Yahoo Lifestyle Oprah Winfrey Admits Her Opinion of ‘Thin People’ Changed After Using Drugs Like Ozempic
Oprah Winfrey is opening up about how using weight-loss drugs (like Ozempic, Wegovy and Mounjaro) has impacted the way she views others as well as herself.
For a recent episode of The Oprah Podcast, Oprah chatted with endocrinologist and associate professor at the Yale School of Medicine Dr. Ania Jastreboff and clinical psychologist Dr. Rachel Goldman to discuss "what happens to a person’s mental health, body image and how the world treats them after losing a significant amount of weight." During their conversation, many of the guests discussed how people treat them differently after they've dropped a significant amount of weight in a short period using Ozempic or drugs like it.
Oprah, who turns 71 next week, agreed and recalled being exploited by the tabloids "every week" or "anytime any comedian wanted to make fun or make a joke about [her weight], they would make a joke about it."
"And I accepted it because I thought I deserved it," she said, noting that now, she realizes her weight never made her "less than" anyone else.
Elsewhere, Oprah suggested that she may be guilty of something similar, explaining that after she began the regiment, her opinion of "thin people" changed. "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," she confessed. "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," she added, explaining how the medication has reduced what's been dubbed "food noise" or intrusive thoughts related to hunger. "They're eating when they're hungry and they're stopping when they're full," something she said "doesn't work" when struggling with chronic, complex diseases like obesity.
Oprah's perception of other people's habits isn't the only thing to have changed with the introduction of the weekly injectable. In fact, her entire outlook on using GLP-1 has shifted since the diabetes management medication was first revealed to have such a successful off-market use for weight reduction.
During a September 2023 panel appearance, the media mogul described drugs like Ozempic, Wegovy and Mounjaro as an "easy way out." But it was only a few months later that she would walk back her initial statement.
"The fact that there's a medically approved prescription for managing weight and staying healthier, in my lifetime, feels like relief, like redemption, like a gift, and not something to hide behind and once again be ridiculed for," she told People in December of that same year. "I'm absolutely done with the shaming from other people and particularly myself."
Next: Kathy Bates Fans Express Concern After Her Latest Worrying Appearance Amid Ozempic Use
