Oprah Winfrey Reveals Getting Body Shamed by Joan Rivers: “Oh, I Just Love Potato Chips”

Oprah Winfrey recently opened up about being body-shamed in 1985, in a conversation with Jamie Kern Lima. Winfrey revealed the hurtful comments made by the late Joan Rivers.

According to the New York Post, Winfrey met Rivers on The Tonight Show and what followed was a discussion about her body weight on national television. 

The 70-year-old media personality recounted to Lima, "Joan Rivers turns to me and she says, ‘Tell me why are you so fat?’...on national television. And, I don’t know what to do with that. I was just like, ’Oh, I just love potato chips, Joan."

In response, Winfrey recalled that Rivers slammed, "Shame on you." She admitted, "I agreed with Joan" as she asserted, "I’ll let you come back if you lose 15 lbs [7kg]. You need to lose 15lbs." In hindsight, Winfrey shared that she regrets not standing up for herself at the time.

"She says to me on national television. And I accept it. I accept that I should be shamed, because how dare me, be sitting up here on The Tonight Show," Winfrey said. "And of course, I didn’t lose the 15lbs. I went and ate my way to another 10lbs," The Color Purple star added.

Additionally, she divulged how she planned on going on 'health retreats' to shed some pounds which were known as 'fat farms' back then.  

In the segment, she also discussed how she thought she almost lost her role in Steven Spielberg's The Color Purple but was later warned over a phone call from the renowned director about losing weight. "I hear you’re at a fat farm. You lose a pound. You could lose this part," he allegedly told her, as reported by the Independent. "The instant I let it go was the greatest life lesson I have ever received, because I physically felt the release," Winfrey shared. "That became my grounding teaching for the rest of my life and career. Do everything you can, work as hard as you can, and then let it go," she added. 

The role won her several accolades and the prestigious Academy Award nomination. The Oscar-nominated actor also admitted to leaving WeightWatchers. In a Jimmy Kimmel Live interview, in March, Winfrey said, "I decided [to leave the WeightWatchers board] because this special [Shame, Blame, and the Weight Loss Revolution] was really important to me, and I wanted to be able to talk about whatever I want to talk about...And WeightWatchers is now in the business of being a weight-health company that also administers drug medications for weight. I did not want to have the appearance of any conflict of interest."

Interestingly, Winfrey has used weight-loss medication. She stated, “I realized I’d been blaming myself all these years for being overweight, and I have a predisposition that no amount of willpower is going to control. Obesity is a disease. It’s not about willpower – it’s about the brain...The fact that there’s a medically approved prescription for managing weight and staying healthier, in my lifetime, feels like relief, like redemption, like a gift, and not something to hide behind and once again be ridiculed for,” Winfrey said.