The View panel butt heads during debate about weight loss drugs (2024)

The View panel clashed with one another during Wednesday's episode as they had a rather tense debate about whether or not it is 'offensive' to ask someone if they're taking a weight loss drug.

Whoopi Goldberg, who admitted to takingMounjaro earlier this year, argued that not everyone is 'comfortable' with sharing details about how they've shed the pounds - while Sara Haines suggested that 'public people' should always be open about it.

Mother-of-three Sara claimed: 'We've lost so much life on our bodies that I forgive the ones saying, "What is your silver bullet? Help me," and I forgive the person that says, "This is really private, I don't really want to share that."

'But if you're public, I disagree. If you're public and you're writing on an image, I do think you owe it to people.'

'Why?' Joy Behar asked, as Sara, 46, fired back: 'Because I think if you're sitting there and everyone is consuming everything about you, and then you find the miracle drug and you take it and everyone's like, "You look amazing," and you're like, "I work out a lot and eat lean protein..."'

'Well, don't lie about it, that's the line!' Whoopi, 68, interjected as Sara continued: 'But they all do it because someone will say, "You look great," and they omit what the magic was!'

Joy, 81, piped up again and pointed out: 'But the ads are continuously on television so it's obvious why you lost all that weight,' as Sara fired back: 'Well if it's obvious, just say it!' but Joy was having none of it and blurted out: 'Why? It's nobody's business really!'

Sunny Hostin then shared her thoughts and said: 'I do think that if you're a public person that you can't lie and that you can't omit, because omission is a lie really.

'But I also think, we would never say to someone,"Are you taking this diabetes drug or are you taking this anti-depressant?" We wouldn't do that.'

'Well, you'd have to have a lot more information in order to do that. You'd have to know someone had...' Whoopi suggested, before speaking about her own weight loss.

'Yes I took Mounjaro. I did it, you know. I say it all the time because you can't go from close to 300 pounds without somebody saying, "Okay, what happened?" Because you know I didn't go to the gym! People know that!' the mother-of-one said candidly.

Sara then said: 'Sunny, you said something about answering about medication, one thing is I deal with a lot of anxiety... when people have written me privately and said, "help me I struggle with the same thing"... I have answered them.

'Because if I have a secret and it works for me I'll say, "This is what I've done and this is what helps me,"' she added, as Whoopi pointed out: 'And you're comfortable with that.'

The Sister Act star added: 'But not everybody is comfortable with that. You can't expect everybody to tell everything because some of us are a certain age where we don't tell you everything.

'This idea that we got to share what we eat, who we sleep with, all the pictures, I don't want to know! I don't want to know! I'm glad you're doing your thing [but] I'm really into the privacy, I like it.'

'I don't post about it like as a, "Guess what I'm taking," it's like when someone DMs you or asks for help,' Sara said defensively, as Whoopi reminded her: 'Well, when they come to you and ask for your help, but we're talking about sharing and being public and stuff.'

'No, I wouldn't just put it out there! Well, I'm definitely taking stuff guys, so write me privately if you'd like to know!' Sara added, before confirming she is on 'things that help you with anxiety.'

Back in March, Whoopi opened up about her own weight loss journey during an episode of The View and admitted she turned to the medication after her weight soared to 300 pounds while she was filming the movie Till in 2021.

Whoopi's weight loss confession came while the hosts on the daytime show were discussing Oprah Winfrey's new ABC weight loss special, Shame, Blame and the Weight Loss Revolution, in which the TV mogul touted Ozempic, while defending her decision to use it.

In response to 70-year-old Oprah's vehement defense of the drugs, Whoopi chimed in to reveal that she had herself turned to medication as a last resort in her weight loss journey, having tried a number of other methods to help her slim down.

'I will tell you, you know, I weighed almost 300 pounds when I made Till,' Whoopi revealed.

'I had taken all those steroids, I was on all this stuff and one of the things that has helped me drop the weight is the Mounjaro...That's what I use.'

This prompted her colleague, Sunny, 55, to make a similar confession, sharing that she had gained 40 pounds during the COVID pandemic, and made the decision to use Mounjaro to try and shed that weight.

'All I did was eat...I love to cook and I found out I love to eat and I was horrified by the fact I would have to come out on here, I was,' she said. 'I also took Mounjaro and I got all these nasty emails and things.

'[They said]: "You're too skinny and... you're taking it away from diabetics." So there is shame when you've gained weight. I had never experienced that kind of shame before and what I loved about what [Oprah] said is obesity is a disease, right?'

Sunny added: 'What I will say is if someone has diabetes and they're being treated for diabetes it's fine. When someone has some sort of cardiac disease, that's fine. They're not shamed for it but when someone is obese, they are shamed for it.

'I found my cholesterol went up to 200 when I gained the extra weight and I used Mounjaro and my cholesterol is 140 now. I feel better, I look better and that's what it is about.'