Oprah Winfrey Says Mocking Her Weight Was ‘National Sport’

Oprah Winfrey has spoken about the “shame” she experienced after being “ridiculed” about her weight.

Speaking about her weight and obesity in a TV special, the US broadcaster and actress said she would “never forget” called “bumpy, lumpy and down right dumpy” on a magazine cover.

Winfrey, 70, has lost a significant amount of weight through medication, and praised weight-loss drugs

An Oprah Special: Shame, Blame and the Weight Loss Revolution, broadcast in the US on ABC, showed an emotional Winfrey talking about the pain of being humiliated by late-night talk show hosts and tabloids for 25 years.

She read out a number of previous headlines about her, including “Oprah: Fatter than ever” and “Oprah warned ‘diet or
die’.”

Winfrey praised weight loss drugs saying “In my lifetime, I never dreamed that we would be talking about medicine that is providing hope for people like me, who have struggled for years with being overweight or obesity.”

She became emotional when describing the medication as giving people a “sense of hope” as you “no longer blame yourself”.

Winfrey added she hoped she can “start releasing the stigma and the shame and the judgment to stop shaming other people for being overweight, or how they choose to lose or not lose weight”.

BBC