Oprah Winfrey has long been open about the challenges she faced regarding her weight. In a recent episode of “The Jamie Kern Lima Show,” the media mogul shared deeply personal experiences, highlighting the emotional toll of public scrutiny and weight shaming.
Oprah Winfrey Mocked for Entertainment
Reflecting on past incidents, Winfrey recalled a time when she skipped a party hosted by Miami Vice actor Don Johnson. “I wouldn’t go because I thought I was too fat to go,” she admitted. She explained how her weight fluctuated from “145 [lbs.]” to “157 [lbs.] in the course of, like, a week and a half or two.”
Winfrey described how her weight was often the punchline in media, particularly in the 1990s. “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,” she recalled. “The comedy bit was that eventually she just exploded, and the woman was me.”
The Impact of Hurtful Comments
Winfrey shared a particularly painful memory involving TV Guide magazine. The late critic Richard Blackwell once described her as “bumpy, frumpy and downright lumpy” on an October 1990 cover. “I ingested that, I swallowed it like it was a pill designed just for my body,” Winfrey reflected. “I accepted that this thing that people have labeled me with–being fat, being overweight, being unable to control my willpower, not having any willpower–that’s my shame. That’s it. They’re right, they’re right.”
For years, Winfrey’s weight was the subject of national conversation. “For 25 years, every single week in one form or another, there was some tabloid exploitation of my weight,” she said. “Making fun of my weight was a national sport for 25 years.”
Moving Forward
Winfrey, now 70, has decided to leave the shame behind. Last year, she discussed obesity and weight-loss on her televised program: An Oprah Special: Shame, Blame and the Weight Loss Revolution. She referred to an unnamed “medically approved prescription for managing weight and staying healthier” as a “gift.”
“I’m absolutely done with the shaming from other people and particularly myself,” Winfrey asserted. As she moves into a new decade, she is determined not to carry the weight of public scrutiny any longer.