March 20, 2024
Whoopi Goldberg Says She Used Weight-Loss Drug At 300 Lbs
Goldberg shared that she had taken a lot of steroids and turned to Mounjaro after her weight hit 300 pounds during the filming of "Till."
During a discussion about Oprah Winfrey’s recent ABC special, An Oprah Special: Shame, Blame, and the Weight Loss Revolution, Whoopi Goldberg voiced her unwavering support for her Color Purple co-star.
On a March 19 episode of The View, Goldberg revealed to the audience that she too had taken weight-loss medication, a topic Winfrey delved into during her special. Goldberg said her own decision to seek medical assistance came after her involvement in the 2022 biographical drama Till.
“I will tell you, I weighed almost 300 pounds when I made ‘Till,'” the comedian stated. “I had taken all those steroids…and one of the things that’s helped me drop the weight is the…Mounjaro,” which co-host Sunny Hostin also admitted to using at one point after she had gained 40 pounds. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Goldberg responded to a film critic in 2022 who claimed she wore a fat suit in the Emmett Till biopic. The EGOT winner clarified, “…you should know that was not a fat suit, that was me. That was steroids.”
On Tuesday’s episode, Goldberg also said she hadn’t realized the extent of her weight gain until she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror one day. “I just always felt like me,” she said. “And then I saw me, and I thought, ‘Oh! That’s a lot of me!’
“My weight has come and gone and up and down,” she continued, “but it’s never been an issue for me because I don’t listen to what other people say about me, so it has never been a problem. But I think it’s very hard for people to just know what a normal weight would be.” Goldberg noted the difficulty in addressing weight gain with sensitivity. “Everyone has something to say, but no one said, ‘How you doing?’ Because it involves so many other things.”
“I think it is a matter of how we treat ourselves,” Goldberg emphasized.
BLACK ENTERPRISE previously covered how Winfrey reflected on her long-standing struggles with self-perception and weight during her March 18 special. The media mogul discussed how weight-loss medications like Mounjaro and Ozempic have transformed her own life and the lives of many individuals grappling with obesity. She also acknowledged her newfound understanding of the stigma surrounding the condition.