Oprah Winfrey recalled the moment she was body-shamed by the late Joan Rivers while making her first appearance on The Tonight Show in 1985.
The talk show host, 70, remembered being interviewed by Rivers and shared her reaction to being called out over her weight while appearing on The Jamie Kern Lima Show podcast.
‘I’ve been shamed on The Tonight Show by Joan Rivers. I had my first appearance on The Tonight Show,’ she shared.
‘Joan Rivers turns to me and she says, “Tell me, why are you so fat?”… on national television,’ Oprah – who has admitted to using weight loss drugs – went on.
‘And I don’t know what to do with that. I just am like, “Well, I just love potato chips, Joan.” She [goes], “No seriously! Shame on you! Shame on you!”‘
Oprah Winfrey, 70, recalled the moment she was body-shamed by the late Joan Rivers while making her first appearance on The Tonight Show in 1985
‘Joan Rivers turns to me and she says, “Tell me, why are you so fat?”… on national television,’ Oprah shared while appearing on The Jamie Kern Lima Show podcast; Seen with Joan in 1986
The media mogul then shared that Rivers told her she could return to the late-night show if she lost weight.
‘”I’ll let you come back if you lose 15 pounds. You need to lose 15 pounds.” She says to me on national television.’
‘And I accepted. I accept that I should be shamed because how dare me, be sitting up here on The Tonight Show.’
Oprah said she ‘had agreed that I was going to go away and lose 15 pounds,’ but stated that instead she ended up gaining weight.
‘Of course, I didn’t lose the 15 pounds. I went and ate my way to another 10 pounds,’ she shared.
Oprah shared that she had previously auditioned for 1985’s The Color Purple but did not hear back anything at the time and assumed she didn’t get the role because she was ‘overweight.’
She then decided to go away to a ‘health retreat’ to lose weight, explaining ‘at the time, they called them “fat farms.”‘
While there, Winfrey says she tried to accept that her weight had cost her the role, and she let go of her dream of starring in the film.
‘And I don’t know what to do with that. I just am like, “Well, I just love potato chips, Joan.” She [goes], “No seriously! Shame on you! Shame on you!”‘ Oprah recalled of Joan’s jabs
Oprah then shared that Rivers told her she could return to the late-night show if she lost weight. ‘”I’ll let you come back if you lose 15 pounds. You need to lose 15 pounds’
Oprah said she ‘had agreed that I was going to go away and lose 15 pounds,’ but stated that instead she ended up gaining weight
The media mogul shared that she had previously auditioned for 1985’s The Color Purple but did not hear back anything at the time and assumed she didn’t get the role because she was ‘overweight’
While she was at a ‘health retreat’ trying to lose weight she received a phone call from The Color Purple’s producer, Steven Spielberg, who told her, ‘You lose a pound, you could lose this part’; He is pictured in 2024
Winfrey ultimately landed the role of Sofia in The Color Purple, and later received an Oscar nomination for her performance; Pictured in a still with Akosua Busia, Whoopi Goldberg, and Rae Dawn Chong
But then she received a phone call from The Color Purple’s producer, Steven Spielberg.
‘I cried and prayed some more, and in the moment I felt the release… a woman comes running out and she says, “There’s a phone call for you.” The phone call from Steven Spielberg saying, “I hear you’re at a fat farm. You lose a pound, you could lose this part.”‘
‘The fact that it happened in the instant I’d known I’d let it go was the greatest life lesson I have ever received.’
‘That became my grounding teaching for the rest of my life and career,’ she shared. ‘Do everything you can, work as hard as you can, and then let it go.’
Winfrey ultimately landed the role of Sofia in The Color Purple, and later received an Oscar nomination for her performance.
In May Oprah apologized for her role in promoting toxic diet culture – months after finally admitting she used weight loss drugs to shed more than 40lbs.
The host opened up about her regrets around discussing dieting and body image in a three hour WeightWatchers special.
She said: ‘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. I cannot tell you how many weight-loss shows and makeovers I have done, and they have been a staple since I’ve been working in television.’
In May, Oprah apologized for her role in promoting toxic diet culture – months after finally admitting she used weight loss drugs to shed more than 40lbs (pictured March 2024)
She said ‘for 25 years, making fun of my weight was national sport’ and that since starting to take medication she had stopped ‘obsessing’ about food; Pictured in 1992
In March, Oprah revealed she starved herself for ‘nearly five months’ on a liquid diet back in 1988 – before quickly regaining the weight after proclaiming victory on television.
Speaking in An Oprah Special: Shame, Blame and the Weight Loss Revolution, the star fought back tears as she revealed how the drugs had meant she was no longer ‘constantly thinking about what the next meal is going to be’.
She said ‘for 25 years, making fun of my weight was national sport’ and that over the years she had ‘lost some weight’ and ‘put back on some weight’ but since starting to take medication she had stopped ‘obsessing’ about food.
Along with messages of support online, some viewers slammed Oprah, accusing her of ‘promoting big pharma and pushing Ozempic’ and criticizing her for taking the drugs after spending nine years promoting Weight Watchers.