O'S AHA MOMENT

The talk-show queen has changed her tune about using weight-loss drugs - and she isn't ashamed to say it

- NICI DE WET

FOR many people, approaching 70 can be an excuse to let go a little, to indulge in treats and let out the waistband of their favourite pair of pants.

But not Oprah Winfrey.

It's safe to say the broadcast giant, who celebrates her milestone birthday on 29 January, has never looked better.

Her svelte figure has been making waves ever since she debuted it at the premiere of her new movie, The Color Purple, in early December.

Vibrant in a purple gown that showed off her hourglass figure to perfection, she looked like a Hollywood siren of old - and O kept the jaw-drops coming.

Shortly afterwards she shared a video of herself making purple cocktails to celebrate the movie, her slimline frame clad in white loungewear. Gossip started to gain momentum that she was taking Ozempic, the drug for rapid weight loss that's all the rage in Tinseltown and beyond.

But how could she?

During a panel discussion for her Oprah Daily channel just a few months earlier, she said she'd never take a weight-loss drug, calling it the "easy way out" (YOU, 12 October 2023).

The only way shed lose weight was "the old-fashioned way": regular exercise and a healthy diet. But everyone is allowed to change their minds - and Oprah being Oprah, she's playing open cards and has admitted she's having a little chemical help.

In an interview with People magazine, she confesses she's been using a medically approved weight-loss drug since late November, although she's using it only as a "maintenance tool".

"I use it as I feel I need it," she says. She doesn't name the medication, but says she's done with feeling embarrassed about taking the drug. "The fact that there's a medically approved prescription for managing weight and staying healthier in my lifetime feels like relief, like redemption, like a gift and not something to hide behind and ridiculed for.