Legendary singer Macy Gray rushed to hospital on MTV show after taking weight loss drug Ozempic

The ‘I Try’ singer had been filming an episode of MTV’s The Surreal Life: Villa of Secrets in Colombia when she suddenly became short of breath and was unable to walk. Gray, 56, had been speaking on the episode about the painful side effects she had experience as a result of taking the weight loss injections.

She was seen saying on the show: “It's really hard to catch my breath. This sucks because I'm here all the way in Colombia and I really just want to give it my all, but I just feel awful and I just want it to go away.”

Gray, who said that she had visited the hospital last time she experience side effects like this, added: “This is not going well. I can't even walk very much without losing my breath.”

A production medic who assessed the singer placed her into a wheelchair instructed her to go to hospital. The medic told her: “You are taking some medicine that can affect your pancreas. Your pancreas can't fight.”

Gray’s hospital visit came after she opened up about the side affects she had been experiencing in the previous episode of the MTV reality show. The singer spoke to Real Housewives of Atlanta star Kim Zolciak and Olympic figure skater Johnny Weir, telling them that she had been attempting to lose weight “really fast” ahead of a tour.

In her talking head interview on the show, she added: “I've gained a lot of weight over the past couple years, and this is right about the time when everybody starts talking about this Ozempic. So, I thought, okay, I'm not taking it off the right way, let me see if I can get one of these Ozempic.”

Ozempic has been used as a treatment for diabetes but has become a popular weight-loss drug used by celebrities, with dramatic weight changes possible in a short amount of time. However, reported side effects of Ozempic include digestive issues, kidney stones, muscle loss, hair loss, aspiration pneumonia and gastroparesis among others.

Ozempic’s active ingredient semaglutide works to mimic the hormone that tell the body it is full, helping to supress appetite and slow digestion. However, this can be dangerous and trigger gastrocolic reflex which in turn can cause explosive diarrhoea. Gastrocolic reflux is when a signal is triggered to the brain which indicates that a large amount of food is needed later, with the colon and rectum then instructed to empty their contents to make space.