Oprah Winfrey Apologizes During WeightWatchers Special After Admitting That She Had Taken Weight Loss Drugs: ‘I’m Done With The Shaming’

Oprah Winfrey didn’t hold back during her highly-anticipated WeightWatchers live special, Making The Shift: A New Way to Think About Weight, on Thursday, May 9th.

According to a description of the program, the live special aimed to “catalyze a new wave of change in how we collectively redefine the cultural and personal relationships between our weight, our health and each other.” And one of the biggest moments of the special happened when the 70-year-old The Color Purple co-producer issued a big apology for being a “major contributor” to toxic diet culture throughout her career.

“I’ve been a steadfast participant in this diet culture,” Winfrey, who recently said she is almost at her goal weight now that she is taking weight loss injections, confessed on the live special. “Through my platforms, through the magazine, through the talk show for 25 years, through online – I’ve been a major contributor to it. I cannot tell you how many weight loss shows and makeovers I have done, and they have been a staple since I’ve been working in television.”

The GLAAD Vanguard Award recipient went on to address a particularly infamous weight-related moment of her career, which was the “wagon of fat” incident that took place on The Oprah Winfrey Show in the late 80s. She called it “one of my biggest regrets.”

Speaking about the controversial moment, which she said came to be after she “starved” herself while doing a liquid diet, the talk show host said: “It sent a message that starving yourself with a liquid diet set a standard for people watching that I nor anybody else could uphold. And I’ve said this before, the very next day, I began to gain the weight back.”