Oprah Winfrey has been slammed for her controversial comments about ‘thin people’ while discussing her use of weight loss drugs to shed nearly 50lbs.
In 2023, the media mogul, 70, finally admitted to using an undisclosed GLP-1 — a type 2 diabetes medication that can also aid in weight loss such as Ozempic or Wegovy — to drop weight after decades of yo-yo dieting.
Discussing the function and safety of these types of drugs with Dr. Ania Jastreboff on the latest episode of her podcast, Winfrey said: ‘One of the things that I realized the very first time I took a GLP-1 was that all these years I thought that thin people had more willpower. They ate better foods. They were able to stick to it longer. They never had a potato chip.’
But once she started on a GLP-1, Winfrey realized that what she initially perceived as ‘willpower’ was actually an absence of intrusive hunger thoughts — often referred to as ‘food noise.’
‘And then I realized the very first time I took the GLP-1 that, they’re not even thinking about it. They’re eating when they’re hungry and they’re stopping when they’re full.’
Winfrey explained that that way of eating ‘doesn’t work’ if you struggle with obesity, which is a disease.
Oprah Winfrey has been slammed for her controversial comments about ‘thin people’ while discussing her use of weight loss drugs to shed nearly 50lbs; seen in December 2024
In 2023, the media mogul (left in 2023 and right in 2019), 70, finally admitted to using an undisclosed GLP-1 — a type 2 diabetes medication that can also aid in weight loss — to shed nearly 50 pounds after decades of yo-yo dieting. The admission came as a shock to fans as Oprah initially denied using weight-loss meds to slim down and even went as far as to slam the method as an ‘easy way out’
Followers took to her Instagram comment section to lambast Winfrey for ‘supporting widespread use of the drugs’ and for lumping all ‘thin people’ into the same category.
One wrote: ‘I like Oprah, but I don’t like her supporting widespread use of these drugs. They add costs to the system and are not effective long term. Only in extreme cases should this drug be used for weight loss.
A second typed: ‘This just makes me mad. You make your own GLP1 in your gut when your nutrition and exercise are on point. Remove agri-food – created to keep us numb and sick – move your body and heal.’
A third wrote: ‘Thin people also think about food all the time , but they work hard to manage their physical and mental needs in a healthy way , and not by taking medication.’
Others wrote: ‘To characterize thin people wholesale in this manner is just a lie @oprah. There are many thin people, or others who are a healthy weight but not necessarily “thin” who do in fact draw on willpower and strategic tactics to keep their weight down.
‘They create an environment that unlike most of our society, is NOT obesogenic. I forbid myself from eating until I’ve walked for an hour. That’s willpower.’
‘The best way to compact “food noise” is by replacing empty spaces (hunger, boredom, anxiety, fear, etc) with other habits like weight training, nature walks, meditation, and therapy…. Rewiring your mind is the absolute magic “pill” not GLP1
‘I don’t agree completely. I “think about it” try to eat healthy, work out and it is definitely hard work. No other way around it for me. It’s easy to say your missing a hormone as an excuse. I’m sure in cases this may be. Many obsess over food due to depression, anxiety and other factors that will use this as an excuse for these injections as opposed to tackling the real drivers.
Discussing the drugs on her podcast , Winfrey said: ‘One of the things that I realized the very first time I took a GLP-1 was that all these years I thought that thin people had more willpower. But once she started on a GLP-1, Winfrey realized that what she initially perceived as ‘willpower’ was actually an absence of intrusive hunger
Followers took to her Instagram comment section to lambast Winfrey for ‘supporting widespread use of the drugs’ and for lumping all ‘thin people’ into the same category
‘Thin people also think about food all the time, but they work hard to manage their physical and mental needs in a healthy way, and not by taking medication.
‘I think about it constantly but just don’t eat it.’
Other fans came out in support of the star’s comments, writing: ‘Soooo true… for the first time in my life.. I felt full.. and not able to think about food… only then did I realize that I literally had a chemical problem and it was not a “will-power” problem!
‘People who have never had food noise or addiction have no concept of what we deal with and they are always so judgmental.
‘I can attest the same thing happened to me. I literally said to my husband “the food noise is gone”. And a few days later I heard on the radio they said they were studying it for alcohol and drug addiction and that shook me.
‘The way that food consumes my thoughts….this made so much sense.’
Other fans came out in support of the star’s comments, writing: ‘Soooo true… for the first time in my life.. I felt full.. and not able to think about food… only then did I realize that I literally had a chemical problem and it was not a “will-power” problem!;
Ozempic, Wegovy and other GLP-1 medications can help eradicate food noise — which often leads to overeating and weight gain — by reducing cravings and slowing down digestion.
Oprah’s weight loss admission came as a shock to fans as she had previously denied using meds to slim down and even went as far as to slam the method as an ‘easy way out.’
Having nearly reached her goal weight of 160 pounds (72kg), Winfrey is sharing her experience taking a GLP-1 and what it has taught her about ‘thin people.’
During her sit-down with Dr. Jastreboff, Winfrey also spoke about being ‘publicly humiliated’ for her weight over the course of her decades-long career.
‘Every week [I was] exploited by the tabloids, anytime any comedian wanted to make fun or make a joke about it, they would make a joke about it. And I accepted it because I thought I deserved it,’ she explained.
But now, Winfrey said she realizes that her size did not make her ‘less than’ others and that she did not deserve that treatment.
Once she started on a GLP-1, Winfrey realized that what she initially perceived as ‘willpower’ was actually an absence of intrusive hunger thoughts — often referred to as ‘food noise’
Despite her initial denial about using weight-loss drugs, Oprah declared she was ‘done with the shaming’ in December 2023 when she revealed that she used a GLP-1 to drop 40lbs (18kg).
She also incorporated regular exercise, such as hiking, to help her shed unwanted pounds.
Winfrey told PEOPLE: ‘I now use it as I feel I need it, as a tool to manage not yo-yoing’ – but did not name the drug that she uses.
‘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 other people and particularly myself’ and added she had actively recommended the weight loss aid to other people before deciding to take it herself.
The star revealed she had taken the medication before Thanksgiving as she knew she would have ‘two solid weeks of eating’ and credits the drug for causing her to only gain half a pound rather than eight pounds, adding it ‘quiets the food noise.’
At the time, Winfrey said she was seven pounds away from her goal weight of 160 but insisted ‘it’s not about the number.’ Oprah weighed 237lbs (107.5kg) at her heaviest, she previously revealed.
She said undergoing knee surgery in 2021 kickstarted a journey for her to improve her health and live a ‘more vital and vibrant life.’
‘And then I realized the very first time I took the GLP-1 that, they’re not even thinking about it,’ she said. ‘They’re eating when they’re hungry and they’re stopping when they’re full’
The broadcast icon said she now eats her last meal at 4pm, drinks a gallon of water a day and uses WeightWatchers principles of counting points, along with regular hikes.
She added that her fitness and health routine are integral to maintaining her weight loss saying: ‘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.’
She said: ‘I had an awareness of [weight-loss] medications, but felt I had to prove I had the willpower to do it. I now no longer feel that way.’
Winfrey said she was encouraged to use medical weight loss drugs after the taped panel conversation in July 2023 with weight loss experts and clinicians – which led to her ‘biggest aha moment.’
The conversation was released online that September and saw Winfrey staunchly denying she would ever take weight loss drugs.
She said: ‘I realized 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. Obesity is a disease. It’s not about willpower — it’s about the brain.
During the discussion, the experts insisted that obesity is a metabolic disease with some bodies ‘more predisposed to storing more fat’ – also known as adipose tissue.
Oprah candidly explained: ‘For those of us that are adipose storers, no matter how many times… You’ve all watched me diet and diet and diet and diet, it’s a recurring thing because my body always seems to want to go back to a certain weight.’
During her sit-down with Dr. Jastreboff, Winfrey also spoke about being ‘publicly humiliated’ for her weight over the course of her decades-long career; seen in 1988
She added: ‘If I ate an apple pie at 11 o’clock at night, I would be two pounds heavier in the morning. I can’t eat after a certain time.’
The TV personality, who claimed she had ‘yoyoed her whole life,’ later said: ‘This is a world that has shamed people for being overweight forever and all of us who have lived it know that people just treat you differently. They just do.
‘And I am Oprah Winfrey and I know all that comes with that and I get treated differently if I am 200 plus pounds versus under 200 pounds…
‘There is a condescension. There is a stigma.’
Oprah said that the key was to have friends and partners around you that offered support and ‘rejoiced in your victory.’
Following a more in depth discussion of the weight-loss drugs currently available – including Ozempic and Wegovy – the media mogul said: ‘Shouldn’t we all just be more accepting of whatever body you choose to be in? That should be your choice.
‘One of the things I carried so much shame for, and even when I first started hearing about the weight-loss drugs, at the same time I was going through knee surgery and I felt, ‘I’ve got to do this on my own because if I take the drug, that’s the easy way out.’
Despite her initial denial about using weight-loss drugs, Oprah declared she was ‘done with the shaming’ in December 2023 when she revealed that she used a GLP-1 to drop 40lbs; seen in January 2024
‘I realized 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. Obesity is a disease. It’s not about willpower — it’s about the brain,’ she said; Winfrey seen in September 2024
‘There’s a part of me that feels – like I think a lot of people feel with bariatric surgery – that I’ve got to do it the hard way, I’ve got to keep climbing the mountains, I’ve got to keep suffering and I’ve got to do that because otherwise I somehow cheated myself.’
She concluded: ‘As a person who has been shamed for so many years [about my weight], I am just sick of it.’
The star said after this chat, she released her ‘own shame’ and consulted her doctor, who prescribed the weight loss medication.
Last year, she released the TV documentary An Oprah Special: Shame, Blame and the Weight Loss Revolution, which featured her hitting out at those who shame people who turn to weight-loss drugs.
