Oprah Winfrey has opened up about how decades ago she struggled with navigating public life when she was overweight.
The famous Black TV personality made the revelations during a recent Oprah Daily panel titled “The State of Weight.
“You all know I’ve been on this journey for most of my life. My highest weight was 237 pounds. I don’t know if there is another public person whose weight struggle has been exploited as much as mine over the years,” she told the audience.
Winfrey, 69, also discussed her experiences with weight gain and loss in the public eye.
Obesity specialists Dr. Fatima Cody Stanford and Dr. Melanie Jay joined Winfrey on the panel, along with Weight Watchers CEO Sima Sistani and psychologist Rachel Goldman.
Oprah added:
“I had to deal with that when I walk into a store,” she said. “It’s that thing where people are like, ‘Let me show you the gloves. Would you like to look at the handbags? Because we know that there’s nothing in here for you.’ There is a condescension. There is stigma.”
The lively panel discussion touched on several topics related to weight issues, including bariatric surgery, the current craze of “weight loss drugs” like Ozempic and the science behind obesity – specifically how willpower, or lack thereof, doesn’t factor into the science.
According to Oprah, although the American Medical Association has declared obesity a chronic disease, many people can’t wrap their brains around what that really means.
Winfrey compared it to her efforts decades ago trying to explain that alcoholism is a disease, with many people refusing to believe it.
The talk show host added that she shamed herself, and “was shamed in the tabloids every week about for 25 years,” about not having the willpower to eat less.
