Oprah Breaks Silence On The Untold Story Of Her Life-Long Rollercoaster Ride

"For 25 years, making fun of my weight was a national sport," she admitted.

Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Winfrey was often the target of tabloid headlines, with phrases such as "fatter than ever," "hits 246 pounds," and "Oprah warned: diet or die" frequently used to describe her. She recalled a 1990 TV Guide cover where fashion critic Mr. Blackwell described her as "bumpy, lumpy and downright dumpy."

The 70-year-old television personality revealed that she once resorted to a liquid diet in a desperate attempt to counter the shame associated with her weight. "In an effort to combat the shame," she said, "I starved myself for nearly five months in 1988 and then wheeled out that wagon of fat [on her show] that the internet will never let me forget. After losing 67 pounds on a liquid diet, the very next day, I started to gain it back."

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Winfrey's comments came during an ABC special titled "An Oprah Special: Shame, Blame and the Weight Loss Revolution," where she discussed her history of yo-yo dieting and the use of obesity drugs. She confessed that she had been prescribed medication to manage her weight.

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March 22, 2024

The former talk show host engaged in a discussion about the "disease of obesity" with experts during the show. Several guests shared their experiences with obesity and weight loss through medications like Ozempic and Wegovy.

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Winfrey drew parallels between the controversy surrounding the classification of alcoholism as a disease and the current discourse on obesity. She recalled critics' dismissive comments like "Just put the bottle down" and "There’s no such thing as alcoholism being a disease." She noted, "Now, of course, we know differently. Alcoholism is a disease for many people," although, she added, "it’s not a disease for everyone who drinks too much."

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She extended this understanding to obesity, stating, "Many people have the disease of obesity. Everybody who is overweight does not have the disease of obesity, but if you have the disease of obesity, you’re always going to go back to that set point."

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Winfrey criticized the shaming of individuals struggling with obesity, emphasizing the complexity of the disease. "When I tell you how many times I have blamed myself because you think I’m smart enough to figure this out and then to hear all along it’s you fighting your brain," she said.

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She confessed that she had previously believed that people who did not have to diet were simply more disciplined than her. "All these years, I thought all of the people who never had to diet were just using their willpower and they were for some reason stronger than me, and now I realize y'all weren't even thinking about the food. It's not that you had the willpower. You weren't thinking about it. You weren't obsessing about it. That is the big thing I learned."

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In a conversation with People magazine last December, Winfrey revealed that she uses medication as needed to prevent yo-yo dieting. "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."