Oprah Winfrey recently opened up about some of the difficult moments of her weight-loss journey.
Appearing on an episode of The View, Winfrey is promoting her new book, Enough: Your Health, Your Weight, and What It’s Like To Be Free. Co-written with Dr. Ania Jastreboff, she recalled being body-shamed by Joan Rivers on The Tonight Show in 1985.
“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. And I felt it was my fault I was overweight,” Oprah 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. And I felt embarrassed every time I put the weight back on. I accepted it because I felt that they were right.”
Winfrey then recalled “that horrible moment I had on The Tonight Show. I was so excited to be there for the first time. And I bought these new shoes, and I spent my entire paycheck.”
“Joan Rivers said to me, ‘Shame, shame, shame on you for not losing the weight. How did you gain the weight?” Winfrey recalled. “I remember leaving feeling embarrassed, but she said I could come back if I lost 15 pounds. I wasn’t even upset with her. Because I thought, I’ve got to get on it, I’ve got to lose those 15 pounds.“
Winfrey said she, “was ridiculed in the tabloids every single week for, like, 20 years.” As a result,she “grew to accept that as a way of being.”
Winfrey then spoke about playing Sofia in The Color Purple alongside Whoopi Goldberg. She said she felt confident portraying the role because “she owned it, she owned the weight, she carried the weight.”
”The only time I ever felt comfortable was when I wasn’t myself, playing somebody else,” Winfrey said.