After her recent red carpet appearance, everyone is now wondering, 'Is Oprah Winfrey's weight loss down to Ozempic?'...
Brace yourselves, readers: just when you thought you could make it to the end of 2023 without yet another weight loss related scandal souring the headlines, Ozempic discourse has reared its ugly head again. This time, Oprah Winfrey is it’s subject of choice, with fans of the 69-year-old TV host insisting she’s on the medication after seeing her grace the red carpet of The Colour Purple last night.
In a tight-fitting, floor-length gown, Oprah suitably wore purple to the premiere of the film, which follows two young black girls born into poverty and segregation in America. It’s a 2023 take on the 1985 classic Oprah starred in herself, now producing the new version alongside the likes of Steven Spielberg.
Of course, her previous acting credence and now producing credit are not the hot topic of discussion right now – no, it’s Oprah’s weight loss. In fact, ‘Oprah Winfrey weight loss’ is a breakout search term on Google Trends today. How did Oprah Winfrey, who has been open about her intention but struggle to lose weight over the course of her career, do it? Head over to her Instagram comments and you’ll see many accusations are already being thrown around – namely, that Oprah used Ozempic to lose weight.
Is Oprah Winfrey's weight loss down to Ozempic?
To be clear, she has always denied using Ozempic. In September, during a panel discussion called Oprah Daily’s ‘The Life You Want Class: The State of Weight’ alongside obesity experts and the CEO of WeightWatchers, Sima Sistani, Oprah called it the ‘easy way out’.
‘Shouldn’t we all just be more accepting of whatever body you choose to be in? That should be your choice,’ Winfrey said to her fellow panellists. ‘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.’
In fact, Winfrey said that seeing the FDA-approved prescription medication become so popular for weight loss (it’s use is primarily for Type 2 diabetes) was demoralizing for her. ‘You all know I’ve been on this journey for most of my life,’ she continued. ‘I don’t know if there is another public person whose weight struggle has been exploited as much as mine over the years.’
Opening up about the public shaming around her weight, Winfrey went on to explain that she took up regular exercise after having knee surgery. ‘As I was rehabilitating, I started hiking. Every day, I tried to hike more and do more,’ she said. ‘My appreciation for every organ and every limb has expanded exponentially.’
Knowing how relentlessly Winfrey has been shamed for her weight then, and the ongoing struggle she’s had with her physical health, it’s even more disheartening to see how many people are accusing her of taking Ozempic. On social media, pictures of Oprah Winfrey’s weight loss are being used to illustrate the power of the weight loss drug – a dangerous precedent that Oprah herself would likely be pained to see, given her insistence on losing weight without medication.
Of course, it’s understandable that people would assume Oprah’s weight loss was part of the Hollywood trend had they not read her denial, but is it still not irresponsible to hold her up as a beacon of Ozempic-taking as though we should all be chomping to get our hands on the medication ourselves? In any discussion about a celebrities weight, being conscious of who is reading it and how they might interpret such comments in an unhealthy way is paramount.
So, let’s let Oprah be shall we, she’s denied ever taking Ozempic and it should’ve been left at that.