Winfrey appeared on “The View” and reflected on being “ridiculed in the tabloids every single week for, like, 20 years” because of her weight.

Oprah says Joan Rivers ruined ‘horrible’ Tonight Show interview by body-shaming her weight: ‘Felt it was my fault’

Winfrey appeared on "The View" and reflected on being "ridiculed in the tabloids every single week for, like, 20 years" because of her weight.

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January 14, 2026 12:26 p.m. ET

Oprah Winfrey; Joan Rivers. Credit:

King World Productions/Courtesy Everett; USA Networks/Courtesy Everett

- Oprah Winfrey returned to daytime TV with an appearance on *The View*.

- Winfrey recalled Joan Rivers ruining a "horrible" *Tonight Show* interview by body-shaming her weight.

- "When comedians made fun of me, I felt like, well, it's okay for me to be the butt of their jokes."

Oprah Winfrey has opened up about a legion of comedians who, for decades, put her down about her body size.

The iconic talk show hostess and actress returned to daytime TV Wednesday on *The View*, where she sat for a multi-part interview to promote her new book, *Enough: Your Health, Your Weight, and What It's Like To Be Free*, which she co-wrote* *with Dr. Ania Jastreboff.

During the conversation, Winfrey reflected on a difficult period in her life revolving around public perception of her body, particularly at the start of her daytime TV career when she visited the late Joan Rivers' *Tonight Show* for a 1985 interview.

"What I felt all those years, the shame and the blame that I gave to myself, I felt it was because it was my fault. I felt it was my fault I was overweight," the 71-year-old told the cohosts at the Hot Topics table. "So, when comedians made fun of me, I felt like, well, it's okay for me to be the butt of their jokes because I *should* be losing the weight. I *should* be able to keep the weight off. I felt embarrassed every time I put the weight back on. I accepted it because I felt that they were right."

Oprah Winfrey reflects on her body journey on 'The View'.

Winfrey then spoke about "that horrible moment I had on *The Tonight Show*, when I was so excited to be there for the first time, and I bought these new shoes and I spent my entire paycheck" on getting dressed up for the occasion.

"Joan Rivers said to me, 'Shame, shame, shame on you for not losing the weight. How did you gain the weight?'" Winfrey recalled. "I remember leaving feeling embarrassed, but she said I could come back if I lost 15 pounds. I wasn't even upset with her. I thought,* I've got to get on it, I've got to lose those 15 pounds.*"

The star then said she "was ridiculed in the tabloids every single week for, like, 20 years," and, as a result, "grew to accept that as a way of being."

Later in the interview, she opened up about her relationship to GLP-1 medication, which she's endorsed in recent months.

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Winfrey spoke about a phenomenon she's dealt with for years, calling out "food noise" that persisted in her mind and led to her struggle with fluctuating body weight.

The actress said that food noise led her to "thinking how many calories in that, how many calories did I just eat, how long is it going to take me to burn that off," in a "constant, exhausting thing" that played over and over in her mind each day — until she learned how to cope with it and manage her appetite with the help of the GLP-1 medication.**

"I believe these medications should be accessible to people who need them the most. I think the insurance companies need to get on board with the program and stop pretending that this is not a chronic disease," she said, specifically referencing obesity.

Oprah Winfrey appears on 'The View'.

Later in the interview, Winfrey and *The View* moderator Whoopi Goldberg reminisced about making Steven Spielberg's 1985 movie *The Color Purple* together, with Winfrey saying that, as opposed to living in her own body, she felt confident portraying the character of Sofia because "she owned it, she owned the weight, she carried the weight" as "part of her being" that was essential to the story originally written by author Alice Walker in her 1982 book.

"The only time I ever felt comfortable was when I wasn't myself, playing somebody else," Winfrey said.

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Goldberg, too, praised their time together as a key building block for what their lives would become later in life, telling the audience, "It was amazing. Our lives... people *saw* us. It was the first time people saw us."

*The View* airs weekdays on ABC.

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