Oprah Winfrey is no stranger to scrutiny over her weight. For as long as she has been in the public eye, the icon’s body journey has played out in the media, on magazine covers and on episodes of her own eponymous hit talk show that ran for 25 seasons. It was public sport to make fun of me for 25 years,” Winfrey tells PEOPLE in this week’s cover story. “I have been blamed and shamed, and I blamed and shamed myself.”
One hurtful moment came early in her career, when she landed on acerbic fashion critic Mr. Blackwell’s list. “I was on the cover of some magazine and it said, ‘Dumpy, Frumpy and Downright Lumpy,’ ” recalls the co-producer of the new film .
The Color Purple. (Winfrey starred in the original 1985 film.) “I didn’t feel angry. I felt sad. I felt hurt. I swallowed the shame. I accepted that it was my faultWinfrey, who turns 70 next month, is optimistic that she now has a better handle on how to maintain a healthy weight long-term and rid herself of shame once and for all. Using a holistic approach that includes regular exercise and other lifestyle tweaks, Winfrey confirms she has also added a weight-loss medication to her regimen.
Weight fluctuations “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,” says Winfrey, whose dogged rehabilitation after knee surgery in 2021 kick-started what has been steady weight loss over the last two years. After knee surgery, I started hiking and setting new distance goals each week. I could eventually hike three to five miles every day and a 10-mile straight-up hike on weekends,” she says. “I felt stronger, more fit and more alive than I’d felt in years.
Now, she says, “I eat my last meal at 4 o’clock, drink a gallon of water a day, and use the WeightWatchers principles of counting points. I had an awareness of [weight-loss] medications, but felt I had to prove I had the willpower to do it. I no longer feel that way.
Source: People
In other news – WATCH: Zahara’s memorial service
Friends and family of the late award-winning musician Bulelwa Mkutukana popularly known as Zahara are paying their last respects to the star at Rhema Bible Church.
On Monday evening, news broke that the singer and songwriter, 36, had died. The news comes just after her family confirmed her hospitalization following complaints about physical pains. Read more
