Mrs. Doubtfire’s Harvey Fierstein Lost 120 Pounds on Weight Loss Drug

Mrs. Doubtfire star Harvey Fierstein is opening up about his body transformation while taking a weight loss drug.

“At the most, I lost 120, and then I put 15 back on, which I’ve sort of stayed at that,” Fierstein, 70, told Page Six in an interview published on Sunday, December 22.

Fierstein joked that he considered the years of the COVID-19 pandemic to be his “free years” because he “existed on the screen of my Zoom.” During that time, Fierstein wrote his autobiography, I Was Better Last Night: A Memoir, and began quilting.

When he was at his heaviest, Fierstein shared that he was at about 310 pounds. Now, he’s at 200 pounds. While jokingly making a jab at Ozempic, Fierstein shared that he’s on a different type of weight loss medication called Zepbound.

“I’ve been skinny before, that’s the sad part,” he said. “I’ve been skinny, I’ve been fat, I’ve been skinny, I’ve been fat.”

While explaining why this weight loss time is different, Fierstein pointed out it’s “what the drug actually does for you.” Fierstein explained that he doesn’t feel like he’s “dieting” while taking the weight loss drug.

“I feel like a normal person,” he said. “I can go and have dinner with friends and not have to eat every piece of bread on the table and not then go have ice cream when I’m done with dinner. I know what it is to be full like a normal person.”

Fierstein noted that “people don’t understand that being fat is not a choice.” He added, “It’s something that your body is out of whack and this puts your body in whack. I’m a great believer in it.”

Fierstein, who recently opened the Harvey Fierstein Theatre Lab at the Library for the Performing Arts, is best known for playing Frank Hillard in Mrs. Doubtfire.

The movie, which is based on Anne Fine’s 1987 novel Alias Madame Doubtfire, follows Daniel Hillard (Robin Williams), whose wife, Miranda (Sally Field) files for divorce and he decides to spend more time with his kids by posing as elderly British nanny Mrs. Euphegenia Doubtfire.

Fierstein’s character Frank, helped him create the Mrs. Doubtfire costume. He has since starred in films and shows including Independence Day, How I Met Your Mother, Nurse Jackie and Bros. Fierstein reunited with Williams in 2002’s Death to Smoochy.

Years later, Williams died by suicide in 2014 at the age of 63. Before his death, he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease with early symptoms beginning in 2013. In the years since Williams’ death, Fierstein has continued to pay tribute to the actor.

“We lost this precious jewel 5 years ago,” Fierstein wrote via Instagram in 2019. “I miss him.”