Oprah Winfrey hits back at critics of her weight loss: 'Done with shaming'

There has always been criticism of Oprah Winfrey's weight. The icon's bodily journey has been documented in the media for as long as she has been well-known, appearing on magazine covers and in episodes of her popular talk show, which ran for 25 seasons.

"It was public sport to make fun of me for 25 years," Winfrey tells People magazine in this week’s cover story. "I have been blamed and shamed, and I blamed and shamed myself."

Early in her career, she found herself on Mr Blackwell's list of harsh fashion critics. "I was on the cover of some magazine and it said, 'Dumpy, Frumpy and Downright Lumpy,' " recalls the co-producer of the new film The Color Purple. (Winfrey starred in the original 1985 film.) "I didn’t feel angry. I felt sad. I felt hurt. I swallowed the shame. I accepted that it was my fault."

Winfrey, who turns 70 next month, feels certain that she now knows how to permanently overcome her guilt and maintain a healthy weight. In addition to regular exercise and other lifestyle changes, Winfrey says she has added a weight-loss prescription to her programme, which she approaches holistically.

Weight fluctuations "occupied five decades of space in my brain, yo-yoing and feeling like why can’t I just conquer this thing, believing willpower was my failing," says Winfrey, whose tenacious recovery following knee surgery in 2021 catalyzed for the two years of consistent weight loss.

"After knee surgery, 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 says. "I felt stronger, more fit and more alive than I’d felt in years."

Now, she says, "I eat my last meal at 4 o’clock, drink a gallon of water a day, and use the WeightWatchers principles of counting points. 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."