AFTER JULIE SIMONSON SURVIVED A SEXUAL assault, she turned to the 7-Eleven across the street for comfort food. Her weight skyrocketed, along with her shame.
"I would cope by basically overeating," the psychotherapist from Philadelphia says, recalling how her health declined in the aftermath of the attack.
Eventually she turned to gastric bypass surgery and lost 160 pounds. Simonson, 50, endured skin removal surgery, a tummy tuck and an arm lift, but the pounds slowly came back, despite her best efforts to restrict calories and work with a trainer.
Finally, in 2023, Simonson's doctor put her on Mounjaro, one of the new class of highly touted diabetes and weight-loss drugs, and the pounds finally came off and stayed off. She says she feels amazing.
But beneath Simonson's joy, she's found a darker side to living at a healthy weight-people are treating her like a celebrity, even though she's the same person she's always been.
"My interests haven't changed. My sense of humor hasn't changed. Fundamentally who I am hasn't changed," Simonson says indignantly. "That's why it's frustrating when people are nicer to me because I'm not really any different."
As tens of millions of Americans reap the benefits of new obesity therapies, some are finding a bitter confirmation of the fatphobia they've experienced all their lives-and are grappling with how to deal with theirr own, internal bias now that they're "on the other side."
It's yet another aspect of a new health and weight revolution powered by a class of drugs called GLP-1 agonists that's reshaping American society.
As many Americans lose weight to improve their health, their old bodies-and memories of past mistreatment-continue to cast a shadow over them.
They're learning all over, in a new way, how awful neighbors, co-workers and strangers can be.
Denne historien er fra August 16 - 23, 2024 (Double Issue)-utgaven av Newsweek Europe.
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Denne historien er fra August 16 - 23, 2024 (Double Issue)-utgaven av Newsweek Europe.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
Falling for Romance
A new book, Nora Ephron at the Movies, celebrates the writer/director best known for her iconic rom-coms and strong female characters
Cracking the Norse Code
Walrus DNA has shown that Vikings were likely the first to have encountered Indigenous North Americans
Monumental Shift
The discovery of 165-million-year-old crystals Easter Island has upended the longheld notion of how the Earth's \"conveyor belt\" moves
'OUR FOREIGN POLICY AND DOMESTIC REFORMS ARE TWO SIDES OF THE SAME COIN'
It is a well-known fact across the globe that the North Korean regime is irrational and unpredictable, but we have been consistent in strengthening our defense posture against the threat from North Korea since the Korean War, and I believe that their conventional capability is much inferior to that of the Korean military.
'They Read My Eulogy As I Lay in an Open Grave'
Like Paris Hilton, Natasia Pelowski claims she was subjected to abuse at a teenage therapy program
Russian Economy Faces 'Burnout'
Vladimir Putin admits difficulties” as the country’s key interest rate reaches a historic high
China's 'Silent Chemical War'
The U.S. must investigate Beijing's role in the manufacturing of fentanyl that is killing Americans, says one mom whose daughter died after accidentally taking the illicit substance
HARSH HEADWINDS
President Yoon Suk Yeol's BATTLE to reform a South Korea beset with structural problems under the specter of an increasingly aggressive neighbor to THE NORTH
Bridget Everett
BRIDGET EVERETT NEVER THOUGHT SHE'D BE THE LEAD OF A TV SHOW. \"I come from the downtown world in New York, a cabaret singer, and these things just don't happen, you don't find yourself with three seasons of HBO.
Amber Ruffin
A LATE-NIGHT COMEDY SHOW ON CNN? YES, and it's a game show, too.
