Oprah Says She Felt ‘Too Fat’ To Attend Don Johnson’s Holiday Party In 1980’s

Oprah Says She Felt ‘Too Fat’ To Attend Don Johnson’s Holiday Party In 1980’s

Oprah Winfrey recently revealed she felt “too fat” to attend a star-studded Christmas party hosted by Don Johnson in the 1980s.

Reflecting on her struggles with weight on the inaugural episode of The Jamie Kern Lima Podcast, the 70-year-old talk show legend shared her journey.

Oprah (The Jamie Kern Lima Podcast)

After famously bringing out a wagon full of fat on a November 1988 episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show to illustrate her weight loss, Oprah recounted that she began gaining weight almost immediately:

“I didn’t have a morsel of food for five solid months in losing that weight on [the all-liquid diet] Optifast … Three days later, I was 5 lbs. heavier, and a week later I was 10 lbs. heavier.”

Oprah (The Oprah Winfrey Show, 1988)

This rapid weight gain led to a particularly painful memory, Oprah remarked:

“The week before Christmas, I remember Don Johnson — the Don Johnson, of Miami Vice — was having a party and had invited me and some members of my show to come, and I wouldn’t go because I thought I was too fat to go.”

She continued,

“I’d gone from 145 [lbs.] on the day of the show, I think I was 157 [lbs.] in the course of, like, a week and a half or two. And the shame started again.”

Oprah also shared how turning 70 has shifted her perspective, stating that she’s not carrying the shame about her weight into the next decade:

“I just recently turned 70 and I’m not carrying it into the next decade. I’m done with it. I was judgmental because I have been so judged. I actually don’t know anybody who’s been more publicly judged about their weight than myself and I have carried and borne the shame of other people.”

These stories follow other headlines from the last year of Oprah talking about her weight and diet culture.

The television icon famously stepped down from the WeightWatchers board soon after revealing that she used medications, stating they were “like a gift.”

On taking medications, she said,

“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. I’m absolutely done with the shaming from other people and particularly myself.”

Additionally, Oprah expressed regret over promoting toxic diet culture during a recent WeightWatchers conference:

“I want to acknowledge that I have been a steadfast participant in this diet culture. Through my platforms, through the magazine, through the talk show for 25 years and online. I’ve been a major contributor to it.”

Oprah (WeightWatchers)

What do you think of Oprah’s transparency regarding her weight journey? Share your thoughts in the comments below!