Oprah’s whole shtick, pretty much, is pretending to be a regular woman even though she is a billionaire; it’s why her show has gotten particularly hilarious lately now that the economy’s falling apart and she acts like she’s all concerned about her budget. But, as The Frisky pointed out quite nicely today, the one facet of her persona that actually rings true is her struggle with her weight. It’s the one challenge Oprah can’t buy her way out of. Even if she hires an organic vegan chef, she can decide she wants a pail of cheese grits and fire him. She can hire the ass-kickingest trainer on the planet, but if that trainer tells Oprah to switch out the five-pound weights for the tens, she can just refuse to do it. As much as I can say that I wouldn’t have a problem if I could afford to hire people to keep me on track, it evidently isn’t true, because if Oprah can’t get on top of her disordered eating, probably no one can.
So maybe Oprah shouldn’t have set herself up as the exemplar of living one’s best life? I’m just saying.
Anyway, I sincerely wish Oprah the best of luck in taking back control over her weight, because it’s really goddamn hard. But this is a bad way to start:
You guys, how Photoshopped is the Oprah on the left? Her belly was never that flat. Frankly, I watched the show last week; I think the Oprah on the right has been slimmed down a little too. And given how many times she’s had bra-fitting episodes, I seriously don’t know how she is STILL wearing the wrong size.
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
As a woman who’s in the same weight range as Oprah, I’m actually sort of offended that she’s effectively saying that weighing 200 lbs makes her this disgusting, worthless slob. I mean, I get it that she’s unhappy with herself – we all have the right to be unhappy with ourselves and to want to improve our health and fitness. (I struggle with my weight every day and don’t love the number that stares back at me from the scale either.) But by throwing out the actual number and touting the horror of it, she’s sort of dissing all us larger women and men who are in the same range. I think she could have kept the number to herself and just said, “I’m still on the journey. I wish I had this thing whipped, but I don’t yet. I’m getting back to business and invite you to join me.” That would have been helpful instead of insulting to me…
The number is kind of meaningless, generally, anyway; it doesn’t account for muscle, or height (the same 140 that makes a five-feet-even woman look hefty isn’t enough meat for my five-ten bones).
My issue is that, while she should certainly try to drop some weight if it’s a health issue, I think she looks better not quite as thin as in the 2005 picture. Super-skinny doesn’t suit her face.
I don’t want her getting diabetes just to prove me right, but nor do I think she looks bad. That may be a triumph of super-rich-lady attire and grooming, but still.
See, Oprah lost me when she described losing weight as the single greatest thing she had ever accomplished. I mean…really? Better than building the media empire? Better than maintaining those lifelong friendships? Better than your pretty damn good job in “The Color Purple”? It’s just kind of sad. I’m all for healthy, but it seems like she’s not particlarly emotionally healthy about weight. Maybe it’s just because, like you said, it’s the one thing she can’t seem to get her hands around, but still…that she thinks of modifying her appearance as her greatest accomplishment bums me out.
I’m going to go have a sandwich with extra mayo, now. I’m doing it *for the Oprah*.
Preach it, Chantal! Reminds me of the time I was with a group of skinny bitches all talking about how “I used to be soooo fat! I was like, 20 pounds overweight!” Yeah, thanks, ladies. My 200-pound ass thanks you for that.
On top of all the Photoshopping on both images in that magazine cover (totally with ya there, Tara), does anyone else think it looks like Fat O is cupping Skinny O’s breast? I’m totally getting a Diana Ross/Lil Kim vibe there. Just me? Ok.
The only weight loss I long for for Oprah is the loss of the weight of those horrible false eyelashes. Girl, you’ve got to stop! You’ve got giant centipedes attached to your eyelids.
I’d like her to accept herself and wear clothes that fit. And AMEN! on the bra size issue.