Oprah Winfrey never took “the easy way out” by taking the trendy but controversial drug Ozempic, she revealed at a panel on health this week.
“Even when I first started hearing about the weight-loss drugs, at the same time I was going through knee surgery, and I felt, I’ve got to do this on my own. Because if I take the drug, that’s the easy way out,” she said at a panel called “Life You Want Class: The State of Weight” on Wednesday.
Winfrey had two knee replacement surgeries and, instead of popping Ozempic, relied on hiking and WeightWatchers to take off the extra pounds while she recovered.
“Shouldn’t we all just be more accepting of whatever body you choose to be in? That should be your choice,” Winfrey said during the panel.
“This is a world that has shamed people for being overweight forever, and all of us who have lived it know that people treat you differently, they just do,” she said. Even her fame does not make her immune to criticism, she said. “I get treated differently if I’m 200-plus pounds versus under 200 pounds.”
In other Oprah news, a clip from 1986 featuring Cindy Crawford has resurfaced, thanks to “The Super Models” docuseries, which premiered on Apple TV+ on Wednesday.
The model, who was 20 years old at the time, now says she felt uncomfortable when Winfrey asked her to stand up and show off her body to the audience.
Looking back on the clip now, Crawford said: “I was like the chattel or a child, to be seen and not heard… In the moment I didn’t recognize it and watching it back I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, that was so not okay really.’ Especially from Oprah!’”
The Daily Mail reported that the clip had been taken down from YouTube, but a spokesperson for Winfrey, who had no comment on the situation, confirmed that it is still online.
