Looking back over various “trends” from 2025, one stands out for its seeming about-face from recent years. After several years in which brands and influencers touted size inclusivity and body positivity, once again, thin is in.
Lately, we’ve all watched celebrities (and probably some friends) shrink before our eyes – in some cases to an alarming degree.
It’s a sensitive topic to broach. Especially after everything we’ve (hopefully) learned from movements like body positivity and #MeToo – for starters, to simply stop commenting on people’s bodies, especially women’s, whether it’s direct body-shaming or making an “innocent” remark, or even paying a compliment on, say, someone’s changing size. Weight loss decisions are and should be personal and private. Nonetheless, super-skinniness (for Gen-Xers, perhaps eerily reminiscent of 1990s “heroin chic”) is suddenly pervasive.
In many cases, dramatic weight loss, even skeletal frames, are being both showcased and shrugged off, attributed to “prioritizing self-care,” or “eating clean,” or a “new gym membership.” But it’s also a sort of open secret that many people are currently using a GLP-1 drug such as Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro, and Zepbound – as of October 2025, 12.4%, or about 1 in 8 Americans. That’s up from only 5.8% in February 2024, when Gallup first measured it, according to a recent NPR report.
But according to a new study from Arizona State University, “beyond changes on the scale, [GLP-1s] are also reshaping social norms and behaviors in significant ways….These drugs are a fantastic medical innovation, but with extremely complex — and sometimes very harmful — social and psychological implications,” says Alexandra Brewis, of ASU’s School of Human Evolution and Social Change.
The ASU researchers say these medications “have moved beyond a biomedical innovation and are a ‘social technology’” that is not only “reshaping bodies” but also “identities.”
How do GLP-1 drugs impact relationships?
Last month, Comedian Amy Schumer announced her divorce from husband Chris Fischer on Instagram. According to USA Today, shortly before the announcement, Schumer, who has spoken openly about using GLP-1s, deleted the existing contents of her Instagram grid and posted a series of glamorous photos documenting a newly svelte physique. Schumer has been adamant that her divorce was not related to her weight loss, and she criticized “media outlets” that suggested she cleared the older photos because of her weight. “That’s a narrative you created,” she wrote, “I’m proud of how I’ve looked always.” Nonetheless, the confluence of events sparked speculation.
Although the ASU study does not mention marriage specifically, other recent research and publications are examining the impact of GLP-1 weight loss – and resulting identity shifts – on relationships.
According to a recent New York Times article, How Weight-Loss Drugs Can Upend a Marriage, doctors prescribing GLP-1 drugs are typically very forthcoming with patients about “well-known side effects.” In addition, “They will explain the dosage schedule and may discuss cost. That, more or less, is where the professional guidance ends. “What may not be as widely known, or figure into the conversation, is a very personal social impact of these drugs – “the effects of extreme weight loss on love relationships can be profound,” the Times said.
The Times interviewed a couple, Jeanne and Javier, whose marriage has been struggling in the 10 months since she began Zepbound. Sixty pounds down, her fatty liver disease has resolved, and Jeanne feels the drug has been “life-changing” and “miraculous.”
However, the Times reported, neither spouse “could have anticipated the upheaval her use of the medication would create in their 15-year marriage — a disruption that has not just radically changed her weight and her appetites but has also seemingly forced a total renegotiation of their marital terms. They are grappling, minute by minute, with a reconsideration of what they love about each other, how they feel when they look in the mirror, what turns them on.”
The couple reports that they have been fighting more and have not had sex since she began the GLP-1, and Javier wonders if “Jeanne’s current lack of interest in sex may be linked to the Zepbound,” speculating that a drug that reduces one’s appetite for food may reduce other appetites as well.
According to the Times, some “small observational studies” have linked GLP-1s with reduced interest in intimacy, while other, larger-scale trials have found these medications can increase sex drive.
Jeanne reports feeling like she’s “molting” and “very much in flux.” She says her main experience since starting the drug, besides the decreased appetite for food, is “a discovery of her own boundaries and an ability to assert them…. The bedroom is where her new boundaries have emerged most clearly.” Although she “wants to want” sex, she told the Times, she currently does not.
Commenting on the New York Times article in Psychology Today, Azadeh Aalai, Ph.D., assistant professor of Psychology at Queensborough Community College in New York, noted that “The role that body image plays on identity—particularly for women who have been indoctrinated in the culture to equate physical appearance with worthiness—is significant.”
A March 2025 article in Elle Magazine examined the effect of GLP-1s and changing appetites in marriage, asking 11 spouses of individuals taking the weight loss drugs how it has impacted their relationship.
“For the partners of people who are taking GLP-1s, there are a whole host of unexpected ups and downs that have come with these injections—some of them are unexpected benefits or big-time bummers, and others are just things they have had to learn to live with.”
Marriage is based on so many things you share, Elle says, “but what if you no longer share the same feelings,” including towards food itself?
In their interviews, some spouses reported that their sex life improved because the person who lost weight felt so much better about themself, more confident, energetic. Others said the physical side effects had altered their daily lives and routines. Still others said the drug had changed their social life and things they enjoyed together as a couple because their activities used to revolve around “food adventures” that were no longer as inspiring or enjoyable.
In the Psychology Today article, Aalai boiled it down, “When one partner in a romantic coupling changes dramatically, this can significantly alter the dynamics between the two.”
Navigating a major change in a relationship can be very challenging. Don’t hesitate to seek professional help. If you’ve come to the difficult decision that it’s best to move on from your marriage, the experienced and caring family attorneys at SFLG can help you understand your options.
by Debra Schoenberg
