Oprah Winfrey is “done with” being shamed — about her weight or her weight loss.
The media mogul has been the focus of significant buzz in recent weeks, as she has shown off a significantly slimmer physique during the press tour for “The Color Purple” musical film, which she co-produced. As previously noted by theGrio, in addition to a dazzling array of purple ensembles, Winfrey’s sleek curves prompted speculation that the “queen of all media” might have used the new class of weight-loss medications.
In a cover story for People magazine, Winfrey, who has long been transparent about her struggles with her fluctuating weight, confirmed that weight-loss medications have been part of the most recent phase of her long-documented journey — but not as a “magic bullet.”
“It’s everything,” she said, noting that the medication is a supplement, not a sole solution. “I know everybody thought I was on it, but I worked so damn hard. I know that if I’m not also working out and vigilant about all the other things, it doesn’t work for me.”
“I was actually recommending it to people long before I was on it myself,” she explained, later adding, “I had an awareness of [weight-loss] medications, but felt I had to prove I had the willpower to do it. I now no longer feel that way.”
In fact, Winfrey’s most recent weight loss reportedly began after she underwent knee surgery in 2021, after which she found new motivation during rehabilitation.
“After knee surgery, I started hiking and setting new distance goals each week. I could eventually hike three to five miles every day and a 10-mile straight-up hike on weekends,” she told People. “I felt stronger, more fit and more alive than I’d felt in years.”
That progress encouraged her to implement changes to her diet, including intermittent fasting, consistent water intake, and counting “points” through WeightWatchers, in which she is a shareholder.
“It was a second shot for me to live a more vital and vibrant life,” she explained.
Still, the choice to add an unspecified GLP-1 medication to her regimen didn’t come easily for Winfrey, who’d previously considered drugs like Ozempic, Mounjaro and Wegovy “the easy way out.” It wasn’t until hosting her “The State of Weight” panel discussion in July that she understood that the new class of drugs wasn’t a cure but a way to curb the biological instincts that can contribute to obesity.
“I had the biggest a-ha, along with many people in that audience,” she recalled. “I realized I’d been blaming myself all these years for being overweight, and I have a predisposition that no amount of willpower is going to control.”
“Obesity is a disease,” she added. “It’s not about willpower — it’s about the brain.”
Winfrey wasn’t only blaming herself but absorbing recriminations about her fluctuating weight, which often played out in the public eye.
“It was public sport to make fun of me for 25 years,” she told People. “I have been blamed and shamed, and I blamed and shamed myself.”
“I was on the cover of some magazine, and it said, ‘Dumpy, Frumpy and Downright Lumpy,’ ” said Winfrey, recalling an appearance on late fashion critic Mr. Blackwell’s infamous list. “I didn’t feel angry. I felt sad. I felt hurt. I swallowed the shame. I accepted that it was my fault.”
As she approaches her 70th birthday in January, what Winfrey won’t do is continue being shamed for doing what she needs to feel her best.
“The fact that there’s a medically approved prescription for managing weight and staying healthier, in my lifetime, feels like relief, like redemption, like a gift, and not something to hide behind and once again be ridiculed for,” she said. “I’m absolutely done with the shaming from other people and particularly myself.”
As for the role the medication now plays in her maintaining her weight, she said, “I now use it as I feel I need it, as a tool to manage not yo-yo-ing.”
That includes navigating the over-indulgence that often accompanies the holidays. Winfrey says the medication was helpful to take prior to Thanksgiving “because I knew I was going to have two solid weeks of eating … instead of gaining eight pounds like I did last year, I gained half a pound.”
“It quiets the food noise,” she added.
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