Former Real Housewives of New Jersey star Lauren Manzo slammed social media trolls for criticizing her decision to use the weight-loss drug, Mounjaro, to shed 30 pounds.
In a recent video, uploaded to TikTok, the 35-year-old reality star addressed the scrutiny surrounding her slimmed-down figure as she explained to her followers that she is ‘finally at a healthy weight.’
After receiving a mean message under another post, claiming it was ‘sad’ she has become nearly unrecognizable, the TV personality admitted she was ‘just confused’ and ‘sick of these comments.’
‘They make no sense,’ she said in the recording. ‘I’m 5 foot, 3 inches and 115 pounds. The only thing I need to do to make myself healthier is build muscle… which I admit I’m too lazy to do.’
Manzo continued to defend her impressive weight-loss while pointing out that she doesn’t ‘look sick’ and how ‘nobody would question’ her size if she still looked the same.
‘As [long as] I feel good, I’m okay,’ Manzo added. ‘I’m fine. This isn’t sad. I just ate a ciabatta sandwich with a bunch of deli meat on it, a load of mayonnaise and Fritos. I’m fine.’
She concluded: ‘Nothing sad here.’
The Manzo’d With Children alum, who welcomed her daughter Marchesa ‘Markie’ Anna Scalia in 2017, previously revealed she underwent lap band surgery.
During Page Six’s Virtual Reali-Tea podcast in May, the mother-of-one spoke about going gluten and dairy-free for a over a year, before going on Mounjaro.
‘I get it — people don’t like it, people don’t applaud it, people aren’t whatever, but it’s a shot in your stomach once a week, it’s the same as Ozempic,’ she explained.
Manzo continued: ‘And honestly, I really do believe that obesity and things like that — they are a major issue with people — it is causing mental health issues for me.’
‘You guys have seen the struggle with this since I’m 20 years old, and it’s been really hard for me,’ she told listeners. ‘I understand that people that are prediabetic or that are diabetic do need this, but I also do believe that [the Ozempic trend has] helped people [with food issues too].’
‘I mean, I’m not gonna lie, I feel like there have been times that I’ve been on the brink of an eating disorder or had issues myself. And this is the one thing — even above weight loss surgery — that has helped me a lot and cured me and mentally made me so much better. And I’m really grateful for it.’
Her mom, Caroline Manzo, said she could not understand why her daughter had weight on her: ‘She was working out like an animal [and] eating right’ but ‘she just could not lose weight.’
Caroline and her husband Albert Manzo joined RHONJ in 2009.
They have Lauren and sons, Albie and Chris.
They also had the spinoff series Manzo’d with Children from 2014 to 2016.
‘She had the Lap-Band — we had to have an emergency surgery because her stomach was all twisted,’ Caroline recalled.
‘Then she goes and gets the sleeve, which I was so against because she’s got half a stomach now.
‘And I’m like, ‘Don’t do the surgery.’ … Begged her not to do surgery. [Said], ‘There’s something hormonal going on. Something’s wrong with your body.’ …
‘I have never seen anybody work so hard to try and be healthy than this kid.’
Other RHONJ stars are on weight loss drugs: Dolores Catania is also on Mounjaro and Margaret Josephs is on a GLP-1 agonist.