Oprah Winfrey reveals she uses weight-loss medication

Oprah Winfrey's weight-loss journey includes medication, which she says is a "gift."

The media mogul shared how the medication has assisted in her recent weight loss in a People cover story, published Wednesday.

Over her long career, especially during the 25 years on her talk show, Winfrey, 69, has navigated weight loss and gain in the public eye. She told the outlet she was "blamed and shamed" constantly during that time.

"It was public sport to make fun of me for 25 years," she said. "I have been blamed and shamed, and I blamed and shamed myself."

Winfrey said one of the more challenging moments came when her image was plastered on a magazine cover with the words "dumpy, frumpy and downright lumpy." And she took the criticism as a personal failure.

"I didn’t feel angry," she said. "I felt sad. I felt hurt. I swallowed the shame. I accepted that it was my fault."

Weight loss "occupied five decades of space in my brain, yo-yo-ing and feeling like why can’t I just conquer this thing, believing willpower was my failing," she told the magazine.

The businesswoman, who serves as co-producer of the musical film adaption "The Color Purple" (in theaters Christmas Day), now says she has put the shame to bed and is now optimistic about her weight journey — which includes exercise, lifestyle tweaks and an unspecified weight-loss medication.

The movie producer discussed on the red carpet at the world premiere of "The Color Purple" last week what she had to do to achieve her weight transformation.

"It's not one thing, it's everything," Winfrey told Entertainment Tonight at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles. "I intend to keep it that way."

She later admitted to working out ahead of hitting the purple carpet: "I was on that treadmill today."

Oprah Winfrey opens up about weight loss transformation at 'The Color Purple' premiere

After a 2021 knee surgery, she said she started hiking and setting distance goals. She eats her last meal at 4 p.m., drinks a gallon of water a day and uses principles like counting points from WW (formerly WeightWatchers, of which she has long used and currently serves as an investor and board member).

But Winfrey didn't add weight-loss medication to the regimen until this year.

The former "The Oprah Winfrey Show" host discussed weight-loss medications like Ozempic, Wegovy and Mounjaro in her "The State of Weight" panel conversation, part of Oprah Daily's "The Life You Want" series. Taped in July and released in September, she had an "aha moment," much like those in the audience.

"I was actually recommending it to people long before I was on it myself," she told People. "I had an awareness of medications, but felt I had to prove I had the willpower to do it. I now no longer feel that way."

She added: "Obesity is a disease. It's not about willpower — it's about the brain."

After looking into the science behind the medication, she "released my own shame about it" and consulted her doctor, who prescribed the medication.

"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," she said. "I'm absolutely done with the shaming from other people and particularly myself."

Oprah's Favorite Things 2023 first look, from candles and cookies to luggage and luxury

She said she uses the medication as needed, calling it a "tool" rather than a "magic bullet."

Winfrey emphasized that it's just one part of a holistic routine. "I know everybody thought I was on it, but I worked so damn hard," she said. "I know that if I'm not also working out and vigilant about all the other things, it doesn't work for me."

She explained that in one instance, when she took the medication before Thanksgiving, she gained half a pound, versus the eight pounds she gained the previous year. "It quiets the food noise," she said.

She's now seven pounds from her goal weight of 160 lbs., and last year she accomplished her goal of walking up a mountain near her home in Hawaii.

"I used to look out the window every morning and say, 'God, one day I want to walk up that mountain.' Last year over Christmas I did it," she said. "It felt like redemption."

Contributing: Pamela Avila

You've heard of Ozempic, but do you understand how it works?

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Oprah reveals she uses weight-loss drug