Oprah Winfrey says public comments about her weight have been deeply hurtful.
The media mogul sat down for an interview on the Tuesday, June 25 episode of “The Jamie Kern Lima” podcast, and discussed the shame she’s felt when comedians, fashion experts and magazine writers commented on her weight.
“Making fun of my weight was a national sport for 25 years,” she said. “The best comedians did it. The highest comedians did it, people with their [own] shows did it. It was just accepted that you could make fun of me and my weight.”
Related: Oprah Gives Health Update After Gayle King Revealed TMI on Air
Winfrey said she’ll never forget being mocked on 1990s sketch comedy series, In Living Color.
“One of the most hurtful things was In Living Color had done a skit where the woman was doing something and she just kept eating and getting fatter and fatter and fatter, and the comedy bit was that eventually, she just exploded,” she recalled.
Comedian Kim Wayans portrayed Winfrey in the skit, which showed the comic hosting a talk show while simultaneously roasting chickens on a rotisserie, and stuffing food in her mouth.
“The whole audience fell out and the woman was me,” Winfrey said.
The former talk show host noted that she’s carried the shame surrounding her weight for years, but said she refuses to carry it into the future.
“I just recently turned 70 and I’m not carrying it into the next decade,” she said. “I’m done with it.”
Winfrey later wiped away tears while recalling her struggles with weight. She also repeated a story about the humiliation that came from being described as “bumpy, lumpy and downright dumpy” on a magazine cover.
The mogul previously told the story on an ABC News weight loss special that aired earlier this year, and said the magazine cover was so hurtful that she turned to a liquid diet and starved herself. She quickly shed 67 pounds on the diet, but gained it back when she resumed eating solid foods.
“The next day, y’all, the very next day, I started to gain it back,” she said.
Winfrey has admitted using an unnamed weight loss medication as a “maintenance tool.” On the ABC special, she interviewed two leading physicians in the field of weight loss, who said obesity is a disease, “not a matter of willpower.”
Winfrey told the podcast host that moment changed her life and her way of thinking.
Watch the interview below:
She probably cried all the way to KFC then the bank.
Thank heaven for this update; Lord how we are starved for more Winfrey emoting.
The Queen of self-promotion and self-justification who has told millions of others what to do with their lives, what to read, how to dress and who to vote for – seems to object when the situation is turned on her —- Funnny.
“Winfrey said she’ll never forget being mocked on 1990s sketch comedy series, In Living Color.”
Poor thing, what a tough life she’s led.
Yeah…gluttony is an awful disease; too bad there wasn’t something that could be done about it.
Don’t be a public figure then if you can’t handle criticism or satire of you. Comes with the territory
How did the RF feel after they were lied about over and over on the interview Oprah did with Mattress and Hawry. She had not done her due diligence and allowed so much false information! Maybe she knows now how they felt.
The RF are no better, same as the toxic British press.
I don’t understand all the hate toward Oprah on this site…Oueen of self promotion withstanding, she has help a lot of people
She would need to go to the bank first with the large order she would place at KFC
Who could forget Oprah at a BBQ and she was asked, “what would you like on your hamburger?”….Oprah replied “a couple of hotdogs”…
I think I won’t loose sleep that a person with that much money and power earned via a penchant for self promotion hasn’t figured out how to live her best life in 70 years.
Oh, the best in living color episode featuring Oprah was where she opened a restaurant and used her own fat, post liposuction, to fry up the restaurant’s recipes. The Waynes family were slaying before it was a thing.
One of the BEST comedy shows ever!
If I had some of the wealth you have earned over your lifetime, I would not be trying to make more money through diet programs and showing people how well you think you look thin.
How about using your notarity to help people who are struggling with self image problems because you think their weight has negative implications on their happiness.
Do You think an animal hates themselves because they are not, in their mind attractive?
Just some thoughts to run through your mind.
She just got caught abusing Ozempic WHILE telling others weight watchers was the answer. She is a liar, fraud, and hypocrite.
……..Yea, funny how that works with these people.
She just got caught abusing FooWee Willy while telling other whale watchers what not to do. She is a liar, fraud, and hypocrite.
……..Now you get a free scale…and you and you and EVERYBODY GETS SCALE!!!!!
The continuing fat shaming still evident among these comments only serves to reenforce the bullying and ignorant notion that ridiculing is okay. Me thinks underlying these childish jabs is a deep jealousy.
Yes and your point?
Buck up buttercup and live in the real world.
What about Jimmy Kimmel and Oprah Jimfrey???
Did she forget she made weight her issue when she rolled out that wagon of fat?
I am sorry she feels so bad about it. But I think there are more important issues in the world. The line between “playful kidding” and “being plain mean” is a (pardon the pun) a thin one. I once played in a skit where I took the role (and exaggerated personality traits) of a professor of mine who was to be a Nobel Prize winner. HE LOVED IT!!! I wish folks could be more like that
You are a billionaire Winfrey, and you are crying because someone made fun of you. Give me the billion and people can make fun of me all they want.!
true story?
we would not talk about her weight if she would stop bringing it up!
She opens herself up by getting paid to shill these weight loss diet fads and then loses weight and gains it right back. I wouldn’t trust any product that doesn’t work very well.
Oprah got lost driving in LA, she pulled over and asked a gas station employee how to get to 405. They told her to cut back on carbs and meal portions…