Marriage and Sex in the Age of Ozempic: An Update

Hey. It's Rachel. This week, we're revisiting some of our favorite shows from the year, listening back, and hearing what's happened in the time since then. Today, we return to the story of one married couple's experience with GLP one drugs and how the use of weight loss medications like Ozempic can impact how people see themselves and their closest relationships. It's Friday, December 26. Lisa, I don't think it's an understatement to say that we, in 2025, are in the middle of this what feels like kind of a weight loss revolution in The United States. And, of course, we're talking about these drugs that everybody's probably heard of, Ozempic, Wegovy, Monjaro. I think most people know somebody who's been transformed by them. Maybe a lot of people themselves have actually had some experience with them. Yeah. It's a revolution in how we look. It's a revolution in our health. It's got a gigantic potential to help people who have not been able to be helped before. The data show that one in eight Americans Mhmm. Has tried one of these drugs. Like, I have a friend who takes the medicine, and he says, you know, if you are able to eat just five French fries Mhmm. And you used to not be able to eat just five French fries, it gives you grounding in the idea that you can control things in your life that you didn't think you could control. So what else can you control? Can you control the way you relate to your children, the way you talk to your boss. And what really interested me was this question of how the GLP-one drugs affected a marriage, especially when one partner is on the drugs and the other partner isn't. How did you go about trying to find the right people to talk to to to satisfy that question? Right. Well, we, at the times, have a thing called a callout where you ask the public a question. Mhmm. And then we get responses to that question. And the question was this, has a GLP one drug like Ozempic and subsequent weight loss changed your relationship? And I was getting all of these responses, and one jumped out at me. He wrote, I believe it has changed a few things, less alcohol consumption, smaller meal portions, improved health outcomes. But I believe GLP one has affected my wife's libido, no interest in sex. Perhaps due in part to image issues, also increased mood swings on her part. And I thought, there's a lot between the lines here. And so I called them up, and they agreed to participate in this story as long as I used their middle names. Javier. Javier. So he is Javier, and she is Jean. J e a n n e. They live in New England in sort of a nice suburb. We celebrated our anniversary a few days ago. They had been married for fifteen years, and I think maybe …