Oprah Winfrey recalls being ‘shamed’ for her size by Joan Rivers on national TV

Oprah Winfrey has recalled late TV host Joan Rivers body shaming her during a TV interview in 1985.

The legendary TV personality made an appearance on The Tonight Show to discuss her programme, A.M. Chicago, and ended up being confronted about her weight by Joan.

“Joan Rivers turns to me and she says, ‘Tell me why are you so fat?'” Winfrey recalled on The Jamie Kern Lima podcast. “On national television… and I don’t know what to do with that. I just did, like, ‘Oh, I just love potato chips, Joan.'”

The Oprah Winfrey Show host candidly confessed that she “accepted” the criticism when Joan told her “shame on you” because she felt like she “should be shamed” for her size.

“I agreed with Joan Rivers,” Oprah continued, adding that the late TV host said to her, “I’ll let you come back if you lose 15 pounds. You need to lose 15 pounds.'”

“She says to me on national television. And I accept it. I accept that I should be shamed, because how dare me, be sitting up here on The Tonight Show,” she remembered.

Joan, who died in 2014, and Oprah agreed that the TV star would go away and lose 15 pounds (6.8 kilograms) but she didn’t follow through with it.

“Of course, I didn’t lose the 15 pounds… I went and ate my way to another 10 pounds,” she added.

Earlier this year, Oprah hosted An Oprah Special: Shame, Blame, and the Weight Loss Revolution, in which she revealed she went to unhealthy lengths to lose weight after years of criticism over her appearance.

She is currently taking weight-loss medication to help maintain her size.