Oprah Winfrey recalled the moment the late Joan Rivers body-shamed her during her first appearance on The Tonight Show in 1985.
The 70-year-old talk show host recalled being interviewed by Rivers and shared her reaction to being criticized for her weight while appearing on The Jamie Kern Lima Show podcast.
“Joan Rivers humiliated me on The Tonight Show. It was my first appearance on The Tonight Show,” she shared.
“Joan Rivers turns to me and says, ‘Tell me, why are you so fat?’… on national television,” continued Oprah, who admitted to using weight-loss drugs.
“And I don’t know what to do with that. I just think, ‘Well, Joan, I love French fries.’ She’s like, ‘No, really! How embarrassing! How embarrassing!'”
Oprah Winfrey, 70, recalled the moment the late Joan Rivers body-shamed her during her first appearance on The Tonight Show in 1985.
‘Joan Rivers turns to me and 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 later 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 fifteen kilos. You have to lose fifteen kilos,” he tells me on national television.
“And I accepted. I accept that I should be ashamed because how dare I sit here on The Tonight Show?”
Oprah said she “had agreed to go away and lose 15 pounds,” but claimed she ended up gaining weight instead.
“Of course, I didn’t lose 15 pounds. I started eating to gain 10 more pounds,” she shared.
Oprah shared that she had previously auditioned for 1985’s The Color Purple, but did not hear back at the time and assumed she didn’t get the part because she was “overweight.”
She then decided to go on a ‘health retreat’ to lose weight, explaining that “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 abandoned her dream of starring in the film.
“And I don’t know what to do with that. I just think, ‘Well, Joan, I love French fries.’ She’s like, ‘No, really! Shame on you! Shame on you!'” Oprah recalled of Joan’s comments.
Oprah later 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 would go away and lose 15 pounds,” but claimed she ended up gaining weight instead.
The media mogul shared that she had previously auditioned for 1985’s The Color Purple, but didn’t hear back at the time and assumed she didn’t get the part because she was “overweight.”
While on a ‘health retreat’ trying to lose weight, she received a phone call from The Color Purple producer Steven Spielberg, who told her: ‘If you lose one pound, you could lose this part’; she appears here in 2024.
Winfrey eventually landed the role of Sofia in The Color Purple, and later received an Oscar nomination for her performance; she is pictured alongside Akosua Busia, Whoopi Goldberg and Rae Dawn Chong.
But then he got a phone call from The Color Purple producer Steven Spielberg.
‘I cried and prayed some more, and the moment I felt the release… a woman came running out and said, “There’s a phone call for you.” Steven Spielberg’s phone call saying, “I hear you’re on a feedlot. If you lose a pound, you could lose this part.”
“The fact that it happened the instant I knew I was going to let him go was the biggest life lesson I’ve ever received.”
“That became my fundamental teaching for the rest of my life and my career,” he shared. “Do as much as you can, work as hard as you can, and then let it go.”
Winfrey eventually 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 that she used weight-loss drugs and lost more than 40 pounds.
The presenter opened up about her regrets about speaking out about dieting and body image on a three-hour WeightWatchers special.
She said: ‘I’ve been a constant participant in this diet culture. Through my platforms, through the magazine, through the talk show for 25 years and online.
“I’ve contributed a lot to that. I can’t tell you how many weight loss and makeover shows I’ve done, and they’ve been a staple for as long as I’ve been in television.”
In May, Oprah apologized for her role in promoting toxic diet culture, months after finally admitting that she used weight loss drugs and lost more than 40 pounds (pictured March 2024)
She said that “for 25 years, making fun of my weight was the national sport” and that since she started taking medication she had stopped “obsessing” about food; Photographed in 1992
In March, Oprah revealed she abstained from food for “almost five months” on a liquid diet in 1988, before quickly regaining the weight after claiming her victory on television.
Speaking on An Oprah Special: Shame, Blame and the Weight Loss Revolution, the star held 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 that “for 25 years, making fun of my weight was the national sport” and that over the years she had “lost some weight” and “gained some weight back” but since starting medication she had stopped “obsessing” about food.
Along with messages of support online, some viewers criticized Oprah, accusing her of “promoting Big Pharma and promoting Ozempic” and criticizing her for taking the drugs after spending nine years promoting Weight Watchers.