Oprah Winfrey has been turning heads and making headlines with her weight loss, receiving a lot of positive reception. However, she’s also been reflecting on a time that wasn’t so positive.
The famous talk show host, as she’s been promoting her new book on obesity, has been opening up about her weight loss journey, which is much more apparent these days, but she’s been working on it for decades. As she’s been telling people about her success, she’s also reflected on the times she was teased and tormented at a heavier weight, including by famous comedian and show host Joan Rivers. During a recent CBS interview, Oprah recalled feeling “humiliated” by Joan during a late-night television appearance. Read more about what she had to say below.
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Oprah Winfrey Recalls Joan Rivers 'Shaming' Her For Not Losing Enough Weight In The 1980s
Most people who know who Joan Rivers was know that she wasn't always the nicest woman. A lot of her comedy involved poking fun at other celebrities, especially when she did red carpet fashion critiques. Sometimes, she was known to take things a little too far, and that's how Oprah felt when she was interviewed by her over forty years ago.
During a recent CBS Sunday Morning interview, the Color Purple actress recalled being interviewed by Joan on the Johnny Carson Show in 1985. Carson had been absent that night, and Rivers filled in, and at some point, things went downhill when Oprah started getting teased and "shamed" for being a heavy-set woman, and for visibly gaining weight at that time.
"You said it was fifty pounds!" said Rivers in the resurfaced interview. "You shouldn't let that happen to you, you're very pretty. You're a pretty girl, and you're single - you must lose the weight!"
Oprah Says She Was 'Humiliated' And 'Stunned' By Joan
While reflecting on the older interview this year, now that she's been maintaining a more significant weight loss and has become a co-author for an obesity book, the 71-year-old still recalls feeling mortified by the late television personality's comments and questions.
"I was stunned in that moment," she told CBS. "I'm sitting there, and we're toward the end of the interview, and Joan turns to me and says, "So, tell me, you know, how'd you gain the weight?"
Feeling a lot of pressure from Joan, Oprah remembers telling her that she was "eating a lot."
By the time the interview was finished, she remembered leaving the studio feeling "humiliated and embarrassed," but ended up being more angry with herself than with Joan.
The book club icon later revealed that she reached her heaviest weight only a few years following that interview, which led her down a long path of seeking health and happiness. Now that she's discovered a manageable diet and exercise routine, and has been able to reach her goal weight with the help of GLP-1s, she's found it.
"Whatever was happening needed to happen to get me to this point," she added. "And I rejoice at feeling liberated from the struggle because I had a real public struggle."
