Back in December, Oprah Winfrey revealed that she’s been using prescription weight-loss medications as a “maintenance tool.” The entertainment mogul, who served on the board of Weight Watchers for nearly 10 years, told People that such medications felt “like relief, like redemption, like a gift, and not something to hide behind and once again be ridiculed for.”
“I now use it as I feel I need it, as a tool to manage not yo-yoing," Winfrey said, adding that she’s “absolutely done with the shaming from other people and particularly myself.”
GLP-1 drugs, like Wegovy and Ozempic, have become increasingly popular online and among celebrities in recent years. But they’ve also been met with harsh disapproval from critics, who continue to question the safety and effectiveness of using diabetes medication solely for losing weight. Many have slammed the drugs as “lazy” while others called out weight loss companies for abandoning their original mottos for a quicker solution. Such criticisms were recently mounted against Weight Watchers, which rebranded to “WW” and began embracing blockbuster weight-loss drugs as part of its new mission.
Weight-loss medications remain a contentious topic today. Amongst those who are actively using the drugs, the medications are praised as life-changing and helpful.
The power of weight-loss drugs is explored in Winfrey’s prime-time program on ABC, titled “An Oprah Special: Shame, Blame and the Weight Loss Revolution.” In it, Winfrey recounts her own weight loss journey and sits down with medical professionals who explained how anti-obesity drugs could combat the obesity epidemic.
“In my lifetime, I never dreamed that we would be talking about medicines that are providing hope for people like me who have struggled for years with being overweight or with obesity,” Winfrey said. “So, I come to this conversation in 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 more importantly to stop shaming ourselves.”
Here are seven things we learned from Winfrey’s special:
01 Winfrey says she was “ridiculed on every late-night talk show for 25 years”
In the opening of her special, Winfrey said making fun of her weight was “national sport” for 25 years. That all came to a head in 1990, when Winfrey made it on the cover of TV Guide’s “Best and Worst Dressed” list in 1990. Winfrey said her excitement quickly turned into shame after she read the headline, which called her “Bumpy, lumpy and downright dumpy.”
“I was ridiculed on every late-night talk show for 25 years and tabloid covers for 25 years. Here are just a few of the thousands of headlines written about me,” Winfrey continued. “‘Oprah — Fatter Than Ever.’ ‘Oprah Hits 246 pounds.’ ‘Final Showdown With Steadman Sends Her Into Feeding Frenzy.’ ‘Oprah Warned — Diet or Die.’”
02 Winfrey “starved” herself for “nearly five months” to deal with the shame
03 GLP-1 agonists are helping more people lose weight at an astounding rate
GLP-1 agonists, a class of type 2 diabetes drugs that have also been embraced as weight loss medications, include Ozempic and Wegovy (semaglutide). These drugs mimic the action of a hormone called glucagon-like peptide 1, explained Dr. Amanda Velazquez, director of Obesity Medicine at Cedars-Sinai. That means managing blood sugar levels, reducing hunger and food intake and working directly on the gut to slow digestion.
In individuals living with obesity, their GLP-1 is not working the way that it should. By taking these medications, their GLP-1 is essentially “enhanced” and can bind to receptors on a cellular level.
“We’re seeing double the amount of weight loss you can achieve with this class of medications compared to what we’ve had in our toolbox,” Velazquez said. Per Mayo Clinic, studies found people using semaglutide and making lifestyle changes lost about 33.7 pounds (15.3 kilograms) versus 5.7 pounds (2.6 kilograms) in those who didn't use the drug.
04 Those who use GLP-1 agonists have to take it for life
When asked if Ozempic, Wegovy and other GLP-1 agonist users have to continue taking it for the rest of their lives, Velazquez said yes.
“Yeah, the data would support that. I mean, we have good trials showing that when these patients stop the medication, the disease comes back,” she explained.
05 Winfrey will leave WeightWatchers board after nearly 10 years
Although the formal announcement was made earlier this month, Winfrey announced her departure from the board of Weight Watchers once again in her special. Winfrey told the company that she wouldn’t stand for re-election at its annual shareholders meeting to be held in May 2024. Winfrey has served on the company’s board since 2015 when she acquired a 10% stake in WeightWatchers.
According to WeightWatchers’ filings with the SEC, Winfrey’s agreement with the company states that she “will not engage in any other weight loss or weight management business, program, products or services” while she’s with the company and for an additional year afterward. In the special, Winfrey said she made the decision to no longer serve on the board of
WeightWatchers because “I wanted no perceived conflict of interest for this special.”
Winfrey said she donated all her shares in WeightWatchers to the National Museum of African American History and Culture. Despite her departure, Winfrey will still host an event on weight health with WeightWatchers in May.
06 Winfrey says obesity is a “disease” not a “character flaw”
07 Winfrey hopes people will release the shame of being ostracized for their weight
“The thing that’s been the biggest relief for me, and I hope that many of you watching this episode of ‘Shame and Blame,’ will release the shame for yourself,” Winfrey said. “Because I, as I said at the beginning of this, took on the same for myself and carried it for myself.”
“And now that I know that I’m just holding my breath underwater, I have been able to release that shame, and it doesn’t matter what anybody says.”
“An Oprah Special: Shame, Blame and the Weight Loss Revolution” is currently streaming on Hulu. Watch a trailer for it below, via YouTube:
