Last December, Oprah Winfrey stepped out to promote The Color Purple and she looked dramatically different and much slimmer. We soon learned how and why – Oprah appeared on the cover of People and she spoke about how she started taking a weight loss drug last fall. She did so after thinking it over for months and consulting with her doctors, and she sounded very happy with her decision and with her weight loss. She spoke about how it wasn’t just about the weight-loss drug either, that she was trying to be more active and, as always, watching what she eats. At the time, Oprah was still on the board of directors of Weight Watchers and I guess she got some pushback on that, which is strange. You can take weight loss drugs AND use WW’s point-system and methods. They are compatible, it’s not either/or, and WW has even started selling Ozempic. But I guess people didn’t think so, and now Oprah is stepping down from WW’s board.
Oprah Winfrey is leaving the board of WeightWatchers, ending a nearly decade-long stint as a director of the beleaguered company that has faced sudden competition from Ozempic. Winfrey notified the company of her decision earlier this week, telling them she won’t be standing for re-election at its annual shareholder meeting coming up in May. A reason wasn’t revealed, but a WeightWatchers regulatory statement said that her “decision was not the result of any disagreement” or “any matter relating to the company’s operations, policies or practices.”
“Oprah is an inspiring presence and passionate advocate both for our members and for society at large, in elevating the conversation around weight health,” said Sima Sistani, CEO of WeightWatchers, on a call with investors this week. “While I and the rest of our directors will certainly miss her in our board meetings following the end of her current term, she remains a strong strategic voice and collaborator with WeightWatchers.”
Winfrey will also be selling off her sizeable stake in the company: She said in a statement that she’s donating all of her stock to National Museum of African American History and Culture.
WeightWatchers shares (WW) plunged as much as 25% in premarket trading Thursday and are down nearly 70%. Winfrey’s exit is a year earlier than expected, with the media mogul in 2019 signing an extension until 2025.
“I look forward to continuing to advise and collaborate with WeightWatchers and CEO Sima Sistani in elevating the conversation around recognizing obesity as a chronic condition, working to reduce stigma, and advocating for health equity,” Winfrey said in a statement.
Winfrey joined the board in 2015 and bought a 10% stake, immediately giving the beleaguered company relevance as more people shifted to easier diets rather than counting points.
Okay, this sounds less like Oprah is stepping down because of the (asinine) backlash against her use of weight-loss drugs and it sounds more like Oprah is kind of done with WW. She’s moved on, she wasn’t pushed out.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
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- NEW YORK, NY- DECEMBER 6: Oprah Winfrey at The Color Purple World Premiere at The Academy Museum in Los Angeles, California on December 6, 2023. Copyright: xJeffreyxMayerx,Image: 827489717, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: imago is entitled to issue a simple usage license at the time of provision. Personality and trademark rights as well as copyright laws regarding art-works shown must be observed. Commercial use at your own risk., Model Release: no, Credit line: IMAGO/Jeffrey Mayer / Avalon
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- BEVERLY HILLS, LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, USA – JANUARY 07: Oprah Winfrey wearing a Louis Vuitton dress, Manolo Blahnik shoes, and Chopard jewels arrives at the 81st Annual Golden Globe Awards held at The Beverly Hilton Hotel on January 7, 2024 in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, California, United States.,Image: 835216221, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Pictured: Oprah Winfrey, Credit line: Xavier Collin / Image Press Agency / Avalon
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- BEVERLY HILLS, LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, USA – JANUARY 07: Oprah Winfrey wearing a Louis Vuitton dress, Manolo Blahnik shoes, and Chopard jewels arrives at the 81st Annual Golden Globe Awards held at The Beverly Hilton Hotel on January 7, 2024 in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, California, United States.,Image: 835216252, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Pictured: Oprah Winfrey, Credit line: Xavier Collin / Image Press Agency / Avalon
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- BEVERLY HILLS, LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, USA – JANUARY 07: Oprah Winfrey wearing a Louis Vuitton dress, Manolo Blahnik shoes, and Chopard jewels arrives at the 81st Annual Golden Globe Awards held at The Beverly Hilton Hotel on January 7, 2024 in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, California, United States.,Image: 835216318, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Pictured: Oprah Winfrey, Credit line: Xavier Collin / Image Press Agency / Avalon
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- Celebrities at ‘The Color Purple’ World Premiere at The Academy Museum in Los Angeles, California Featuring: Oprah Winfrey Where: Los Angeles, California, United States When: 06 Dec 2023 Credit: Jeffrey Mayer/JTM Photos/Media Punch/INSTARimages
Oprah’s years of body dysmorphia and elevation of diet culture are such a bummer. I hope she can be at a place of true peace because watching a woman publicly war with her body for DECADES (and constantly celebrate a body type that she doesn’t seem to maintain naturally) is wild.
I agree. I find myself thinking “yeah, okay, let’s see how long THIS lasts.”
Agree that it’s sad but also sadly relatable for millions of women.
The thing I find more depressing about Oprah is how many grifters and con artists she’s elevated and validated via her enormous platform. I guess it just goes to show that even the most brilliant; the most powerful and successful among us can fall prey to a snake oil salesman.
Absolutely agree. She also spent years supporting Dr. Oz, “The Secret,” hosting people who claimed the satanic panic of the 1980s was real, etc. etc. She’s a good actress but I have to say that overall I think she’s done more harm than good. The body dysmorphia stuff is, I think, just one of the more prominent examples.
Well at least the NMAAHC benefits from this.
AND Oprah gets a HUGE tax write off as the company’s stock has tanked. Wonder why she didn’t make this donation BEFORE she announced her pull out.
Well said Kaiser. Lifestyle modification is still necessary when taking weight loss medication.
I wonder if the decline of WW has to do with changing consumer demand and the sheer volume of more affordable options available on the internet. I wouldn’t be surprised if Oprah has her eye on a new collaboration or launching her own initiative.
I see tons of WW recipes, particularly for desserts, and it seems to me that there is a huge reliance on fake food, fake sugar. I think that’s why WW is in decline, that’s an antiquated way of looking at weight loss.
Weight Watchers offers Mounjaro and other such drugs now. I don’t quite get why she is out when the company itself is using these new tools for fueling weight loss.
I was wondering that too, is she going to branch off and start her own thing? Stepping down and selling all stock is a big move.
Didn’t we just give Rob Lowe a raft of sh$t for saying the same thing?
Oprah wasn’t obese, she may have T2 but it’s unlikely or she’d mentioned it before. I’ve personally cancelled Oprah because of her obfuscation aka lies re weight loss drugs, diet and exercise, and I’m fine with that choice. I watched her show for decades and I believed her. Now I just don’t. She might want to be very thin VS just the healthy weight she was at previously. her body dysmorphia gets in the way of just being healthy. I can’t stand looking at any of these people gloating about their (drug induced) weight loss. See : almost every celebrity out there. The latest is lizzo.
Don’t take dieting advice from Oprah, ever.
End of.
Agreed…100%
I missed the bit where Kaiser said the backlash was ‘asinine’. Why? She lied? She was a spokes person and major investor in a weight loss company which she promoted. She’s had body issues for decades. She’s spruiked diet and exercise plans for decades. The backlash was minimal tbh, she deserved way worse. False advertising to start. Then she called it maintenance which is another lie. Oprah, we know, we have eyes and brains and memories.
Applauding this comment…Spot On.
I think it was pretty minimal too, because everyone knew she was lying about it, and it wasn’t a big shock when she finally admitted it.
WW has an interesting history as a business. The podcast “Maintenance Phase” did an ep on it if anyone’s interested. (Sorry, I’m working this morning so haven’t got time to pull out all the relevant tidbits.)
https://open.spotify.com/episode/1MLbiiVeeUsnsCdnxWlg1o
That was a good episode. The company has been through so many rebrands and iterations Have done Weight Watchers and it works when on program, and like the program in general. However , like any weight loss, the long haul is very difficult. Programs like Noom ,social media, focus on wellness,and other apps have definitely cut into their business. Weight loss might be about health and looks to us but it is a profit driven business.
So over this woman and was a huge fan for decades. Claiming she was all about that WW life because of healthy lifestyle /beyond the scale wins approach but in the end she just wanted to be skinny. She got the meds and now she is so adios WW.
Oprah deserves to be dragged for so many things, including the promotion of (pseudoscientific) hacks like Dr. Oz and Dr. Phil, as well as truly damaging prosperity-culture stuff. This woman has caused a lot of harm, not least of which is the diet-culture stuff.
So she dumped her falling stocks and gets to use it as a charitable tax write off, and is a total hypocrite. Got it.
Definitely spot-on that these drugs don’t really do all of the work for you. I’ve been on the lowest dose of Zepbound for about six weeks (with another to 2 weeks to go before I go up to the therapeutic dose because of problems with insurance). I’ve lost 10 lbs and it’s been great. But I’ve also been watching what I eat and exercising more. It’s what I would have done normally when trying to lose weight it’s just easier now because I’m not hungry all of the time and if I eat something too fatty, I get a little nauseated.
I can almost see more need for WW now because I want to make sure I have a more balanced diet and get enough protein so I can maintain a healthier diet long into the future. But I won’t do it because I’ve had such a bad experience with WW over the years.
That’s just it. Weight loss drugs require a diet to ensure that you’re still getting nourishment despite the reduced appetite. Could be WW, could be the Mediterranean Diet, could be any halfway sane diet really.
For all the nice talk about health and lifestyle, the product that WW was selling was: not being fat. There’s a much more effective and lower-effort product out there now. From a business perspective it’s unlikely that WW can adapt quickly enough to survive such a dramatic change. Maybe if they’re able to offer big discounts on the drugs as insurance plans drastically restrict coverage due to cost. Otherwise it’s hard to see how they can compete.