As we learned, during a decade or so of time the weight issue was not a major problem for Oprah. She had found a large amount of inner peace in not hating any part of herself, not even the pockets of cellulite. But old mental habits die hard, and there are contradictions involved in embracing the self, no matter how calorically challenged, while also carrying out public activities (on national television, for instance) that might be regarded by the cynically minded as the very embodiment of fat-hate.
Imagine this scenario: The problem you overcame, and so triumphantly buried with a great deal of ceremony (and publicity), has clawed its way out of the grave, hitched a ride on a garbage truck, and is now demolishing your front door. What could be more disheartening? Oprah Winfrey, after a lot of emotional ups and downs, had reached a pretty good emotional equilibrium and, if there was any justice, ought to have been able to coast.
Instead, after being advised to “learn to embrace hunger,” she gradually gained back 40 pounds. Some of the difficulty was simply due to nature taking its course. As a human body ages, multiple processes are responsible for making it less resilient. It does not mend itself like it used to, and pain occurs in parts you never even knew you had. The entire organism might suddenly begin to demonstrate an uncanny propensity to grow.
O, the publication
At the beginning of 2009, the cover of Oprah’s very own slick magazine showed her current self next to an earlier, much slimmer version, and the words “How did I let this happen again?”… all of which looked like a pretty clear case of fat-hate. The inside pages held her musings on that subject, including a strong suspicion that the ultimate cause was a life out of balance, “with too much work and not enough play, not enough time to calm down… I let the well run dry.”
The conclusion seemed to point in a productive direction:
I don’t have a weight problem — I have a self-care problem that manifests through weight.
In that same year, a segment of the immensely popular “The Oprah Winfrey Show” featured 16 teens participating in “a grueling eight-hour intervention where they confront the reasons why they’re overweight.” Author Natalie Flynn described it as “humanizing” and as a way for booth the participants and the audience to grasp “what living with obesity truly entails.”
A recent Salon.com article looked back over that time with a congratulatory pronouncement:
[W]hat Winfrey has largely consistently managed to get right is her approach to childhood obesity. In her recent special and in old episodes […] Winfrey allows children to speak candidly about their weight, often showing in raw detail how obesity takes a toll on them mentally, socially and physically.
Cynics might have identified it as just another, though perhaps superficially compassionate, demonstration of how obsessed society is with maintaining a standard of fat-hate, while at the same time blaming the victims for “abusing food.” That in itself is a tricky phrase, which could logically encompass chaining up food in a basement and striking it with a belt.
Meanwhile, Bob Greene was also in the public eye, providing for the official website “Oprah’s Weight Loss Confession.” Some of the problems in the media star’s case, not relevant to most teenagers, were the concurrent challenges presented by worldwide success. Oprah had met and overcome so many obstacles, he theorized, that it was difficult for her to grasp the inevitable challenge of aging, which means “the rules change.”
Your responses and feedback are welcome!
Source: “The Highs and Lows of Oprah Winfrey’s 50-Year Weight Loss Journey,” EOnline.com, 03/24/24
Source: “On abandoning ‘fattertainment’: Why the way we talk about childhood obesity matters,” Salon.com, 03/22/24
Source: “Oprah’s Weight Loss Confession,” Oprah.com, 01/05/09
Image by aphrodite-in-nyc/Attribution 2.0 Generic
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