Oprah slams body shaming
‘Making fun of my weight was a national sport’; ex-TV talker shares benefits of weight-loss drugs
Oprah Winfrey has had enough of body shaming.
“For 25 years, making fun of my weight was a national sport,” Winfrey said. “I have to say that I took on the shame that the world gave to me.”
In a prime-time television special that aired on ABC Monday night, Winfrey read out several headlines that had been written about her in the past, including a TV Guide cover headline in 1990 that branded her “bumpy, lumpy and downright dumpy,” saying she would “never forget” that day.
“I was ridiculed on every late night show for 25 years and tabloid covers for 25 years,” she added, saying she was now setting out to combat the “stigma” and “judgment” surrounding being overweight, and how people “choose to lose or not lose weight.”
The show, titled Shame, Blame and the Weight Loss Revolution, highlighted the impact that weight-loss drugs like Ozempic, Wegovy and Mounjaro are having on patients, while exploring Winfrey’s struggles with weight and her own experience with weight-loss medication.
Last year, Winfrey revealed she uses weight-loss drugs prescribed by her doctor as a “maintenance tool,” although she did not specify which drug she used. Winfrey said the drugs were bringing “a sense of hope” and also freeing people — including her — from blaming themselves.
Winfrey emphatically described “how many times I have blamed myself, because you think, ‘I’m smart enough to figure this out,’ ” and the relief she felt when she learned “all along, it’s you fighting your brain.” The new weight-loss drugs that have soared in popularity recently work by suppressing appetite and curbing food cravings.
Winfrey, who was diagnosed with hypothyroidism in 2007 and who was on the board of WeightWatchers for eight years before quitting in February, has faced unrelenting media scrutiny over her body for decades.
She has talked about struggling
with yo-yo dieting and has said on her website that she has “fallen prey to just about every diet scam known to womankind.” In a memorable move in 1988, she hauled out 67 pounds of animal fat to show how much weight she had lost on a liquid diet.
Recalling the episode Monday, Winfrey said she had starved herself “for nearly five months” and she began putting the weight back on “the very next day.”
On her Monday show, Winfrey also interviewed guests who had taken weight-loss drugs, as well as two physician consultants to weight-loss companies. She said she “never dreamed” one day there would be a conversation about medicines “that are providing hope for people like me who have struggled for years with being overweight or with obesity.”
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved a number of high-profile weightloss drugs in recent years. Almost 42% of U.S. adults are considered obese, and the popularity of such medications is skyrocketing, leading to shortages.