Once called “Dumpy, Frumpy, and Downright Lumpy” on a magazine cover, Oprah Winfrey is now lavishing in ‘Skinny’ empire.
In an interview with PEOPLE, published Wednesday, the media mogul shared how the medication has assisted in her recent weight loss after years of struggling.
Oprah Winfrey recalled the public ridicule she endured for years about her size and how she internalized the mockery.
“It was a public sport to make fun of me for 25 years. I have been blamed and shamed, and I blamed and shamed myself,” Oprah Winfrey informed PEOPLE.
She continued, “I didn’t feel angry. I felt sad. I felt hurt. I swallowed the shame. I accepted that it was my fault.”
The former talk show host credited slimmed-down frame to weight loss medicine and a holistic approach.
She disclosed that she uses the medication “as a tool” to manage her weight, admitting that she had to overcome her own “shame about it.”
Oprah Winfrey’s weight fluctuation has been well documented in the media, but things began to improve for her health after her knee surgery in 2021.
After a 2021 knee surgery, she said she started focusing on her fitness, making strides. She revealed she eats her last meal at 4 p.m. and drinks a gallon of water daily.
Winfrey said she had recommended weight loss medications for people but didn’t consider them for herself until she joined a panel conversation with weight loss experts and clinicians as part of “Oprah Daily’s Life You Want” series in September.
“I had the biggest ‘aha’ along with many people in that audience. 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. It’s not about willpower. It’s about the brain,” she added.
Although she does not name the medication in the interview, Oprah Winfrey stressed that she sees the medication as a “gift.”
“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.
“I’m done with the shaming from other people and particularly myself.”
Recently, there has been a high demand for brands like Ozempic, Wegovy and Rybelsus. These semaglutide drugs work by imitating a gut hormone called GLP1 that makes that gut hormone work better to make us feel fuller and reduce appetite.
Ozempic and others were originally developed to treat patients with diabetes, and doctors warn that long-term effects remain unknown.
