'Hitting the Ozempic Hard': Critics Savage JD Vance's 'Sagging' New Look Despite Denials

JD Vance's slimmer frame has ignited a fresh culture‑war skirmish in Washington after a new photo of the vice president at his Washington, D.C., home set off a wave of accusations that he is 'hitting the Ozempic HARD.'

The news came after Vance had already been questioned about his changing frame earlier this year, when Donald Trump publicly called him a 'perfect looking specimen' at a White House Easter lunch and remarked that he looked 'a little thinner.'

Vance, for his part, has insisted his loss of roughly 30 pounds was the result of diet and exercise, not medication, saying in 2024: 'I haven't taken any drugs.'

Viral 'Camp VPR' Photo Puts JD Back Under The Microscope

The latest flare‑up began when a picture of JD Vance and his pregnant wife, Usha Vance, outside their Washington residence was posted on X. The couple were standing on the front walkway of a home decked out as 'Camp VPR', the vice president and second lady's annual summer event to encourage children to read.

In the image, Vance wears a light blue polo shirt, grey trousers, a beige belt and a 'Camp VPR' cap, one arm raised in a wave that makes his torso look markedly leaner than during his 2022 campaign. Usha is in a black‑and‑white chequered dress and a large sun hat.

A stream of comments focused almost entirely on his body, with one user declaring, 'Vance looks emaciated. Thought Usha didn't do hats. Not a relatable couple.'

Another simply wrote, 'Trump made him lose weight,' a dig at the president's habit of publicly rating his deputies' appearances.

Others were more direct about what they thought was going on. 'You can tell he has been taking the "fat shot drug" lol,' one post read, using the same phrase Donald Trump has previously used for GLP‑1 injections.

Another critic asked, 'Is he on Ozempic? His chipmunk cheeks are sagging.'

Ozempic Jokes Meet JD Vance's Firm Denials

JD Vance is on record insisting he has never touched Ozempic or any other GLP‑1 medication. Speaking to the Daily Mail on the plane nicknamed 'Trump Force 2', he said his weight‑loss regime was based on eating less and better, and on skipping his old, hefty breakfasts.

'I tend to skip breakfast, whereas before I would have, like, you know, three waffles and scrambled eggs and bacon,' he said. 'I haven't taken any drugs. Obviously, you eat a little bit less, but it's also just eating better.'

Nothing in the latest coverage presents hard evidence to contradict that account. The online verdict, though, has not shifted.

One X user wrote, 'How much Ozempic is at play here? I mean, cool on him for choosing affirming care.'

Another piled on, 'Bro has been hitting the Ozempic HARD.'

Trump's 'Perfect‑Looking Specimen' And The Politics Of Thinness

During an Easter lunch speech in the East Room, Donald Trump singled Vance out in front of guests, joking that he initially could not find his own vice president in the crowd.

'The White House, including Vice President JD Vance — is JD here? Where is JD?' Trump said, before noting, 'He's lost weight. He got a little thinner. And I'm looking for a heavyset gentleman and now I find a perfect looking specimen.'

It was meant as a compliment, but it cemented what critics were already circling: the vice president's body as public property.

Trump went on to praise Vance's work on 'the big deal', apparently a reference to a funding impasse at the Department of Homeland Security, and joked that if negotiations failed he would blame Vance, while claiming credit if they succeeded.

US Vice President JD Vance's weight loss has been on public display for more than a year.

The Ohio senator turned vice president has spoken before about dropping roughly 30 pounds after his 2022 Senate campaign, saying in an interview on Trump's campaign jet that he cleaned up his diet and started skipping breakfast because he was struggling to catch his breath while playing with his children.

In August 2025, he stressed that he had 'not taken any drugs' and credited old‑fashioned diet and exercise for the change.