Lauren Manzo is getting actual about her decades-long battle with weight and the way she lastly discovered stability.

The “Actual Housewives of New Jersey” alum, who first appeared on Bravo alongside her mother, Caroline Manzo, again in 2009, revealed that her physique has been below public scrutiny since her early 20s.

In truth, when Lauren Manzo was simply 21 years outdated, tv viewers would inform her she was “fats” and “disgusting.”

Rising up in a tight-knit Italian household with meals at all times on the heart, from her household’s catering enterprise to dinners out collectively, Lauren admitted consuming was virtually a interest.

“We like to eat. We don’t eat to stay,” the now 37-year-old advised PEOPLE. However regardless of at all times figuring out and attempting diets, she recalled, “I may very well be full to the purpose the place I used to be in ache, however my mind was nonetheless, ‘It’s time to eat.’”

By center faculty, her weight struggles already stored her from pool events and Jersey Shore journeys with pals. “I used to be only a large woman, and I by no means understood why,” she defined.

In her early 20s, Lauren underwent lap-band surgical procedure, determined for an answer. Whereas it helped her shed kilos, she admitted she ignored worrying unwanted side effects, together with vomiting, as a result of she was simply comfortable to be “skinny.”

Finally, she had the band eliminated, solely to realize again “an insane quantity of weight,” peaking at 208 kilos. “I felt unhealthy, swollen, and depressed,” she recalled.

All the pieces shifted three years in the past when Lauren began seeing a practical drugs physician. Chopping out gluten and dairy helped her lose 50 kilos and really feel much less exhausted, however she nonetheless struggled to get additional outcomes.

That’s when she turned to the GLP-1 weight-loss drug Mounjaro, a call she says saved her life. “I actually believed [Mounjaro] saved my life. What they are saying about meals noise. I had by no means heard that time period,” she defined.

In complete, Lauren dropped one other 50 kilos on the treatment. However whereas her bodily well being improved, critics started to weigh in, accusing her of taking the “straightforward method out.”

“It wasn’t the straightforward method out, the surgical procedures weren’t straightforward,” she fired again. “Feedback like that. I don’t suppose it’s honest. What are you educating your children? That it’s okay to assault somebody for his or her physique, particularly realizing how a lot they’ve struggled?”

Right this moment, Lauren continues to be on Mounjaro however says she’s specializing in long-term well being by energy coaching and consuming a balanced weight loss plan to construct muscle. “Being skinny doesn’t imply that you simply’re wholesome,” she emphasised.

The transformation has given her again her confidence and her life. Final yr, she wore a bikini for the primary time whereas vacationing in Florida together with her 8-year-old daughter, a milestone she as soon as thought inconceivable.

“I used to have the ability to be exterior for 10 minutes, tops. I’d be sweating, respiration closely, and so uncomfortable. Now, I’m out with my daughter each day and we’re going to the pool,” she mentioned, proudly reflecting on the on a regular basis advantages of residing at a more healthy weight.

Lauren’s well being transformation comes on the heels of main private modifications in her life.

Earlier this yr, information broke that the previous “Actual Housewives of New Jersey” star had quietly finalized her divorce from Vito Scalia months in the past. In accordance with Each day Mail, court docket paperwork revealed {that a} decide signed off on their break up in November 2024, almost a decade after their 2015 marriage ceremony.

As a part of the settlement, the exes agreed to share joint authorized custody of their daughter, Marchesa, with Lauren’s mom, “RHONJ” alum Caroline Manzo, serving because the “trade level” for custody transitions.

Scalia was ordered to pay $1,000 per 30 days in baby help and $4,000 in limited-duration alimony for simply over two years. Lauren additionally retained possession of the couple’s New Jersey residence and its contents, whereas each stored their very own automobiles.