myself."
Gracie McGraw is opening up about a difficult chapter in her health journey.
After Tim McGraw and Faith Hill’s eldest daughter began using Ozempic to treat her symptoms for polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome (PMOS), formerly known as polycystic ovary syndrome, she shared how taking the weight loss drug led to poor body image.
“All of a sudden skinny culture is back and I realized holy crap I have been feeding into my eating disorder this whole time under the guise of this miracle shot,” Gracie wrote on Instagram Stories Aug. 3 of using weight loss injections, per People. “I think it was probably one of the worst things I’ve ever done for myself, looking back.”
“Because now as everyone is getting smaller and smaller,” she added, “I am gaining my weight back and seeing how much losing all of that weight actually affected me and my views of myself.”
And while taking the medication delivered in terms of weight loss, the 29-year-old shared it was detrimental in other ways.
“My internal system is forever changed since taking the meds,” she explained. “Yes, it f–king worked and made my pcos symptoms easier to control, but it also brought back my ED and negative views on my body.”
PMOS is a common hormonal and metabolic condition that can cause irregular menstrual cycles, high levels of androgens in the blood and weight gain, according to Mayo Clinic, though symptoms of the chronic illness can manifest in various ways.
After getting her diagnosis, Maggie shared she was initially excited to try out the weight loss drug as a tool to manage her symptoms. But she quickly found that losing weight changed her life in more ways than one.
“At that time I thought it was the best decision I ever made because I finally lost weight and got skinny,” she wrote. “As soon as I started shedding a few pounds I noticed how people looked at me differently on the streets, in my friend groups and family, and in my own job. I got more opportunities when I lost weight than I ever have had in my life.”
The realization hit her even harder considering she was used to the media comparing her to her sisters Maggie McGraw, 27, and Audrey McGraw, 24.
“I’ve been called fat and ugly my entire life, whether that had been from magazines or the internet,” she wrote, “constantly saying I must have different genes than my sisters and parents because I was the ‘fat’ one and didn’t have the looks that my family has.”
However, she now looks back on her time using Ozempic with the realization that she "was way too skinny,” even though she thought at the time that she should lose even more weight.
And while weight loss drugs “blew up” in popularity right as she began using them, she wants her followers to know that being thin doesn’t automatically equate to health.
“If you know someone who is struggling or if you are, please never feel embarrassed to reach out to anyone,” she added. “We are here for each other.”