Oprah Winfrey has revealed the “shame” she endured after facing “ridicule” for her weight. Discussing her struggles with weight and obesity during a television special, the American media mogul and actress recounted feeling deeply affected by being labeled “bumpy, lumpy, and downright dumpy” on a magazine cover.
At 70 years old, Winfrey has undergone a significant weight loss journey with the aid of medication, expressing gratitude for the effectiveness of weight-loss drugs. However, she has chosen not to disclose the specific medication she utilizes.
During an Oprah Special titled “Shame, Blame, and the Weight Loss Revolution,” aired on ABC in the US, Winfrey emotionally reflected on enduring years of humiliation from late-night talk show hosts and tabloids.
She shared poignant moments reading aloud previous headlines such as “Oprah: Fatter than ever” and “Oprah warned ‘diet or die’.”
Winfrey praised weight loss drugs saying
“In my lifetime, I never dreamed that we would be talking about medicine that is providing hope for people like me, who have struggled for years with being overweight or obesity.”
She became emotional when describing the medication as giving people a “sense of hope” as you “no longer blame yourself”.
Winfrey added she hoped she can “start releasing the stigma and the shame and the judgment to stop shaming other people for being overweight, or how they choose to lose or not lose weight”.
The media mogul said she made the decision to stop serving on the board of WeightWatchers because she did not want a “perceived conflict of interest” for the ABC TV special.
She also donated her shares in WeightWatchers to the Smithsonian Museum Of African American History And Culture.
Winfrey also spoke openly about her attempts to lose weight and how in 1988 she starved herself “for nearly five months”, then displayed a lump of animal fat equivalent to the weight she had lost on her talk show.
She ended the broadcast by saying “let’s stop the shaming and blaming, there is no place for it”.
The presenter hosted The Oprah Winfrey Show which aired from 1986-2011, was one of the most successful shows in US TV history.
Her 1993 interview with Michael Jackson saw 90 million viewers tune in, while it was her television couch that Tom Cruise jumped on in 2005 to proclaim his love for Katie Holmes. Winfrey was invited to the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex.