Oprah Winfrey branded a 'hypocrite' and 'liar' for taking weight loss drug despite initial denial

Ozempic has surged in popularity over the past year across the USA, although Winfrey hasn't named the drug she's been using and whether or not it is indeed Ozempic.

She made the admission in a new interview where she opened up about "yo-yoing" with her weight.

"I realised I’d been blaming myself all these years for being overweight, and I have a predisposition that no amount of willpower is going to control," she said.

Winfrey went on: "Obesity is a disease. It’s not about willpower — it's about the brain."

After seeing a doctor and "ridding" herself of the shame of being overweight, she was prescribed weight loss aids.

Winfrey told People: "I now use it as I feel I need it, as a tool to manage not yo-yoing.

"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.

"I’m absolutely done with the shaming from other people and particularly myself."

However, during a September panel conversation with weight loss experts and clinicians as part of Oprah Daily's Life You Want series, Winfrey was quoted as saying: "Shouldn’t we all just be more accepting of whatever body you choose to be in? That should be your choice.

"Even when I first started hearing about the weight loss drugs, at the same time I was going through knee surgery, and I felt, 'I’ve got to do this on my own because if I take the drug, that’s the easy way out.'"

Spotting the seeming U-turn in her views, several people have taken to social media to slam the veteran presenter.

On X, formerly Twitter, one person fumed: "@Oprah you are such a hypocrite. After months of lying and years of shaming people now you’re admitting you’re taking (weight loss drugs)."

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A second agreed: "Mmmmhmmm I told you Oprah was lying. Why lie? If you could have maintained the weight loss the first time it would have been more believable."

And a third hit out: "Oprah is still lying. She has used that drug for months, not just over Thanksgiving as she claims. No one cares! Just stop lying!"

Another hit out: "@oprah still lying... You don’t just start taking these drugs & they work.

"They take a while to build up. You have to start slowly (to) avoid brutal side effects before they are effective. Still lying."