Oprah Winfrey says she accepted weight jokes because she felt shame

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Oprah Winfrey reveals she felt she deserved ridicule over weight, accepted being butt of the joke

Oprah Winfrey told "The View" on Wednesday that she felt she deserved the ridicule and mockery she received over her weight because she felt those who made fun of her were right. 

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Oprah Winfrey told the co-hosts of "The View" on Wednesday that she accepted being the subject of comedians' jokes about her weight over the years because she believed she deserved it.

Winfrey joined the co-hosts alongside Dr. Ania M. Jastreboff. Jastreboff and Winfrey co-wrote a book called "Enough," which is about Winfrey's weight-loss journey.

"The reason why I’ve done this book with Dr. Ania is because what I felt all those years — the shame and the blame I gave to myself — I felt it because it was my fault. I felt it was my fault I was overweight, and so when comedians made fun of me, I felt like, ‘Well, it’s OK for me to be the butt of their jokes because I should be losing the weight,’" Winfrey said.

She told "The View" that she believed she should have been able to keep the weight off and felt embarrassed each time she gained it back.

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Oprah Winfrey greets the audience during the opening of "Oprah in Conversation" at ICC Sydney Theatre on Dec. 4, 2025, in Sydney, Australia. (Don Arnold/Getty Images)

"I accepted it because I thought they were right," Winfrey said.

"That horrible moment that I had on 'The Tonight Show,' when I was so excited to be there for the first time and I bought these new shoes and I spent my entire paycheck on the Stuart Weitzman shoes and Joan Rivers said to me, 'Shame, shame, on you for not losing the weight, how did you gain the weight? How did you gain the weight? How did you gain the weight?'"

"And I remember leaving feeling embarrassed, but that she said I could come back if I lost 15 pounds, so I wasn’t even, like, upset with her. I thought, I got to get on it. I got to lose those 15 pounds," Winfrey added.

Co-host Joy Behar told Winfrey she was not alone.

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Talk show host Oprah Winfrey during an interview with guest host Joan Rivers on "The Tonight Show," Jan. 27, 1986. (Paul Drinkwater/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images via Getty Images)

Winfrey said she grew to accept the ridicule she received in the tabloids "as a way of being."

Winfrey began taking a GLP-1 medication in 2023 but attempted to quit just six months in to see if she could lose weight without it. Regardless of her diet and exercise routines, the media mogul said she still gained back 20 pounds after stopping the drug.

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Oprah Winfrey at the American Ballet Theatre Fall Gala held at the David H. Koch Theater on Oct. 22, 2025, in New York City. (Lanna Apisukh/WWD via Getty Images)

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"It's going to be a lifetime thing," she told People magazine. "I'm on high blood pressure medication, and if I go off the high blood pressuremedication, my blood pressure is going to go up. The same thing is true now, I realize, with these medications. I’ve proven to myself [that] I need it."