'Shamed' Oprah Winfrey 'Blamed Herself' for Packing on the Pounds Before Using Weight Loss Medications to Shed 50Lbs — And Now She Can't Quit the Jabs
Oprah Winfrey lost 50 pounds with the help of GLP-1 miracle drugs.
Jan. 16 2026, Published 11:17 a.m. ET
Oprah Winfrey has opened up about the "shame" she felt being overweight, RadarOnline.com can report.
The talk show queen, who does not shy away from talking about her love of GLP-1 medications like Ozempic and Wegovy, dropped about 50 pounds after going on the drug two and a half years ago, but then quickly gained back 20 pounds when she stopped taking it.
Oprah Silenced the 'Food Noise'
The talk show queen dropped by 'The View' to promote her new book and discuss her use of the medication.
Winfrey, 71, began taking a GLP-1 medication in 2023 and saw immediate results. However, she gave it up after abiut six months to see if she could continue to lose the weight on her own.
She couldn't.
The 71-year-old chronicled the new miracle drug and her own weight loss in her new book, Enough: Your Health, Your Weight, and What It's Like To Be Free.
While promoting her book on The View, Winfrey shared the common misconception that she was personally responsible for the "food noise" in her head.
"What I felt all those years, the shame and the blame that I gave to myself, I felt it was because it was my fault. I felt it was my fault I was overweight," Winfrey said. "So, when comedians made fun of me, I felt like, well, it's okay for me to be the butt of their jokes because I should be losing the weight. I should be able to keep the weight off.
"I felt embarrassed every time I put the weight back on. I accepted it because I felt that they were right."
Eating as an Addiction
Oprah used to believe it was her 'fault' she was overweight.
That's where the medication helped her, she confessed. During a new episode of her "The Oprah Podcast," the legend spoke with endocrinologist and co-author of her book, Dr. Ania Jastreboff, who reassured her that obesity is now considered a clinical disease and an addiction.
"None of this is in our control," Jastreboff said. "Somehow, in society, we think that how much we weigh is in our control. And it’s not. Our brain is in control."
Winfrey likened it to the brain of an addict: "All these years, I thought that thin people … just had more willpower, 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 … oh, they're not even thinking about it. They’re only eating when they're hungry, and they're stopping when they're full."
Oprah's 'Lifelong' GLP-1 Plan
She called the drugs a 'lifetime' assist.
Winfrey first confessed to taking GLP-1 medication in December 2023, after the chatter surrounding her weight loss became too loud to ignore.
"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 raved at the time. "I’m absolutely done with the shaming from other people and particularly myself."
In June 2023, Oprah revealed her heaviest weight was 237 pounds, and she struggled with her self-control her entire life. She told the ladies of The View she's ok with taking weight-loss medications in perpetuity.
"It's going to be a lifetime thing," she shared. "I'm on high blood pressure medication, and if I go off the high blood pressure medication, my blood pressure is going to go up. The same thing is true now, I realize, with these medications. I've proven to myself I need it."
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Last Call for Alcohol As Well
The medication has also curbed her drinking appetite as well.
And the entrepreneur said there was another unexpected benefit from taking the weight-loss medication – it also killed her desire for booze.
"I was a big fan of tequila. I literally had 17 shots one night," the former daytime talk show queen said about her favorite liquor and how much she was able to put away before undergoing her significant lifestyle change.
"I could outdrink everyone at the table," Winfrey said in a new interview, before revealing: "I haven't had a drink in years. The fact that I no longer even have a desire for it is pretty amazing.
"I hardly recognize the woman I've become. But she's a happy woman."
