Oprah Winfrey defended her use of weight loss medication on occasion, saying “obesity is a disease” and is not due to a person’s lack of willpower.
The 69-year-old billionaire TV personality has publicly discussed her weight loss struggles for decades. She most recently shared her thoughts during an interview with People that was published Wednesday.
“It was public sport to make fun of me for 25 years,” she said of the media’s fixation on her fluctuating weight over the years. “I have been blamed and shamed, and I blamed and shamed myself.”
Winfrey said that after “five decades” of obsessing over losing weight and “believing willpower” was her “failing,” she experienced a turning point after undergoing knee surgery in 2021.
“After knee surgery, I started hiking and setting new distance goals each week. I could eventually hike three to five miles every day…
