(NewsNation) — Oprah Winfrey said she’s taking prescription medication to manage her weight, becoming one of the highest-profile figures to endorse a tool that has skyrocketed in popularity over the past year.
“I’m absolutely done with the shaming from other people and particularly myself,” she said in an interview with People magazine published Wednesday.
Winfrey said in September during a panel discussion that she’d recently had some thoughts about taking drugs like Ozempic or Wegovy, saying she felt that she had to manage weight on her own because taking drugs felt like an “easy way out.”
The 69-year-old media mogul told People that after years of public scrutiny over her weight, she finally feels like she has a better handle on maintaining a healthy weight and rid herself of shame. She began hiking after a knee surgery in 2021 and feels “more fit and more alive than I’d felt in years.”
“I eat my last meal at 4 o’clock, drink a gallon of water a day, and use the WeightWatchers principles of counting points. I had an awareness of (weight-loss) medications, but felt I had to prove I had the willpower to do it. I now no longer feel that way,” she told People.
Winfrey did not disclose which specific medication she’s taking, but Ozempic, Wegovy and Mounjaro have exploded in popularity. Patients have successfully used the diabetes drugs for weight loss, and the high demand has led to shortages.
It’s also led to an uptick in reports of complications and health problems.
Dr. Dave Montgomery said Wednesday on “CUOMO” that “stewardship” is to blame.
“We’ve got bad actors who are not being stewards of the medication and the compounded formulation of this,” Montgomery said, referencing knockoff versions of the drugs. “The problem becomes when the compounders become bad actors … and health care providers prescribe the medicine without good follow-up, without a dose regulation for each and every individual.”