Oprah's weight-loss backflip: "I'm done with the shame"
Oprah Winfrey has become one of the first A-list celebrities to openly admit that she has resorted to using weight loss medication after months of speculation, according to Page Six.
“I now use it as I feel I need it, as a tool to manage not yo-yoing,” she told People Magazine.
“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.”
The 69-year-old added, “I’m absolutely done with the shaming from other people and particularly myself.”
This reversal comes after the actress rocked a slimmed down look at the premiere for the reboot of The Color Purple last week.
She had previously denied using weight loss drugs in an episode of Oprah Daily’s The Life You Want: The State of Weight, where she said turning to weight loss medication is "the easy way out.”
Although she did not disclose exactly which drug she took, or whether it was the celebrity favourite Type II diabetes medication Ozempic, the media mogul revealed the reason why she had a change of heart.
She told People Magazine that she became more open to using a pharmaceutical after conducting a panel discussion with medical experts in July.
“I had the biggest ‘aha’ along with many people in that audience,” she said.
“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 also shared the success she has had with the unnamed medication, claiming that she gained only half a pound “instead of gaining eight pounds like [she] did last year,” after Thanksgiving.
Winfrey added that ultimately it wasn't about the number on the scale but “it was a second shot for me to live a more vital and vibrant life.”
The O Magazine founder also said that the medication were just a larger part of her health and fitness regimen, which includes hiking.
“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.”
Images: Arturo Holmes/The Hollywood Reporter via Getty Images