Kathy Bates is opening up about staying happy and healthy after her 100-pound weight loss.
Last October, the Matlock star, 77, revealed that she lost a significant amount of weight over about a seven-year span after being diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes in 2017.
Now, Bates is elaborating on the circumstances surrounding her weight loss and defending herself from critics.
“People say, ‘Well, it was the Ozempic,’” she said during an interview with Variety Wednesday. “F*** you, it was the Ozempic! It took me years to do this. I got this diagnosis about diabetes — my father died of it; his mother died of it; one of my sisters is in peril.”
“When they said ’diabetes,’ I figured out what to do to slowly, over years, to lose the weight. And then when Ozempic came along, I was able to lose the last 15 to 20 pounds and keep it off,” she added.
Bates also said she has a clean bill of health following bouts of ovarian cancer in 2003 and breast cancer in 2012.
She said the “juxtaposition of getting healthy” and Matlock coming along was “just unbelievable.”
“The timing of it is great,” she added.
With her physical health currently in good standing, she’s entering another big moment in her career: The 2025 Emmy Awards, where she’s nominated for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series for her role in Matlock. She’s also the oldest-ever Emmy nominee in this category.
Bates plays a brilliant, retired lawyer, Madeline “Matty” Matlock, who returns to the workforce to seek justice for the death of her daughter Ellie in the opioid epidemic. She uses her wit and tactics to win multiple cases and expose wrongdoings within her company.
Following a successful first season, with nearly 16 million viewers across broadcast and streaming, the program was renewed for season two, which premieres on CBS on October 12, 2025.
Bates said her success from this show, including the Emmy nomination, “feels totally different” from anything she’s had before — including multiple designers sending her dresses.
“It’s true, first of all, and it’s a badge of honor,” she said during the Variety interview. “It’s just the serendipity of all of it. I’ve never had any of this stuff happen before, where I’ve got five different designers sending dresses.”
“She had a beautiful dress for me to try. I looked at it on the hanger, and I thought, ‘That’s not gonna fit.’ I put it on, and it fit, and I just melted down,” the American Horror Story star explained.
“I just started crying and crying. I’m still figuring out what it’s like to be without all of that weight. What was it for?” she added. “What was I hiding myself from? What are the emotions that are pouring out because I don’t have that armor? It just really surprised me, really shocked me.”
