Oprah Winfrey has shared the emotional toll that came with being a plus-sized woman in the public eye.
The legendary chat show host, 70, lost a notable amount of weight in recent months by taking weight loss drugs, after decades of trying diets.
She was criticised for admitting to using the controversial drug, but said she had ‘released my own shame’ about resorting to the drugs after previously saying she would never use them.
Oprah has now stepped back from her role as a Weight Watchers ambassador to avoid a ‘perceived conflict of interest’ as she appears in TV special Shame, Blame And The Weight Loss Revolution, and recalled the pain she felt over jabs at her weight over 25 years.
In the show, she said she pleaded to ‘release the stigma and the shame and the judgement to stop shaming other people for being overweight or how they choose to lose or not lose weight.’
She said she ‘took on the shame’ over the 25 years ‘making fun of my weight was national sport,’ and would ‘never forget’ some of the cruel headlines and captions describing her as ‘bumpy, lumpy and downright dumpy’ and ‘fatter than ever’.
‘In an effort to combat all the shame, I starved myself for nearly five months,’ she said, referring to the 1988 episode of her talk show where she wheeled out a barrel of fat to show how much she had lost.
‘And after losing 67 pounds on a liquid diet, the next day, the very next day, I started to gain it back. Feeling the shame of fighting a losing battle with weight, is a story all too familiar.’
Oprah said she had always thought people who didn’t have to diet were ‘stronger than me,’ but now believes ‘you weren’t obsessing over it.’
It comes after she told People that for decades her fluctuating weight made her believe ‘willpower was my failing …. I now no longer feel that way.’
‘I realised I’d been blaming myself all these years for being overweight, and I have a predisposition that no amount of willpower is going to control.’
She insisted she was still following ‘the Weight Watchers principles of counting points’, as well as eating healthy and exercising, making the drug part of a balanced lifestyle.
Oprah now believes the medication is ‘a gift’ and she is ‘done with the shaming from other people and particularly myself.’
Oprah has donated her Weight Watchers shares to the Smithsonian museum of African American history and Culture.
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