Oprah Winfrey Admits To Using A Weight Loss Drug: ‘I’m Absolutely Done With The Shaming’

It appears Oprah Winfrey had a change of heart when it comes to weight loss medication!

Earlier this year, the 69-year-old talk show host swore she would never take a drug like Ozempic to help her lose weight as she felt it would be “the easy way out” for her. But months later, she appears to have changed her mind! Oprah revealed in an interview published by People on Wednesday that she has added a weight-loss drug to her regimen amid her drastic body transformation!

She explained she began her health journey after having knee surgery in 2021, incorporating regular exercise and making some lifestyle changes to help:

“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. I felt stronger, more fit, and more alive than I’d felt in years.”

Wow! Despite the temptation to use weight-loss medications, she felt she needed to prove her ability to reach her health goals all on her own at first. Oprah continued:

“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 now no longer feel that way. I was actually recommending it to people long before I was on it myself.”

However, her mindset changed when she was on a panel with weight loss experts and clinicians called The State of Weight as part of Oprah Daily’s Life You Want series. The discussion, which went live online two months later, sparked an “aha” moment for her and made her realize there’s no shame in turning to a pharmaceutical aid:

“I had the biggest aha along with many people in that audience. 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.”

Afterward, Oprah said she “released my own shame about it” and spoke with her doctor. Her physician then ended up prescribing her weight-loss medication. Although the Color Purple actress does not disclose which drug she takes and whether it was Ozempic, she did mention she only uses it as a “maintenance tool”:

“I now use it as I feel I need it, as a tool to manage not yo-yoing. 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 so far, Oprah has had success with the unnamed medication! She told People she only “gained half a pound” during Thanksgiving this year “instead of gaining eight pounds like I did last year.” Even though she’s seven pounds away from her 160-pound goal weight, Oprah stressed to everyone that it’s ultimately “not about the number,” adding: