Oprah talks GLP-1 weight loss journey and how understanding obesity changed everything for her
TheGrio...
As she nears 72, Oprah Winfrey candidly reflects on the moment she realized obesity was driving her overeating — not the other way around — and how that shift reshaped her health, mindset, and sense of freedom.
Oprah Winrey is on the cover of People magazine AGAIN!
For decades the iconic talk show host and entertainment mogul has lived out her relationship with weight in public; from headline-making diet moments to deeply personal reckonings around shame, discipline and self-blame. Now, she’s naming what she says finally changed the conversation for her: understanding obesity as a disease.
In a new interview with People, Oprah shared that the biggest breakthrough came when she stopped seeing overeating as the root problem and instead recognized that obesity itself was driving her behavior. Winfrey told the magazine that understanding she suffers from obesity and needs help to fight it, led to her decision two and a half years ago to start taking GLP-1 weight-loss medication.
“I thought it was about discipline and willpower. But I stopped blaming myself,” says Winfrey. “I feel more alive and more vibrant than I’ve ever been.”
Winfrey says the epiphany came when she hosted a special on obesity in 2023 with experts in the field.
“I avoided the word ‘obesity.’ It connoted ‘out of control,’ ” she says. “But I came to understand that overeating doesn’t cause obesity. Obesity causes overeating. And that’s the most mind-blowing, freeing thing I’ve experienced as an adult.”
While Oprah shied away from sharing her current weight, she did reveal that before GLP-1’s her weight seemed to always creep back up to 211 pounds.
“I wanted to be one of those people who could be at peace with myself being overweight,” she says. “But everything in my life, in the culture, in society, in my brain, was telling me the opposite: ‘You have failed because you have not conquered this thing.’ ” And, she says, “I was not healthy at 211 lbs. A lot of people tell me they can be overweight and healthy. I was not. I was pre-diabetic, and my cholesterol numbers were high.”
Winfrey says she’s only experienced minimal side effects while using GLP-1’s, adding that drinking enough water and taking magnesium have helped her adjust. She also added that one unexpected side effect of the medication has been her newfound indifference to alcohol.
“I was a big fan of tequila. I literally had 17 shots one night,” she says. “I haven’t had a drink in years. The fact that I no longer even have a desire for it is pretty amazing.”
She also says her relationships have improved, and shared that the changes have been so impactful for her that she’s sought to help others as well, paying out of pocket for GLP-1 medication for a number of acquaintances who couldn’t afford them.
“If you have obesity in your gene pool, I want people to know it’s not your fault,” Winfrey told People. “I want people to stop blaming yourself for genes and an environment you can’t control. I want people to have the information, whatever you choose to do with it, whether you get the medications, or whether you want to keep dieting.”
While Winfrey continues to eat healthy and works out six days a week (two hours of hiking, cardio or resistance training) she believes her use of GLP-1s will be “a lifetime thing.”
A month shy of 72, Oprah says she feels stronger, freer and more at peace than she has in years.
Winfrey shares more about her journey in a new book with obesity expert Dr. Ania M. Jastreboff, Enough: Your Health, Your Weight and What It’s Like to Be Free, out Jan. 13.