Oprah Reflects On Self-Doubt She Felt After Joan Rivers Called Her Fat On National Television

Oprah Winfrey, Joan Rivers

Oprah Reflects On Self-Doubt She Felt After Joan Rivers Called Her Fat On National Television

Media mogul Oprah Winfrey didn’t reach success without some challenging moments in her career.

The billionaire recently opened up about the pivotal time when Joan Rivers commented about her weight on national TV, sharing how the interaction taught her a lesson about letting things go.

Oprah Winfrey

Oprah Winfrey reflected on her 1985 The Tonight Show appearance, where then-host Joan Rivers, who passed away in 2014, unexpectedly confronted her about her weight. After explaining she was on the show to discuss the success of her hit series A.M. Chicago, Oprah Winfrey stated about the interview:

“I have my first appearance on The Tonight Show…and Joan Rivers turns to me and she says ‘Tell me why are you so fat?.’ On, national, television. And I don’t know what do with that.”

“She says [this] 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.”

Oprah Winfrey, Joan Rivers

To give further context, Winfrey explained that this was around the same time she believed she’d been passed up for a role in The Color Purple because of her excess weight. The OWN network founder has been very open and honest about her weight insecurities in recent years, and claimed that ongoing health struggles are the reason she turned to using weight loss drugs, despite previously looking down on them.

Following her interview with Rivers, Oprah said she enrolled herself in a “health retreat,” which was apparently called “fat farms” at the time, to shed some pounds. However, the entertainer shared she received a life-changing phone call from The Color Purple producer Steven Spielberg, who told her:

“I hear you’re at a fat farm…You lose a pound. You could lose this part.”

Winfrey, who ultimately landed the starring role as Sophia and earned her first Academy Award nomination from the part, went on to state that the moment taught her a valuable lesson about being able to “let go” of things, stating:

“The instant I let it go was the greatest life lesson I have ever received, because I physically felt the release…The second I did that it changed…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.”

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