After years of being “publicly humiliated” for her body, Oprah Winfrey shared candid confessions about her weight loss journey and how her perception about “thin” people has changed.

The media mogul, 70, opened up about taking GLP-1 medication, which is generally prescribed for type-2 diabetes but has gained popularity for its weight loss effects, with brands like Ozempic, Wegovy, and Mounjaro garnering significant attention.

Oprah did not specify the brand that led to her shedding pounds, but she spoke about how it helped her almost hit her goal weight of 160 pounds (72 kg).

Oprah Winfrey shared candid confessions about her weight-loss journey and her experience with GLP-1 medication

Image credits: oprah

Image credits: Oprah

On a podcast episode, the former talk show host discussed with Dr. Ania Jastreboff and clinical psychologist Dr. Rachel Goldman about “what happens to a person’s mental health, body image and how the world treats them after losing a significant amount of weight.”

She also revealed how her perception of “thin people” changed once she started taking GLP-1 medication.

“One of the things that I realized the very first time I took a GLP-1 was that all these years I thought that thin people had more willpower,” she admitted. “They ate better foods. They were able to stick to it longer. They never had a potato chip.”

The former talk show host revealed how her perception of “thin people” changed once she started taking GLP-1 medication

Image credits: Oprah

Image credits: oprah

“And then I realized the very first time I took the GLP-1 that, they’re not even thinking about,” she added.

After she started taking the GLP-1 medication, the What I Know For Sure author said she no longer struggled with “food noise,” described as intrusive thoughts related to hunger or cravings.

“They’re eating when they’re hungry and they’re stopping when they’re full,” she said, noting that this “doesn’t work” for people struggling with obesity or other conditions.

Image credits: Oprah

The former talk show host also touched upon being “publicly humiliated” for her weight after stepping into the limelight.

“Every week [I was] exploited by the tabloids, anytime any comedian wanted to make fun or make a joke about it, they would make a joke about it. And I accepted it because I thought I deserved it,” she said on the podcast.

However, she eventually realized that she was never “less than” others because of her weight and that her body never deserved to be fodder for jokes.

The author touched upon being “publicly humiliated” for her weight for decades and used to think she “deserved” it

Image credits: Oprah

Although she turned off the YouTube comments for her podcast episode, Oprah still faced backlash on other social media platforms for her comments about “thin people.”

“Thin people also think about food all the time, but they work hard to manage their physical and mental needs in a healthy way, and not by taking medication,” one user wrote.

“I think about it constantly but just don’t eat it,” another agreed.

Several netizens criticized her for her epiphany about slim people and their food habits

 

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“There are many thin people, or others who are a healthy weight but not necessarily ‘thin’ who do in fact draw on willpower and strategic tactics to keep their weight down. They create an environment that unlike most of our society, is NOT obesogenic,” read a comment left by another user.

Calling her insights “just a lie,” the user added, “Just because you are on a new bandwagon doesn’t mean that you should speak in a way that suggests your perception of reality is definitive. It is not.”

“Thin people also think about food all the time, but they work hard to manage their physical and mental needs,” said one Oprah critic

Image credits: oprah

On the other hand, some agreed with the producer’s comments about “food noise.”

“Food noise is real!” one said.

“I can attest the same thing happened to me,” said another. “I literally said to my husband ‘the food noise is gone.’ And a few days later I heard on the radio they said they were studying it for alcohol and drug addiction and that shook me.”

Some social media users agreed with her comments about “food noise,” saying they had similar experiences

Image credits: Oprah

Oprah, who is turning 71 years old next month, previously said she didn’t want to take medication to aid her weight loss because she felt it was “the easy way out.”

When she was finally able to release her “own shame about it,” she consulted her doctor and was prescribed a weight-loss medication.

“I now use it as I feel I need it, as a tool to manage not yo-yoing,” she told People in 2023.

Image credits: oprah

She also spoke to the outlet about the emotional toll it took on her to be made fun of for her weight.

“It was public sport to make fun of me for 25 years,” she said. “I have been blamed and shamed, and I blamed and shamed myself.”

The Color Purple actress recalled one particular “hurtful” moment and said, “I was on the cover of some magazine and it said, ‘Dumpy, Frumpy and Downright Lumpy.’”

“I didn’t feel angry. I felt sad. I felt hurt. I swallowed the shame. I accepted that it was my fault,” she added.

Oprah has been open about her health and changes in her lifestyle over the last few years

Image credits: Oprah

Following knee surgery, Oprah said she changed her lifestyle and eating habits, which added to her weight loss regimen.

“I started hiking and setting new distance goals each week. I could eventually hike three to five miles every day and a 10-mile straight-up hike on weekends,” she said at the time. “I felt stronger, more fit and more alive than I’d felt in years.”

“I eat my last meal at 4 o’clock, drink a gallon of water a day, and use the WeightWatchers principles of counting points,” she continued. “I had an awareness of [weight-loss] medications, but felt I had to prove I had the willpower to do it. I now no longer feel that way.”

Netizens were divided in the comments section following Oprah’s latest podcast episode

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