Oprah Winfrey looked unrecognizable in her latest social media post, which saw the former talk show host introduce the latest novel for her eponymous book club. In the photo, the 71-year-old stood amongst the trees on a sunny day, wearing a bright, V-neck blouse and leather pants. Her brown hair was styled into perfect curls, and she wore her signature smoky eye look. Oprah looked incredibly slim as she smiled serenely at the camera, with her figure being the culmination of a years-long weight loss journey.
“My next @oprahsbookclub pick is All the Way to the River by the exceptional @elizabeth_gilbert_writer,” she wrote in the caption. “It’s an extraordinary memoir that will resonate with anyone who has ever been captive to love – or to any other passion, substance, or craving – and who yearns for liberation.” The star turned the comments off of the post, following a rising discussion about her use and promotion of weight loss drugs.
Oprah has been candid about her use of GLP-1 medications, with brands like Ozempic, Mounjaro and Wegovy growing in popularity in recent years. She opened up about going on the medication following a complex knee surgery in 2021, explaining that it cut out the food noise that she had been grappling with her whole life.
“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,” Oprah admitted on her podcast. “They ate better foods. They were able to stick to it longer. They never had a potato chip. 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.”
She also recalled how the tabloid media impacted her body image for years before she decided to turn to the medication for assistance. “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,” she said on the show. “And I accepted it because I thought I deserved it.”
While Oprah combines the medication with a healthy lifestyle and nutrient-rich diet, the TV personality shared that there was nothing to be ashamed of when it came to shedding the pounds with the help of medication.
© WireImage“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,” she said on an Oprah Daily panel.
© Kevin Winter“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 decided to do away with the shame and speak to her doctors about using weight loss drugs to help reach her goal weight. “As a person who has been shamed for so many years [about my weight], I am just sick of it,” she added.
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