Oprah Winfrey has defended her use of weight loss drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy, having spoken out about the controversial medicines in a new TV special.
Winfrey, 70, previously confirmed she uses medicine to help maintain her weight after shedding the pounds through a combination of diet and exercise – doing so steadily over the past two years following knee surgery in 2021.
This prompted her to step down for her role as an ambassador for Weight Watchers after almost a decade as a face of the company, with the talk show host explaining during a recent appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live that she did not want to have ‘the appearance of any conflict of interest’.
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“I resigned from the board and donated all of my shares to the National Museum of African American History and Culture,” she said.
Now, Winfrey has opened up about her relationship with controversial weight loss drugs – which have brand names including Ozempic and Wegovy – in a new special, An Oprah Special: Shame, Blame and the Weight Loss Revolution, which aired last night on ABC.
The star spoke about how she has often been ‘ridiculed’ for her fluctuating weight, saying: "I have to say that I took on the shame that the world gave to me.
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"For 25 years, making fun of my weight was national sport."
But now she’s standing firm when it comes to being judged for her choices, saying defiantly: "I come to this conversation with the hope that we 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, and most importantly, to stop shaming ourselves."
Winfrey said she hoped that the ‘one thing’ people came away from the show wit hwas the understanding that obesity is a ‘disease’.
“And it’s in the brain,” she added.
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Obesity medicine physician Dr Jen Ashton agreed, saying: “It is conclusively known that the conditions of overweight and obesity are complex, chronic disease states, not character flaws... so they should be managed accordingly.”
In a previous interview with People, Winfrey said she was ‘absolutely done’ with ‘the shaming from other people’.
"I now use it as I feel I need it, as a tool to manage not yo-yoing," she said.
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"The fact that there's a medically approved prescription for managing weight and staying healthier in my lifetime feels like relief, like redemption, like a gift, and not something to hide behind and once again be ridiculed for."
Jess Hardiman