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Filmmaker Karan Johar made headlines last year with his dramatic weight loss transformation. While he has repeatedly denied the rumours, many netizens claimed that he used Ozempic to shed the kilos. Now, in a recent podcast, Karan dismissed the speculation once again. He also opened up about trying various diets during college and revealed that his mother Hiroo Johar used to call him “fat” and “large” at the time.
During a conversation on Manyavar, Karan Johar admitted that while weight loss can be simple, it has been difficult for him due to the demands of his profession. “It’s all very simple if you regiment your life. If you give it some kind of routine..which can’t happen in our job, especially in my profession. We don’t have any weekends or national holidays, it’s very irregular. Everyone is just stress calling me. I don’t reply for three hours to work related things when people tell me to call urgently,” he said.
The filmmaker recalled that while his father Yash Johar used to speak in his support and wanted him to become an actor, it was his mom Hiroo Johar who called him out for his physical looks. “My dad was in delusion land about me. He thought that I had puppy fat, it will go away, he is so handsome. But, my mother used to disagree and say, ‘What are you saying, Yash? He is so fat, so large.’ He wanted me to become a hero, and my mother used to roll her eyes saying no way he is capable or should be a hero. She always used to call me out. Punjabi moms are not always deluded,” he shared.
Karan continued, “When I decided to lose weight for the very first time was when I had to go to college and wear coloured clothes. I realised that you blend in uniforms in school, it’s a mass of one type of clothing. You reach college and you see everyone is way thinner than you. Somehow, that really shook me up.”
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Revealing how he struggled with, and often failed at, various diets, Karan Johar said, “I have done General Motors diet repeatedly in the past. Once I did it for a month and I fell sick. On the other hand, I also did Atkins diet, I still remember that I was in my Accounts class during college. I fainted in that class because I was on this diet. That was the end of diet, my mother banned it, she had no idea I was doing it. It is high protein, only protein. You could have a nine egg cheese omelette, only protein, no bread and nothing. You could have fried chicken, but it was harsher.”
During the conversation, Karan denied taking Ozempic for weight loss and revealed, “Contrary to what people think that I took ozempic or whatever, I am quite not. What happened is, there were few intolerances that I discovered when I went to Vivamayr (a medical health resort). When I went back again, I did my Kinesiology test and I realised that I am acutely gluten and lactose intolerant. I actually didn’t realise… I was eating roti and not rice. But in reality, rice and potato are my friends.”
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The 53-year-old added, “My thyroid levels were all over the place, so they put me on a thyroid medication. I didn’t know that I had a problem. I always used to wonder that I am doing whatever I can to lose weight but it’s just not happening. So now, I have removed gluten completely… like almond milk works very well for me. What I have also removed is sugar. The weight just went down with that and the thyroid medication. What I do need to is get on to workout. I swim and play paddle ball currently. I used to play at Mannat earlier.”
