President Donald Trump has again publicly called out an unnamed overweight friend while sharing that the man has told him that he has paid vastly different prices for Ozempic in the United States and Britain. Speaking at a White House event on prescription drug prices this week, Trump described the mystery man as an “extremely obese” New York financier who is among the “top guys on Wall Street.” He also called him “brutal,” “vicious” and “wild,” but “smart as hell.” Trump said the friend told him that Ozempic cost him $86 in London but $1,300 in New York, despite the medication coming from the same factory. When Trump asked whether he was taking the drug, the businessman reportedly said that he was.
He first told a version of the anecdote in May 2025, when he signed an executive order directing his administration to pursue so-called most-favored-nation pricing for medicines. At the time, Trump described the man as a famous, “highly neurotic” and “seriously overweight” businessman taking what he called a “fat shot drug.” Below, Newsweek has compiled a timeline of the occasions in which Trump has spoken about his mystery friend. According to Trump, the man called him from London after paying $88 for a weight-loss drug that cost him $1,300 in New York.
The friend had determined that the products were made in the same factory by the same company, Trump said. When the man told Trump that he had paid for “this damn fat drug I take,” Trump recalled responding: “It’s not working.” Trump also described his friend as “very successful” and “very rich,” but did not identify him or name the medication. Trump revisited the anecdote during a White House roundtable on rural health care, this time identifying the medication as Ozempic before joking that he would not reveal which drug it was.
He added that the man was worth “hundreds of millions, billions of dollars” and “can’t walk across the street,” despite frequently traveling on business. Trump again cited a price of $1,300 in New York and $87 in London. He then said he had recently seen the friend and concluded that Ozempic was not helping him.
You have to go to something else.’” The president said the friend replied, “Thanks, you make me feel good,” prompting Trump to respond that he had to be truthful. During a maternal health care event in the Oval Office, Trump said the friend was famous and “rich as hell”—and claimed the man was now urging him not to disclose his identity. Trump said he had already “destroyed his reputation in terms of his physicality,” but added that the man was “a brilliant guy” and “one of the most successful businessmen.” He once again cited the difference between what the friend paid for the drug in New York and European cities, although he gave the New York price as $1,370 on this occasion.
Trump credited the friend’s complaint with helping inspire his push to lower the price of GLP-1 medications. Trump told the story again during a speech on affordability at a Mack Trucks facility in Macungie, Pennsylvania. There’s no question about it.
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