Oprah Winfrey has faced backlash on social media after she made a bold claim about “skinny people” in light of her experience using a weight-loss drug to shed excess weight.
“One of the things I realized the first time I took GLP-1 is that all these years I thought that thin people — these people — had more willpower,” the former talk show host said during a conversation with Dr. Hans. Anya Jastrebov on “The Oprah Podcast” on Tuesday.
“They ate better foods. They were able to hold on to them longer. They never had a potato chip.”
“Then I realized the first time I took GLP-1, they weren't even thinking about it,” Winfrey, 70, continued. “They only eat when they feel hungry and stop when they are full.”
After sharing the short clip of the conversation on Instagram, many people expressed their disapproval in the comments.
“Skinny people also think about food all the time, but they work hard to manage their physical and mental needs in a healthy way, not by taking medications,” one user wrote.
Another echoed: “I think about it constantly but I don't eat it.”
A third netizen described the media mogul's appearance as “just a lie.”
“There are many skinny people, or others who are at a healthy weight but not necessarily 'thin' and who actually rely on willpower and strategic tactics to keep their weight down. They create a non-obesogenic environment, unlike most of our society,” the user wrote. Adding that they “forbid” themselves from eating until they “walk for an hour.”
“Just because you're on a new bandwagon doesn't mean you should speak in a way that suggests your perception of reality is final. It's not,” the person concluded.
Winfrey confirmed she was taking the weight-loss drug in December 2023 after years of yo-yo dieting.
“The fact that there is a medically approved prescription to control weight and maintain better health, in my life, feels like a relief, like redemption, like a gift, not something to hide behind and be ridiculed again,” she said at the time. .
Following the announcement, she resigned from her position on the WeightWatchers board of directors.
