Critics say Elon Musk has been unravelling mentally since he took over Twitter.
But physically, he’s never looked better.
Doctors were ‘shocked’ at how ‘chiseled’ and ‘refreshed’ Musk, 53, appeared in videos that surfaced this week of him with Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni.
Gone was the scruffy-bearded, wild-haired and tired-looking appearance people had grown used to seeing in recent years.
Experts told DailyMail.com Musk’s transformation is particularly jarring given the mogul’s increasingly erratic online persona.
We spoke to eight plastic surgeons, weight loss experts and psychologists about how he’s achieved the new physique.
Elon Musk has been praised for his physical transformation by health experts. It started when he was accused of flirting with Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni at an awards ceremony in NYC on Monday (pictured)
Then, Musk responded to a video from summer 2023 of him and Meloni, denying the two were dating. But fans and experts remarked on how svelte the mogul looked
The online chatter started when Musk was accused of flirting with Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni at an awards ceremony in NYC on Monday.
Musk then responded to a video from summer 2023 of him and Meloni, denying the two were dating.
But health experts were more surprised by how svelte he looked in the footage.
Dr Jordan Terner, a plastic surgeon in New York City, told DailyMail.com: ‘He looks good. He definitely looks chiseled and fresh, and his body looks thin and toned, but his face doesn’t look gaunt. He just looks more defined.
‘I know he has definitely admitted to using a semaglutide, so I think that’s a lot of his fat loss, but I know that he does work out a lot and he has a trainer and he’s also very fastidious about his diet and exercise.’
While Musk has never admitted to any plastic surgeries, he did reveal last year that he used weight loss drugs.
Last year, Musk told a fan he had slimmed down about 30 pounds from ‘fasting’ before quickly adding ‘and Wegovy.’
Similar to Ozempic, it uses the active ingredient semaglutide to mimic the hormone GLP-1 to suppress appetite. However, Wegovy is FDA approved for weight loss and type 2 diabetes, while Ozempic is only approved for the latter.
Dr Smita Ramanadham, a plastic surgeon at SR Plastic Surgery in New Jersey, came to a similar conclusion. She said: ‘There’s definitely a clear weight loss that happened.
‘Most likely, he’s on some sort of maintenance dose [of Wegovy], whether that’s a very low dose, or taking it alternating every week. But most people do need to be on some sort of maintenance to maintain the weight loss.
‘Working out and a healthy lifestyle is absolutely needed, otherwise the weight just gets regained. We have enough experience now with these medications that we know that either lifestyle changes need to occur.’
Musk has claimed that he has training in Kyokushin karate, taekwondo, judo, and Brazilian jiu-jitsu ‘briefly.’
He has also noted he does weight lifting and a bit of running on the treadmill.
Dr Ramanadham suggested Musk may be hitting the gym more often, which could have started around the time that Musk challenged Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg to a cage match last year.
Dr Ramanadham said: ‘I think once [patients] have lost the weight, they just have more energy and they’re more able to do their exercise routines and weight lift, and they’re more motivated to do so. So it’s probably a component of that as well for him.
‘I don’t think he is continuing to lose weight. It looks like he’s sort of stabilized, and he does look pretty refreshed and chiseled.’
Musk, looking ‘chiseled’, at the Global Citizen Awards dinner, Monday, September 23, 2024
Plastic surgeons told DailyMail.com that Musk’s jawline appears more ‘defined,’ suggesting that he may have had a face lift or gotten Botox or fillers
Though the transformation may not be totally natural. Dr Ramanadham noted it’s possible Musk has had facial fillers or Botox treatments ‘for anti-aging.’
‘He looks very natural,’ she said. ‘I certainly would not say that he’s overdone it or it looks too done.’
Dr Terner, however, pointed to more drastic procedures, such as a facelift to correct a complication dubbed ‘Ozempic Face.’
This occurs when drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy cause such rapid weight loss that skin around the face loses its elasticity, meaning it is no longer held in place well. Reality TV star Scott Disick is one of the most infamous examples of this.
Dr Terner said: ‘I think that is what he actually had done. He was looking a little droopy and more gaunt, especially in his mid space, and now he looks lifted and tight. And this jawline looks so much better.’
He also noted while it’s unclear how long Musk has been on Wegovy, he’s likely still on at least a low dose.
‘It’s just too much weight loss and too short of a time at his age. It’s really challenging to do that just from diet and exercise,’ he said.
‘I think it’s all likely a combination of diet, exercise, eating eight, conservative surgical intervention, filler, Botox.’
Musk has long fluctuated with his weight (seen here in 2022) and has admitted to using Wegovy. Plastic surgeons told DailyMail.com that Musk is likely still on a ‘low’ or ‘maintenance’ dose of the weight loss drug
Other experts suggested that Musk may have had light facial fillers or Botox treatments for ‘anti-aging,’ but ‘he looks very natural’
Wegovy typically starts out with a 0.25mg dose, which gradually increases each week. A maintenance dose is anywhere from 1.7mg to 2.4mg per injection.
Dr Darrick Antell, a plastic surgeon in New York City, suggested Musk had a wattlectomy, otherwise known as a neck lift. ‘This procedure is designed particularly for men to reduce excess neck skin,’ he told DailyMail.com.
However, Dr Adam Rubinstein, a board-certified and TV plastic surgeon in Miami, told DailyMail.com that he doesn’t think any plastic surgery was used.
He said: ‘[Musk] looks like he’s lost some facial volume, and that’s consistent with weight loss.’
While Musk has slimmed down in the last few months, fans and critics have noticed a descent into increasingly worrying and ‘unhinged’ views online.
One of the main examples is a post Musk put on X earlier this month after a second assassination attempt on former president Donald Trump.
Responding to a tweet that asked why someone would ‘want to kill Trump,’ Musk replied: ‘And no one is trying to assassinate Biden or Kamala,’ referring to the current President and Vice President.
The post was removed later that day.
Musk has also been criticized for increasingly ‘radical’ online posts. Responding to a post that asked: ‘Why they want to kill Donald Trump?’, Musk provocatively remarked: ‘And no one is even trying to assassinate Biden or Kamala,’ in reference to the current President and Vice President
Musk also called Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese a ‘fascist’ earlier this month
He also outwardly called Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese a ‘fascist’ earlier this month in response to proposed Australian legislation that would fine social media companies for promoting misinformation.
Jonathan Hartley, a relationship coach in South Africa, told DailyMail.com this paradox isn’t uncommon, ‘but in this case, it’s almost like watching someone polish the outside of their Tesla while the battery’s on fire.
‘Thus with high-profile individuals like Musk, there’s often a complex interplay between physical appearance and their mental state.
‘Sometimes, that drive to improve physically can actually be a coping mechanism for some type of internal turmoil, so they’re trying to control what they can on the outside when things feel chaotic inside.’
Manuel Schlothauer, a certified therapist at HeyManuel, told DailyMail.com that ‘recent physical transformation juxtaposed with an increasingly radical public persona’ is often seen in people under ‘intense pressure,’ such as celebrities in the spotlight.
Dr Carole Lieberman, a forensic psychologist in Beverly Hills, suggested Musk’s efforts to get in better shape ‘might make him feel more confident to express himself.’
However, she also told DailyMail.com Musk could be displaying signs of manic depression or bipolar disorder.
She said: ‘Elon has acknowledged, in the past, that he may be bipolar, though he said it flippantly. When someone is in a manic phase, they typically have racing thoughts that are expressed as a “flight of ideas,” can’t sleep and may be rushing around too much to eat.
‘Their motor is running fast. This could result in his expressing seemingly “radical ideas.”‘
Some experts, however, believe the increasingly radical posts could be a side effect of long-term Wegovy use.
Dr Mena Mirhom, a weight loss expert and assistant professor of psychiatry at Columbia University Medical Center, told DailyMail.com if Musk is taking Wegovy, he could be experiencing mood swings.
Some patients on these medications have reported psychotic behavior while taking the drugs’ active ingredient, semaglutide, while others claim to have suffered delusions and suicidal thoughts.
‘Not everyone who has lost a lot of weight or is taking a weight loss medication will become more unhinged, per se, but there is a relationship there that’s to be explored,’ Dr Mirhom said.
Dr Ramanadham, on the other hand, noted that risks of behavioral issues or mood swings from these medications ‘are very rare.’
***
Read more at DailyMail.co.uk