Kym Whitley is glowing through the screen. As she pops up on Zoom for our chat, the actress, 64, looks svelte. She’s been on a weight-loss journey for the last four months, but really, she’s been navigating fluctuating weight for as long as she’s been in the industry. When asked if she can recall the highest the scale has ever read, she jokes, “The number was ‘obese.’ That’s what my doctor said and that’s what it is. That’s the disease.”
The funny lady, who stars in the upcoming Happy Gilmore 2, is very clear in her language, pointing out that when you realize that obesity is a disease, just like any other serious condition, it’s necessary to get the right tools to deal with it. With the help of her doctor, the right tool has been Zepbound, and the actress is feeling better than she has in years using it. She has more energy, which comes in handy not only on set, and on stage, but also when spending time with her son, who is now 14.
“I enjoy playing tennis with him and I enjoy my son looking at me and he’s not looking at me saying, ‘Oh look! Wow, you lost weight. You look so cute!’ None of that,” she says. “My son looks at me with joy because he sees it in me.”
That joy comes from no longer feeling stuck. With the help of the injectable prescription drug, used for weight management, she has been able to shed the weight—the weight of obesity and the shame that often comes with it. Now she’s aiming to help others do the same.
“Honey, I used to be stuck. And that’s the truth,” she says. “When you got the stuck face and you don’t know what to do. But I’m not stuck anymore.”
We spoke with the comedian and mom about changing her lifestyle, not being afraid to ask for help to deal with obesity, and why she can’t get enough of telling any and everybody about Zepbound.
ESSENCE: You’ve slimmed down in the past and you’ve tried different things. What has it been like to work on your health and wellness, having your weight fluctuate, while being someone who’s always in the public eye?
Kym Whitley: Oh, well that’s a good question. There’s always judgment out there, but what I’ve come to realize is that obesity is a disease. Let’s just start right off the bat. I didn’t understand it before and I really want to just get rid of that stigma. It’s a chronic disease and there are tools out there that can help you. So when you say “in the public eye,” people think that because I’m an actress, I’m losing weight for vanity, and that is the furthest thing from the truth. Because you’re on television, you want to be healthy because it’s hard work for me. So as my weight-loss journey has gone, I’ve been up and down and I want to be vulnerable and honest about that so that I can help other people. I have, most of my adult life, been obese and I would yoyo. I would lose weight, then I would gain weight, then I’d lose weight and I gained weight. Then I became a mother and by that time everything went out the window. I’m like, it’s all about the kid. Forget about me. Now that he’s a teenager, I look up and I’m like, wait a minute, I got to stop this. And I had to talk to my doctor and I was like, I’m stuck. I’ve been going up and down, up and down, and he introduced me to Zepbound as a tool to manage my obesity, and it has been fantastic.
You mentioned motherhood and sacrificing a lot of your time and energy, putting that focus on your son. In one way, that responsibility kind of hinders us, but how did it also encourage you to want to make sure that you were the healthiest that you could be? For yourself and your son?
I really want to encourage women and mothers. We forget about ourselves. We have to start being open and honest with our doctors about our health and how we are feeling and just ask all the questions and say, “Hey, I need a tool.” That’s why I love talking about Zepbound because when you present it like that and you tell your doctor and you’re honest about it, they can say, “Hey, here’s your option.” And Zepbound for me has been a wonderful tool to manage my weight loss and the disease of obesity. So my son, I think about the weight loss once again, not for vanity, but the things that I enjoy doing with him. I really, really enjoy seeing him see my weight-loss journey. And I’m hoping that will teach him through life that this is important and that I will continue to be here for him and we’ll do this journey together.
Nice. I love that. And how was it getting adjusted to using Zepbound when you first started? How did you incorporate it into your daily routine?
Well for me, everybody’s weight-loss journey is different. And everyone who uses it as a tool, that will be their journey. But for me it was simple. I talked to my doctor, he gave me the instructions on how to use Zepbound and how to use it to manage my weight. And what has been done is it helps me make healthy choices and do more exercise. A healthy diet and light exercise, for me, works. Everyone’s journey is different. But using Zepbound as that tool in my life, it has just been helpful. I work out and not strenuous. I started with five minutes on the elliptical. That’s where I started. Went on some walks and then I try to increase it. But if everyone would look at Zepbound as a tool, that’s what it can be. It’s a tool to help me manage my obesity. Because I never had a tool. I want people to really go to zepbound.lilly.com. It has a lot of information on there. Talk to your doctor.
And how do you feel now that you’ve been using it? What have been the differences that you’ve seen in your energy? What are some of the positive benefits that you’ve noticed since you’ve adopted this tool, and when did you start, if you don’t mind me asking?
I started about four months ago. I don’t get on the scale. See, that’s the one thing. I don’t look at the numbers on the scale. That’s really not what it’s about. It’s the enjoyment that I have that I have gone through in this journey with Zepbound and using it as a tool to manage the obesity. It has helped me.
On the set, we got all kinds of food. And it is hard to really get your exercise in, but it has helped me make better choices. Including when I see a spread of food.
There are people out there who would obviously say, you could have done this. You could have done that. What would you say to them?
Well, first of all, I would say to them to recognize that obesity is a disease. And with any disease you ask for help. If I had a high cholesterol, I would ask for help. You don’t just go out and listen to other people saying don’t do this, you go to your doctor.
That’s what I do. So I would tell them that first of all, go to the doctor and ask questions. Also go and visit the website, zepbound.lilly.com. I cannot push it enough because there will be answers there. But the biggest thing is to tell people to ask questions. There’s a stigma about having obesity, but there’s nothing to be ashamed of. It is a disease. It is a chronic disease. And that’s what’s so important that people have to recognize. You cannot walk around being ashamed of something. You open your mouth and you ask for help.
When I talk to people and they say, well, why don’t you do this? Why didn’t you do that? Because this was the best for me and what’s going to be best for them can be something else. But in my weight-loss journey, Zepbound has been the key. So if I can encourage people to talk to their doctors, I think that is the biggest thing. Ask them, what is a tool to help me manage this obesity, and really not be afraid of the word. No one wanted to say they were obese. But when you recognize that you have a disease, you talk about it and I want to talk about it so that other people can be encouraged. They see my weight-loss journey and my health journey, maybe they could be encouraged to go talk to their doctors and ask the questions.
You touched on it earlier, but how has this been a form of showing up for yourself and self-care amidst a busy life? How has this all been an effort to show up for yourself?
Well, that’s very important. Showing up for yourself and realizing that you need self-care. And this is part of my toolbox. I take my makeup bag with me, right? So I got my makeup with me. I got my favorite shoes. When I go on the road, I have my standup comedy book. And I got my Zepbound. So this is part of my toolbox. It’s all a part of self-care.
You’re getting ready for two comedy tours this summer, you have Happy Gilmore 2, which comes out at the end of the month. Congratulations on those projects! How has your weight loss and taking care of yourself changed the way you show up when you have these big comedy shows and you need to be on stage and you need to have stamina? Like you said, it’s a lot that is demanded of you to be on camera and be on stage. How has your journey empowered you in the way you show up to work?
Thank you for that question. Doing press, I have to travel a lot. I’m enjoying traveling. I enjoy working. Not that I didn’t enjoy it before, but now I enjoy it even more. When I’m on the set, my favorite thing on the set is craft services. I love the spread and everything they have to offer. But with the weight loss and the Zepbound, I now enjoy picking other food. It’s been a lifestyle change. I enjoy walking on the set. When we have a lunch break, I’ll just walk around the trailers of our dressing rooms. And the biggest thing I love now when I walk on the set is how people say, “What are you doing?!” I have no shame. I say, “Zepbound!” And a lot of people don’t know. They’re like, what’s Zepbound? And I’m like, it’s a tool, my weight-loss tool to manage my obesity. And people get shocked when I say that because they don’t understand that obesity is a disease. So when I’m on the set, I talk about it. I love talking about it. I have found a lot of joy in that. I really have.
To learn more about Zepbound, visit zepbound.lilly.com.