Oprah Winfrey, the media mogul and WeightWatchers board member, revealed in December 2023 that she uses Ozempic weight loss medication as part of her holistic approach to maintaining a healthy weight. Last week Oprah resigned from the WeightWatchers board.
Winfrey had previously praised Ozempic, but emphasizing its benefits for controlling diabetes, a disease which she has battled for decades, saying that the medication has helped her manage her blood sugar levels and improve her health. “I am proud to partner with Ozempic and share my story with millions of people who are living with diabetes,” Winfrey said in a statement. “Ozempic is not just a pill, it’s a lifestyle change that can make a difference in your life.”
Now Oprah, 70, will tackle the controversial topic of prescription weight-loss injectables like Ozempic, Mounjaro and Wegovy in an upcoming ABC primetime special.
“An Oprah Special: Shame, Blame and the Weight Loss Revolution” will air on March 18, featuring Oprah, medical experts and patients discussing “the radical impact” of prescription weight-loss drugs in front of a live studio audience.
After initially trying to keep her use of a weight loss medication from the public, Oprah embraced its benefits and publicly admitted it in an interview with People magazine in December 2023, after she had lost 25 pounds.
“It is a very personal topic for me and for the hundreds of millions of people impacted around the globe who have for years struggled with weight and obesity,” she has said. She is also an executive producer on the project.
“This special will bring together medical experts, leaders in the space and people in the day-to-day struggle to talk about health equity and obesity with the intention to ultimately release the shame, judgment and stigma surrounding weight,” she concluded.
Indeed, Oprah’s enthusiasm for the weight loss miracle cure is impressive. “I now use it as I feel I need it, as a tool to manage not yo-yoing,” she revealed.
“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 added, “I’m absolutely done with the shaming from other people and particularly myself.”
However, just months prior to this public admission she had criticized those who “take the easy way out” by resorting to such medications instead of relying on their will power.
Winfrey’s resignation from the WeightWatchers board has caused the stocks to plunge, although as a result of the advent of medications, the company was already in deep financial trouble.
But not everyone is enthusiastic as Oprah about Ozempic, Wegovy and similar drugs. There are many concerns about them, ranging from a lack of understanding of their long-term effects to the neural pathways, to those about the loss of appetite, or the drive for work or sex that they may cause. Doctors have raised concerns about the major loss of muscle mass people on these drugs can experience, especially if they’re not getting enough protein or exercise.
Oprah is a powerful media figure, and it is almost certain that the documentary that she will air will affect the market value of the injectable weight loss medications, especially Ozempic, which is the one that she has admitted to taking.
