Oprah Winfrey will discuss the weight-loss drug Ozempic in a new prime-time TV special on ABC later this month.
On Thursday, Winfrey announced “An Oprah Special: Shame, Blame and the Weight Loss Revolution” which will air Monday, March 18 on ABC. The special will stream on Hulu on Tuesday, March 19.
Winfrey said the TV special is “personal” to her after she initially denied using weight-loss drugs.
“It is a very personal topic for me and for the hundreds of millions of people impacted around the globe who have for years struggled with weight and obesity,” Winfrey said in a statement.
“This special will bring together medical experts, leaders in the space and people in the day-to-day struggle to talk about health equity and obesity with the intention to ultimately release the shame, judgment and stigma surrounding weight.”
Winfrey admitted using a weight-loss drug in December after she was criticized for claiming she lost weight with diet and exercise.
Last month, the 70-year-old business mogul stepped down from the board of directors of WW (formerly known as Weight Watchers).
“I realized I’d been blaming myself all these years for being overweight,” she told People.com. “I have a predisposition that no amount of willpower is going to control. 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.”
Winfrey added that, using weight-loss drugs is “not something to hide behind and once again be ridiculed for. I’m absolutely done with the shaming from other people and particularly myself … I now use it as I feel I need it, as a tool to manage not yo-yoing.”
