Sophia Umansky Reacts to Backlash Over Weight-Loss Drug (Exclusive)

Kyle Richards and Mauricio Umansky’s daughter, Sophia Umansky, is defiant that she has “always stood by being honest about everything” as she reveals why she spoke publicly about her use of weight-loss medication.

On Friday, May 9, the television personality, 25, caught up with PEOPLE at the Los Angeles premiere of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives season 2, where she reflected on her decision to announce she was taking Mounjaro.

As previously reported, Umansky told fans on TikTok on April 30 that she had been taking the FDA-approved prescription medication for people with Type 2 diabetes and is now dealing with hair loss as a side effect of the apparent weight loss. Mounjaro, a brand name for tirzepatide or Zepbound, reduces appetite and improves how the body breaks down sugar and fat.  

“If you’re honest about things, people can’t even judge you or hate on you because you said it yourself,” Umansky told PEOPLE. “You’re the one that told everyone, you’re owning it, so anything anyone else has to say, it’s like, ‘Okay, well, I told you that. I’m owning it.’ I think it’s fine. And I always say I’m on Mounjaro. I obviously talk to a doctor.”

“People who are telling me that I don’t need to be on it, they don’t know what they’re talking about. They’re not doctors,” she said of the backlash. “And I think everyone needs to calm down and live their own lives. And honesty will get you far in life and lying is not fun. It’s not good.”

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Umansky added that her mother has been “very supportive of whatever decisions we make as her daughters” — referring to sisters Farrah Brittany Aldjufrie, 36, Alexia Simone Umansky, 28, and Portia Umansky, 17.

“I am 25 years old, so I’m an adult, I can do what I want,” Umansky said. “And of course we have guidance from our mom, and she wasn’t saying like, ‘Oh, you should be on this medication.’ Definitely not saying that. I think she was definitely trying to veer me away from getting on this medication, but once I spoke to doctors and she saw that that’s the path I wanted to take, she was very supportive.”

“And yeah, I think a lot of people are saying that I have body dysmorphia and all this, and I’m like, ‘Actually, no. I think I’m cute both ways. I think I was cute before and I’m cute now.’ There’s nothing wrong with trying to feel a little bit more confident, a little bit cuter,” she added. “People get worked on all the time, they get filler, they get Botox, they do all different kinds of things. So if I want to feel a little cuter, why not?”

Last week, The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star’s daughter detailed her “dramatic hair loss situation” to fans as she revealed it began three or four weeks prior. On TikTok, she shared images of hair in various areas of her bathroom, saying, “I’m very lucky that I have so much hair, because at the rate that I’ve been losing hair, I’m gonna be bald in about a week.”

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The Buying Beverly Hills star clarified in the clip that she doesn’t think her hair loss is a “direct result of the medication,” but rather “a direct result of rapid weight loss because of the medication, and not eating enough vitamins, protein, all that kind of stuff.”

As noted at the time, her comments appear to align with telogen effluvium, a condition where hair loss is more likely due to the stress of rapid weight loss, according to Drugs.com.

To address the side effect, she has been using OMI hair growth peptides, and taking collagen and Grüns vitamins, Umansky told fans.