“What Oprah Winfrey Said about Drugs Used for Weight Loss like Ozempic, Mounjaro”, 2023-09-21 (; backlinks):
Oprah Winfrey spoke about the years of shame she says she experienced for her weight…Winfrey hosted a panel on weight for her Oprah Daily outlet, during which much of the conversation focused on shame, both around being overweight and the methods people choose to lose weight.
Winfrey said that when she first heard about the growing popularity of drugs used for weight loss, which came at a time she was undergoing knee surgery, she thought for herself, “I’ve got to do this on my own. I’ve got to do this on my own. Because if I take the drug, that’s the easy way out.”
The media mogul also spoke though about the shame she said she has experienced over the years as a public figure dealing with weight struggles, saying, “I don’t know if there is another public person whose weight struggle has been exploited as much as mine over the years”. “This is a world that has shamed people being overweight forever”, Winfrey said. “All of us who have lived it just know that people treat you differently. They just do.”…“One of the things that I’ve … shamed myself about and was shamed [for] in the tabloids every week for about 25 years is not having the willpower”, Winfrey said. “And I think, you know, there is a distinction between mindset, which we’re now hearing the brain tells you a certain thing about how you process food, versus the willpower. Can we talk about that?”
…Real Housewives of Orange County star Emily Simpson spoke out to Good Morning America in August 2023 about the shaming she said she received on social media after revealing she had lost 40 pounds thanks to a combination of diet, exercise, liposuction and the use of a medication for weight loss.
“I just don’t understand why we feel the need to shame someone because they did something differently than someone else would”, Simpson said. “It doesn’t make sense to me because, ultimately, we all just want to be our healthiest and our fittest for ourselves and our families.”
Winfrey said at the conclusion of the Oprah Daily panel she hopes the conversation she led begins the process of easing the stigma around weight and weight loss. “Whatever your choice is for your body and your weight health, it should be yours to own and not to be shamed about it”, Winfrey said. “I’m just sick of it, and I hope this conversation begins the un-shaming of it.”