A noticeably thin Oprah Winfrey (69), known for her decades-long up-and-down battle against the bulge has revealed her secret: She is now on weight-loss medication and not ashamed to say it.
Revealing her noticeably thinner frame in a purple dress at the film premiere of new version of The Color Purple that she produced after starring in the Steven Spielberg version in 1985, Winfrey said that she is "done with the shaming" and now using weight-loss medicine in combination with exercise to drop the fat and getting close to her goal weight.
In an interview with America's People magazine in its 13 December issue for its cover story, the media mogul opens up about her latest dramatic body transformation which is as striking as in 1988 when she famously carted a "fat wagon" on stage at her Oprah Winfrey Show to show off her thin figure when she announced that she did it using the liquid diet Optifast.
Thirty-five years later, there is now massive buzz globally about a new generation of weight-loss medications like Ozempic, Wegovy and Mounjaro, although Oprah has declined to mention specifically which one she is on although she is honest that she is now using it.
About her up-and-down weight, Winfrey says it has "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".
Now she "eats my last meal at 4 o'clock, drink a gallon (3.7 litres) of water a day and uses the WeightWatchers principles of counting points. I had an awareness of weight-loss medications but I felt I had to prove I had the willpower to do it. I now no longer feel this way".
In 2015 Winfrey bought a 10% stake in WeightWatchers International and also has a seat on the company's board of directors.
Her latest so-called "A-ha"-moment happened in July, when Oprah recorded a panel discussion show for her Oprah Daily "The Life You Want" series about weight loss.
She says that during the discussion, "I realised I'd been blaming myself all these years for being overweight and I have a predisposition that no amount of willpower of going to control".
"Obesity is a disease. It's not about willpower - it's about the brain," Winfrey notes, saying that she is now using medically prescribed weight-loss medicines and has "released my own shame about it".
"I now use it as I feel I need it as a tool to manage not yo-yoing. 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. I'm absolutely done with the shaming from myself and other people and particularly myself".
About what she's using and her holistic slimming down routine, Oprah says "It's everything".
"I know everybody thought I was on it but I worked so damn hard. I know that if I'm not also working out and vigilant about all the other things it doesn't work for me".
Oprah says she is 7 pounds or 3.2kg away from her goal weight of 160 pounds (72.5kg) but that "it's not about the number - it was a second shot for me to love a more vital and vibrant life".
