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Oprah Winfrey was recently seen in New York City proudly displaying her slimmer figure, which she achieved with the help of weight loss medication. The beloved 70-year-old media icon confidently showed off her trim waist and well-toned physique while wearing a stylish purple sweater paired with belted tan slacks and coordinating tan heels.
Despite initial denial, Oprah openly shared in December 2023 that she had lost 40 lbs with the aid of weight loss drugs, stating that she was no longer willing to be shamed for her choices. Winfrey told WeightWatchers CEO Sima Sistani that she opposed taking semaglutide because she considered it the "easy way out."
During a conversation with People, she said she uses the drug to stay at a healthy weight. "I now use it as I feel I need it, as a tool to manage not yo-yoing," she said. "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."
Oprah said she is "absolutely done with the shaming from other people and particularly myself." As she has disclosed in the past, Oprah Winfrey's peak weight was 237 pounds (107.5 kilograms).
The Turning Point: The Wagon of Fat
In November 1988, Oprah Winfrey garnered attention with a segment on The Oprah Winfrey Show. During the episode, she unveiled a wagon containing 67 pounds of fat, symbolizing her successful weight reduction through the exclusive use of the Optifast liquid diet. While this gesture aimed to motivate a large audience, it also signified the commencement of a challenging path for Winfrey.
On the first episode of The Jamie Kern Lima podcast, Winfrey openly discussed her personal struggle with weight, which has been both a private challenge and a public spectacle. This has led to moments of deep hurt and introspection.
"I didn't have a morsel of food for five solid months in losing that weight on Optifast," she told Lima. "Three days later, I was 5 lbs. heavier, and a week later I was 10 lbs. heavier." Winfrey shared how her weight affected her social life and self-esteem. "The week before Christmas, I remember Don Johnson was having a party and had invited me and some members of my show to come, and I wouldn't go because I thought I was too fat to go," she said.
"Making fun of my weight was a national sport for 25 years," she lamented.
Among the mockery, Oprah spoke about one particularly hurtful moment during the sketch comedy show In Living Color. Winfrey described the skit in which a character meant to represent her continuously ate until she exploded. "The whole audience fell out [laughing], and the woman was me," she recounted.