Oprah Opens Up About Her Weight Struggles and Missed Opportunities

In a reflective moment on The Jamie Kern Lima podcast, Oprah Winfrey candidly shared some of her most personal struggles with weight and public perception. As she celebrated her 70th birthday earlier this year, she looked back on how these experiences often held her back.

Iconic Moment That Came With a Price

Winfrey talked about her infamous appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show in November 1988, where she rolled out a wagon filled with 67 pounds of fat to illustrate her weight loss. This moment, emblematic of her journey, was achieved through an intense all-liquid diet called Optifast.

I didn’t have a morsel of food for five solid months in losing that weight on [the all-liquid diet] Optifast, she recounted. However, the triumph was short-lived: Three days later, I was 5 lbs. heavier, and a week later I was 10 lbs. heavier.

A Missed Festive Opportunity

Winfrey’s struggle with weight gain culminated during the holiday season of that same year. Don Johnson, famed for his role as Det. James “Sonny” Crockett in Miami Vice, had invited Winfrey to a Christmas party.

The week before Christmas, I remember Don Johnson—the Don Johnson—was having a party and invited me and some members of my show to come, and I wouldn’t go because I thought I was too fat to go, Winfrey admitted. The downward spiral in her weight caused her to withdraw socially.

A Target for Comedy

The pain didn’t end there; it extended into the realm of entertainment satire. During the rise of Keenan Ivory Wayans’ In Living Color, Oprah became the subject of a harsh skit performed by Kim Wayans.

In Living Color had done a skit where the woman kept eating and getting fatter until she exploded. This act struck a particular chord with Winfrey: The whole audience fell out [laughing] and the woman was me .

A Chapter Closed at Seventy

As Winfrey looks forward to new chapters past seventy, she reflects on how weight mockery was national sport for 25 years. She shared: I don’t know anybody who’s been more publicly judged about their weight than myself and I have carried and borne the shame of other people.

To celebrate turning seventy, Oprah took to social media to post about running on a California beach. This symbolic act emphasized her commitment to moving forward free from the burdens of past judgments: Celebrating 70 with a run on the beach. #healthisthebestgift.