Oprah Winfrey has recalled refusing to attend a Christmas party hosted by Miami Vice actor Don Johnson because “I thought I was too fat to go”.
The US star spoke about her health journey in the inaugural episode of The Jamie Kern Lima Show, saying for 25 years it was “just accepted that you could make fun of me and my weight”.
In November 1988, Winfrey famously wheeled out a wagon of fat during a talk-show appearance to signify the 67 pounds she had lost on a liquid diet, because she “didn’t have a morsel of food for five solid months”.
Winfrey said three days after the broadcast when she began eating solid food again she had gained five pounds, “and a week later I was 10 pounds heavier”.
“That show happened in November and the week before Christmas, I remember Don Johnson of Miami Vice was having a party and invited me and some members of my show to come, and I wouldn’t go because I thought I was too fat to go,” 70-year-old Winfrey said.
Winfrey previously addressed past criticism of her weight on a TV special titled An Oprah Special: Shame, Blame And The Weight Loss Revolution on ABC.
During the broadcast, the TV presenter urged people to “stop the shaming and blaming” in conversations around weight.
“For 25 years, every single week, in one form or another, there was a tabloid story or some exploitation of my weight. Making fun of my weight was national sport for 25 years,” she told Lima on her podcast.
“Comedians did it, the best comedians did it, the highest comedians did it, people with their shows did it. It was just accepted that you could make fun of me and my weight.
“I remember one of the most hurtful things was In Living Color had done a skit where the woman was doing something and she just kept eating and getting fatter and fatter and fatter and the comedy bit was that eventually, she just exploded.
“The whole audience fell out and the woman was me. It was one of the sisters portraying me, but that was just accepted. That was just a thing that was accepted.”