Heather Gay doesn’t shy away from conflict or the truth on The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City — and when it comes to her own life and weight loss journey, she is just as open.
After rising to fame as one of the original Housewives on the Utah-based Bravo series in 2020, Gay revealed in November 2023 that she was using Ozempic to help with weight loss.
While she claimed at the time she hadn’t seen “massive results,” Gay revealed in November 2024 that she had lost 25 pounds with the assistance of GLP-1s.
Gay gained more confidence — and has been able to expand her wardrobe — amid her weight loss, but it also came with some backlash. Some RHOSLC fans questioned whether Gay had become “meaner” after her slimdown, which she refuted in Us Weekly’s Reality Stars of the Year issue published in October 2025.
“I’m as outspoken now as I was when I was 30 pounds heavier, and somehow it reads harsher, I think, when the package isn’t as unthreatening,” she quipped.
In January 2026, Gay exclusively told Us, “I feel healthy every day. I feel like I am taking care of my body. And for my whole life, I’ve just been trying to, like, work around my body.”
Scroll down for everything Gay has said about her weight loss journey, using GLP-1s and body evolution:
Jumping on the Ozempic Bandwagon
“[I’m] on the Ozempic train,” Heather Gay told People in November 2023. “I’ve been on it for a long time, but hadn’t really seen much results. And I haven’t had massive results, but enough for people to notice, which is great.”
She noted that even after seeing a small drop in her weight, she noticed a shift in how people saw her. “You lose five pounds, people are nicer to you,” Gay claimed, adding that it’s a “discouraging” thought.
“It’s just the way the world works and that makes me sad for women. But happy that I’m down five,” she said.
Heather Gay. Maya Dehlin Spach/Getty Images
Still a Self-Love Queen
During a February 2024 sitdown with ABC News’ Deborah Roberts, the journalist told Heather Gay that after representing “body positivity,” some women were saying her use of GLP-1s are “kind of a copout.”
Gay revealed on the docuseries IMPACT x Nightline: The Skinny Confessions: After Ozempic hosted by Roberts that she had heard people claiming she has “sold out” and is no longer “relatable” because she used medication to assist in her slimdown.
“It’s disappointing [and] sad to know that body positivity was all a big lie,” Gay confessed. “Because it’s better to not be overweight.”
Gay explained she tried to block out the haters and focus on her own journey.
“I’m old enough to know that I have wasted a lot of years blaming myself and feeling guilty and shame over my lack of ability to be thinner,” she shared. “And if I had just known there was a medicine that would make me thinner with little to no effort I would have taken it 30 years ago and probably had a different life.”
Denying ‘Mean Girl’ Claims
During the RHOSLC season 5 reunion, which aired in January 2025, a fan insinuated that Heather Gay’s “edge” came from her recent weight loss. “Can you see how you were giving mean girl energy this season?” the fan asked, which took Gay by surprise.
“I mean, that’s just an interesting read,” Gay responded. “I guess when I was heavier, I was more of an underdog. So it was OK when I stuck up for myself. Season 1 Heather had a lot more confidence than this girl.”
She continued, “This show strips you of your ego. It strips you of your confidence. When I was heavier, I had to fight a lot harder battles and I was a lot meaner.”
Mary Cosby chimed in defending her costar, saying, “I just feel like Heather is different. She likes herself more. She’s pouring more love into herself. I feel like when I first met Heather five years ago, she was very dark, she was not happy. She was trying to climb out of a really deep place that she had been left in from whoever ridiculed her, whoever tore her down.”
Gay agreed that losing weight did shift her confidence. “You have to have a lot more confidence to show up when no clothes fit. I’m wearing a stretchy jumpsuit, I’m next to all these beautiful women,” she explained. “I have confidence in spades to do this whole show.”
Gay then noted, “I don’t want that to make me meaner. I am different, but it has nothing to do with the fact that I took medication that made me lose weight.”
Heather Gay. Fred Hayes/Bravo
Skinny, But Not Bitchy
Heather Gay faced backlash after losing weight, with some fans of RHOSLC claiming she was meaner now that she wasn’t as heavy. Gay, however, exclusively told Us in the October 2025 Reality Stars of the Year issue that wasn’t the case.
“Any time a pretty girl stands up for herself, she’s a bitch. And when you are heavier and you lead with comedy and you lead with self-deprecation, you’re a lot less threatening,” she explained.
Gay noted, “I do have a lot more boundaries now than I had then, and I also have been freaking burned by women on this show and friends.”
She confessed to being “meaner” to costar Bronwyn Newport when she joined the cast than she would’ve been on season 1 “because I’ve been burned, and that changes how I am around people.”
Gay added, “And I think I still love to make friends, and I still try to lead with kindness. But certainly the last six years have hardened me a little bit, and I’ve become a little more cynical, and I like to think a little wiser to the ways of the world.”
Heather Gay. Courtesy of Heather Gay/Instagram
No Shame in Her Cosmetic Surgery Game
“The pursuit of perfection is never fully possible, just like it’s not possible to be fully hair-free,” Heather Gay told Bustle in November 2025. “Counting all of the things I’ve had done, I’m probably $200,000 into my physical appearance — and it was worth every penny.”
The TV personality revealed that “once she had the money and the time” she started to get procedures done that helped her feel better about her appearance.
“I always said that I’d be so much cuter if I were richer,” she quipped. “I’m richer now — and I’m so much cuter because of it.”
The Beauty Lab + Laser founder revealed that she does “quarterly” Botox treatments and does lip filler “once or twice a year — if that.”
“I also get filler, facials, and laser hair removal,” Gay explained. “Another treatment I get is Sculptra, which is a collagen stimulator, with big long needles on your face. It’s pretty intense, but it’s not an actual filler; it’s just a filler stimulant.”
Gay added that she previously had two nose jobs and got a “mommy makeover” that included “a tummy tuck and a boob job” while she was still married. (Gay was married to Frank William “Billy” Gay III for 11 years before they separated in 2011. The exes share three daughters.)
Heather Gay. Charles Sykes/Bravo
Season 4 Glow-Up
Heather Gay told Bustle in November 2025 that she had a “glow-up” before filming season 4 of RHOSLC.
“I didn’t realize the currency of beauty, or how I was perceived. I think that I was more self-deprecating and less threatening beforehand,” she recalled. “My jokes didn’t seem as harsh. My reads didn’t seem as mean. I just didn’t see the difference — because I had never looked like this.”
GLP-1s Aren’t Going Anywhere
Heather Gay exclusively told Us in January 2026 that she had no plans to cut out the use of GLP-1s while using Atkins products to maintain her weight.
“I think that’s part of my daily routine as much as I have, you know, nutritional choices to support it,” the reality star said of the weight-loss drug. “This is working for me, and I’m just grateful to be here.”
Gay explained that along with GLP-1’s she was eating Atkins shakes and bars to get the right amount of protein on a daily basis.
“It’s been an amazing partnership for me. I have Atkins red nails, which is kind of indicative of how much I’ve absorbed it into my life,” she joked. “This is a new chapter for me, like being comfortable in my body and maintaining my weight and kind of having so much attention on it.”
She revealed, “I wasn’t going to, like, become a naturalist. I am who I am, and I really needed snacks and foods that would help me maintain this new lifestyle [and] fit with what I want to eat and what I enjoy doing. And keep things authentic to me.”
Heather Gay. Clifton Prescod/Bravo
Putting Herself First
“I just thought I had to accept how I looked and where I was at and that there was nothing I could do about it. I felt absolutely powerless,” Heather Gay confessed to Us in January 2026. “I’ve tried every diet in the book. I’ve always been aware of [my size]. If I wasn’t aware of it, other people made me aware of it.”
The Bad Mormon author said she was going to be “shamed” for using GLP-1s or for not losing weight, so she picked the weight-loss medication.
“I want to use this platform to help other people realize, first of all, it’s not impossible [to lose weight]. And second of all, there are things out there that can really support you along the way,” she concluded.
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