Looking svelte and stunning in a series of curve-hugging size-10 gowns, Oprah Winfrey wowed friends and fans alike while doing the rounds on the red carpet to promote the musical remake of her classic film The Color Purple.
“She’s completely stealth-bombed everybody with the weight loss,” says a Hollywood insider. “It’s all everyone can talk about. She looked absolutely incredible!”
The source adds that Oprah intends to blow everyone away again at her 70th birthday bash in Montecito on 29 January, before heading off on a ski trip with a group of friends, including her best buddy Gayle King, 68.
“Oprah’s been shedding the pounds all year in time for her big 70th. She wants to look and feel her best ever. She’s dropped four dress sizes in a year, which is an amazing achievement.”
Of course, the 1.69m-tall star is no stranger to scrutiny over her weight. “You all know I’ve been on this journey for most of my life,” she said in a recent panel discussion about obesity. “My highest weight was 107kg. I don’t know if there is another public person whose weight struggle has been exploited as much as mine over the years.”
Regular hikes with bestie Gayle (left) keep her “vibrant”.
Oprah, who now tips the scales at 75kg, says that having “yoyoed my whole life”, she is aware of the differences in how she is treated. “This is a world that has shamed people for being overweight forever and all of us who have lived it know that people just treat you differently – they just do.”
An investor and board member with Weight Watchers, the former talk-show queen now follows a WW plan to maintain her figure. But she’s been open about taking weight-loss medication to shed the kilos – even though she initially felt like it would be “cheating”.
Last month, Oprah insisted she’d “released my own shame” and consulted her doctor, who went on to prescribe a drug, widely thought to be the controversial Ozempic, a diabetes medication that’s been embraced by hundreds in Hollywood. “I now use it as I feel I need it – as a tool to manage not yoyoing.”
She chose not to name the specific drug, adding, “The fact that there’s a medically approved prescription for managing weight and staying healthier in my lifetime feels like relief – 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.”
Although Oprah loves her new look, our insider adds there are more serious reasons that the star has slimmed down.
“Oprah has lost some very close friends over the past few years, some who haven’t taken care of themselves. It’s been a true wake-up call for her and she’s deathly serious about her health these days.
“Losing her Color Purple co-star Richard Roundtree last year was hard. He was a very dear friend for many years and inspired her to take on acting way back in the ’80s. Oprah’s going to do everything she can to make sure she’s still standing right until the end.”
2019 vs now!
And with rumours doing the rounds that the media mogul has secretly split from her longtime love Stedman Graham, 72, her svelte new figure certainly won’t hinder her love life.
After undergoing knee surgery in 2021, Oprah concentrated on building strength and fitness, so she could get out and about more. She says, “I started hiking and setting new distance goals each week. I could eventually hike three to five miles [5-8km] every day and a 10-mile [16km] straight-up hike on weekends. I felt stronger, more fit and more alive than I’d felt in years.”
Though she’s still three kilos from her goal weight of 72kg, Oprah admits, “It’s not about the number – it’s a second shot for me to live a more vital and vibrant life.
“In Hawaii, I live on a mountain and there’s this big hill. I used to look out the window every morning and say, ‘God, one day I want to walk up that mountain.’ Over Christmas, I did it… It felt like redemption.”
