The Tamesis
Samantha Benjamin, in her late teens and early 20s, huddled in a shared room in a cramped, cluttered model home. While she was waiting for castings or killing time to change jobs, she and her fellow models traded weight-loss tips: illegal Adderall, starvation dieting, even ingesting parasites — and later, over-the-counter ozone pills. “Models always whisper about extreme weight loss,” she said. Benjamin was quite successful, doing commercial work and occasional editorial work. But at 27, she essentially quit the industry.
Benjamin, now a social media manager who lives in Los Angeles with her boyfriend and puppy, is well aware of one of the main reasons: “Girls get called fat. No one beats around the bush.” In an industry where typical specimens are size zero, weight has always been central to a model’s success. But now, GLP-1 weight loss drugs offer a tantalizing shortcut to weight loss. Models, modeling agents, casting directors and designers are all noticing the surprising return to slimmer bodies on the runways. “Models have definitely gotten smaller,” said Zoe Latta of New York fashion brand Eckhaus Latta. “I think it’s a combination of GLP-1 and the pendulum swinging back to ultra-thin, which is becoming the idealized look again.” Fall/Winter 2026 fashion business The Size Inclusion Report notes that the proportion of both medium and plus-size bodies on the runway has dropped to its lowest level since the publication began tracking the data three years ago.
“When GLP-1 came out, a lot of models were wondering, ‘If I want to go to these higher-level shows, if I want to work for these brands, am I going to be thinner?'” says New York curvy model Grace Breuning. “Then a lot of models got thinner.”
The universality of Ozempic cannot be overstated. Since the FDA approved GLP-1 for weight loss in 2021, one in eight Americans has taken GLP-1. In January, Wegovy (GLP-1) became available in pill form for as low as $150 a month; this month, the FDA approved a second drug, manufactured by Eli Lily under the brand name Foundayo. For anyone tempted by the drug semaglutide, an aversion to needles is no longer a barrier. But along with its legitimate use for obesity and diabetes, comes the potential for abuse. “It’s almost like the cocaine of the new millennium,” says one major modeling agent.
The modeling industry has long played a role in maintaining unrealistic body standards, albeit with its periodic advances and setbacks. A typical wave of hunger-related deaths in 2006 and 2007 led to BMI reforms and requirements. In 2017, Kering and LVMH teamed up to create a “model charter” outlining rules on scale, such as a ban on strict requirements for casting. The body positivity movement of the 2010s and early 2020s — when models like Ashley Graham, Paloma Elsesser and Tess Holliday started a conversation around size inclusivity — seemed to be building on promising momentum.
But now, with some notable exceptions, slimming appears to be back, and GLP-1 is driving the trend. Although the drug semaglutide remains a taboo subject, some models are starting to talk about them more openly. “As I lost weight, I started confirming more jobs,” says model and reality star Brooks Nader, who has appeared on the cover of Weight Loss magazine. sports illustrated and said she “microdoses” the drug. “I was like, well, I want [the industry] Like me to be thinner. ” (Nader still takes GLP-1, despite concerns from her family and doctors that she’s using it inappropriately.)
“It’s become very, very popular to be very, very thin,” said Lottie Moss, a 27-year-old model. In 2024, Moss (Kate Moss’s half-sister), who launched her career in 2016, has been unusually candid about being sent to the emergency room due to ozone abuse. A year and a half later, she still feels some of the same pressures. “You would think if celebrities are using it, it must be safe,” said Moss, who said she has friends who buy Ozempic online. “You see famous people using it and you think, ‘This must be beneficial.'”
