Oprah Winfrey’s 2004 interview with Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen has resurfaced this week, sparking backlash once again. Fans were shocked by a moment when the talk show host asked the then-17-year-old twins, “What size are you?”—a question that many found “inappropriate,” especially given that Mary-Kate was rumored to be struggling with an eating disorder at the time.
Later that same year, Mary-Kate, now 38, entered rehab for treatment, eventually revealing her battle with anorexia. The controversy reemerged just as Winfrey, 71, made headlines for discussing her use of weight loss medication, after previously criticizing it as the “easy way out,” during a podcast conversation with Dr. Ania Jastreboff in January.
Oprah Winfrey Sparks Outrage As ‘Inappropriate’ Interview With The Olsen Twins Resurfaces: ‘Shame On Oprah’
In the resurfaced clip featuring the former Full House stars, 50-year-old Winfrey appeared unfazed as she directly brought up the eating disorder rumors. “I know a new rumor [that has] recently surfaced has really upset you, right?” she asked. The girls took a moment and hesitated before Winfrey added: “You know, the one about eating.”
Ashley then replied: “Yeah, you know people are going to write what they’re going to write. We try not to read the good or the bad because it just comes with the territory.” She continued, before being interrupted by Winfrey: “Either you’re too fat, too skinny and people are just gonna write what they…”
@olsenobsessed I can hardly stomach this interview. THIS is only one example of the media doing these girls SO wrong. So happy that they’re living their lives the way they WANT now. #olsentwins #oprah #interview #marykateolsen #ashleyolsen #marykateandashley #tiktok #mentalhealth #hollywood #nostalgia #PostitAffirmations ♬ original sound – OlsenObsessed
“What size are you, by the way?” Winfrey asked, as the two were surprised. Ashley then asked: “Size?” Mary-Kate mentioned that she and her sister had always been naturally “petite,” to which Winfrey—who has spoken candidly about her own weight challenges throughout her career—reacted with what appeared to be a sarcastic, “Oh, that’s so interesting!”
This caused the audience to burst into laughter. The girls tried to join in with smiles as Winfrey commented: “That is so interesting, I’m obsessed with size and you’re like, ‘I really don’t know!'” Mary-Kate attempted to change the subject and replied: “If we were obsessed with our size it’d be, I don’t know, a different story.”
Women Are Swapping Their Boring Water For This Ice Pop Electrolyte Mix!
Later that year, Mary-Kate entered a treatment center for what was later confirmed to be anorexia, making Winfrey's remarks even more unsettling to fans looking back on the interview today. One user commented beneath the above YouTube clip from the interview that Winfrey was "totally inappropriate" as another slammed her comments as "disgusting."
On TikTok, the resurfaced interview also made waves, as one user wrote: "shame on Oprah" and one other noted: "Why pick on kids??? I’ll never understand that!" An additional viewer shared: "Oprah has no business asking- please." Others said Winfrey "crossed the line" with her questions about the sisters' "size."
Last month, Winfrey discussed how treatments such as Ozempic and Wegovy helped her lose a significant amount of weight. In 2023, the Color Purple alum revealed she had been using a previously unmentioned medication, commonly prescribed for type 2 diabetes but also effective for weight loss, to shed almost 50 pounds after years of fluctuating diets.
This revelation surprised her fans, as the businesswoman had earlier dismissed the use of such medications for weight loss and criticized it as taking the “easy way out.” Approaching her target weight of 160 pounds, Winfrey recently opened up about her journey using a GLP-1 and the insights it gave her regarding “thin people.” The media mogul shared these reflections during a conversation on the function and safety of such medications with Dr. Ania Jastreboff on her podcast in January.
Winfrey admitted: "One of the things that I realized the very first time I took a GLP-1 was that all these years I thought that thin people had more willpower." She added: "They ate better foods. They were able to stick to it longer. They never had a potato chip." The producer began taking a GLP-1 and soon understood that what she had once considered "willpower" was, in fact, the lack of persistent thoughts about food, commonly known as "food noise."
The author added: "And then I realized the very first time I took the GLP-1 that, they're not even thinking about it. They're eating when they're hungry and they're stopping when they're full." Winfrey clarified that this method of eating is ineffective for those dealing with the disease of obesity.
While talking with Dr. Jastreboff, Winfrey also discussed the public shaming she faced regarding her weight throughout her many years in the spotlight. She recalled: "'Every week [I was] exploited by the tabloids, anytime any comedian wanted to make fun or make a joke about it, they would make a joke about it. And I accepted it because I thought I deserved it." However, Winfrey now understands that her size never made her inferior to others and that she did not deserve to be treated that way.
Although Winfrey initially denied using weight-loss medications, she announced in December 2023 that she had used a GLP-1 to lose 40 pounds, stating she was "done with the shaming." Alongside the medication, she also included activities like hiking in her routine to help achieve her weight loss goals.
