During a recent interview on 'The Talk', the media mogul admits she still feels shame about her mid-1980s debut on 'The Tonight Show' when the comedienne surprised her with the weight question.
- February 28, 2020
AceShowbiz - Oprah Winfrey still feels shame about her mid-1980s debut on America's "The Tonight Show" when comedienne and host Joan Rivers surprised her with a question about her weight.
The media mogul, who has spent her adult life battling weight issues - often very publicly, still finds it hard to talk about her TV chat with Rivers, admitting her dream of appearing on America's top late night show quickly became a nightmare.
"I was 30 years old and it was the biggest moment in my life; I'd made it to The Tonight Show...," Oprah tells "The Talk", "but essentially Joan called me fat. I was called out as being a fat girl on national TV as a surprise and I felt immense shame about it... I could cry right now thinking about that moment."
"Not one part of me ever, to this moment, thought, 'I should have thought, Joan, why did you do that..?' Every part of me thought, 'Oh, she saw me. She now knows. She's saying the thing that everyone else is thinking'."
In a 2017 interview with TV medic Dr. Mehmet Oz, Winfrey admitted she was stunned by the question about her weight because she had no idea Rivers would be going there.
"They do a pre-interview with you... (and) they did not ask me anything about my weight," she recalled. "I think the interview's about over... I think she said, 'Why do you have the weight...?' All I could hear was, 'Fat... You're fat... She's saying you're fat on national TV'. I felt shamed by that experience."
