Oprah Winfrey isn’t afraid to admit how weight stigma has changed her life, even as someone as successful as she is.
The 69-year-old star opened up about decades of being shamed for her size during a recent panel on Oprah Daily, called “The State of Weight,” where she discussed her own experience gaining weight in the public eye, as well as the current cultural obsession with drugs like Ozempic and Mounjaro, known for their ability to induce weight loss.
For the discussion, Winfrey was joined by obesity specialists Dr. Fatima Cody Stanford and Dr. Melanie Jay, psychologist Rachel Goldman and Sima Sistani, CEO of WeightWatchers. Winfrey has been an investor in and on the board of WeightWatchers since 2015. Earlier this year, the company bought a telehealth platform that facilitates access to the new weight-loss drugs.
“You all know I’ve been on this journey for most of my life,” Winfrey told the panel audience. “My highest weight was 237 pounds. I don’t know if there is another public person whose weight struggle has been exploited as much as mine over the years.”
“You all have watched me diet and diet and diet,” she continued. “It’s a recurring thing because my body always seems to want to go back to a certain weight.”
Winfrey went on to share that when she weighed over 200 pounds, she could notice a difference in the way people treated her.
“This is a world that has shamed people for being overweight forever, and all of us who’ve lived it know that people treat you differently — they just do,” she explained.
“I get treated differently if I’m 200-plus pounds versus under 200 pounds. I had to deal with that when I walk into a store. It’s that thing where people are like, ‘Let me show you the gloves. Would you like to look at the handbags? Because we know that there’s nothing in here for you.’ There is a condescension. There is stigma.”
But, as the…
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