James Corden’s sister Ruth shares ‘grief’ after losing 9 stone on weight loss drug

James Corden’s sister Ruth has revealed that shedding nine stone using a weight loss drug had “revolutionised” her in many ways. However, the comedian’s younger sibling revealed that she is grappling with the “grief” of still being unable to conceive a baby.

Speaking on the latest episode of podcast The Life Of Bryony with journalist Bryony Gordon, the civil servant, 44, said: “I went on semaglutide, it will be two years this year, and in all honesty it has revolutionised my life.

“I can’t even explain or begin to put into words what it has done for me. Food noise is a horrendous thing to live with. I absolutely, one hundred per cent was addicted to food. It was a high level addiction in my life and it’s only since being on this drug that I’ve been able to go, ‘Right, while that food noise is off Ruth, you’ve got to sort this out’.”

Ruth, who had previously been a size 28, continued: “I was so ill I think before I started to lose weight, my resting heart rate was over a hundred, I had a beating in my ears that was probably high blood pressure, people ask me what was it and I don’t really know what made me wake up one day and go ‘I’m going to try and sort this out’. There wasn’t a light bulb moment, I suppose subconsciously I was really worried about myself.”

However, she also shared that her weight loss unfortunately hadn’t helped when it came to conceiving a child with her husband, Matthew. The couple, who live together in Buckinghamshire, have long struggled with infertility.

Ruth said: “I’ve dealt with a fair amount of grief in my life, I’ve struggled to have a baby, still live childless and that’s not my choice. So there have been lots of moments where my body has been shamed in lots of different ways. And the anger that I felt towards my body that I couldn’t do the thing that every woman should be able to do, have a baby and look after it – that all became about weight.”

She explained: “I have polycystic ovarian syndrome and endometriosis and it all became about my weight, everything was centred around weight. So when I was trying for a baby, I went away and lost five stone, nothing about my fertility changed.”

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Meanwhile, her brother James, 47, previously revealed that he stopped taking weight loss medication after it had no effect on his appetite. Speaking on his Sirius XM radio show in 2024, the former chat show host said: “I tried Ozempic, and it won’t be surprising to you when you look at me now, that it didn’t really work.” 

The Gavin and Stacey star shared that the fundamental mechanisms of the drug, which works by reducing appetite and slowing digestion, didn’t suit his needs.

“I tried it for a bit and then what I realised was I was like, ‘Oh no, nothing about my eating has anything to do with being hungry.’ All it does is make you feel not hungry. But I am very rarely eating [just because I’m hungry].”