Oprah Winfrey slams ‘In Living Color’ for ‘most hurtful’ abuse of her weight

Oprah Winfrey never saw the humor in her weight struggles when she was ridiculed for public consumption.

Years of yo-yo weight-reduction plan and testing latest trends promising to burn fat got here to an end this yr when the media mogul debuted his slim figure while promoting the reboot of The Color Purple ahead of awards season.

She later revealed that a weight-loss drug helped with her shocking transformation, although she preferred not to disclose whether she decided to take the widely popular drug Ozempic. In a brand new interview on “The Jamie Kern Lima Show” podcastThe 70-year-old wondered how the world felt witnessing her weight fluctuate.

She specifically referenced an infamous 1988 episode of her eponymous talk show during which she lugged onto the stage a physical display of the over 60 kilos of fat she had lost. She revealed to podcast host Lima that the just about 70-pound weight loss was the result of going five solid months without eating a single piece of food, losing that weight using Optifast.

Oprah said, “Three days later I was five pounds heavier, and a week later I was 10 pounds heavier, and that show was in November.” In December, she gained weight and felt ashamed that she was unable to keep up her slim figure. She selected to not attend the party hosted by Miami Vice’s Don Johnson.

“I wouldn’t go because I thought I was too fat to go. I went from 145 the day of the show to… I think I was 157 within a week and a half or two and the shame started again.”

She became emotional as she shared the shame she felt after being placed at the underside of fashion critic Mr. Blackwell’s best- and worst-dressed list. She said it was 1987 and he or she was on the quilt of a magazine with the headline “Dummy, Frumpy and Down Right Lumpy” and was wearing a black dress that she had custom-made.

“I took all this shame upon myself,” Oprah explained. “Making fun of my weight was the national sport for 25 years. Comedians did it. The best comedians did it. Top comedians have done it. People with their programs did it. It was just assumed that you could laugh at me.”

She said the humiliation deepened when the comedy sketch “In Living Color” began making fun of her changing figure. It was “one of the most painful things,” she said. The series was created by Keenen Ivory Wayans and starred his siblings Damon, Kim, Shawn and Marlon, in addition to a number of other artists who later became household names.

Kim frequently portrayed the journalist as a girl who couldn’t control her eating habits and the way in which she considered her feet. One skit specifically left Winfrey feeling anguished.

“There was a skit in the movie ‘In Living Color’ where a woman was doing something and she just kept eating and gaining weight, getting fatter and fatter, and the comic moment was when she finally just exploded,” recalls the billionaire tycoon .

The piece appeared in Season 1, Episode 4. Kim was played by Winfrey, who devoured various foods, consistently blowing air and exclaiming, “Food is my lover! Food is my friend!” until it broke. “The whole audience erupted (laughter) and that woman was me.”

“@Oprah is about to start slapping all the Wayan brothers and sisters in living color” – User X he saidreferring to at least one of the episodes.

As hurtful as those jokes can have been, they didn’t stop Oprah from welcoming her comedy family to “The Oprah Winfrey Show” in 2004. The Oscar-nominated actress reunited with her five siblings in 2013 for OWN’s “Oprah Prime” about their enduring impact on entertainment.

The producer reported in 2021 that she began losing weight after undergoing knee alternative surgery on each legs. She often posted videos of her miles-long hikes within the Hawaiian hills with her longtime friend Gayle King.

While many were pleased that Oprah was sharing her more vulnerable side after many years of criticism, one YouTube comment read, “Some of those same emotions came over me when I read Worthy. I cried as Oprah shared everything she wore in the public eye. And I cried for all the shame I carry with me as I turn 70 in August. Thank you both.”

Another wrote: “Doctors should talk in regards to the Standard American Diet! Full of sugar and salt, that are very addictive! And it’s like a drug that makes someone need to eat on a regular basis. In addition to many individuals affected by these chronic diseases. Yes, Oprah, I’m glad you are stopping worrying!

Since Winfrey got here clean about using the weight-loss drug, she has faced backlash and, most recently, ridicule after being treated for gastrointestinal issues. Many people speculated that her condition was a side effect of an undisclosed weight loss drug.