Oprah Winfrey to exit WeightWatchers board, a blow as weight-loss drugs surge (2024)

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Oprah Winfrey to exit WeightWatchers board, a blow as weight-loss drugs surge? ›

Oprah Winfrey exits WeightWatchers board months after revealing use of weight-loss medication. (The Hill) – Oprah Winfrey says she's parting ways with WeightWatchers' board of directors and donating her stock in the company to the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture.

Her resignation was motivated by her work on an upcoming TV special on the rise of prescription weight-loss drugs, she said during a Thursday appearance on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”

Weight loss medication isn't the only tool in Oprah's kit: She's also an avid exerciser. During her weight loss special, she told viewers that she hikes three to five miles per day and also does "weight resistance training.” Back in 2017, she told The Hollywood Reporter that she hits her home gym soon after waking up.

Her exit from the company's board came after she revealed in 2023 that she was taking a weight-loss drug.

WeightWatchers embracing weight-loss drugs and closing more locations. After decades of emphasizing personal responsibility and behavior change, WeightWatchers is embracing clinical weight loss treatments and is cutting back on the in-person meetings that once defined the company.

Last December, the former TV host revealed that she had been taking weight-loss medication, although she declined to name which one. At the time, she said that the prevalence of drugs like Ozempic “feels like relief, like redemption, like a gift, and not something to hide behind and once again be ridiculed for.”

Based on data reported in clinical studies, Qsymia is likely the most effective prescription weight-loss pill. It tends to lead to the largest amount of weight loss in the highest percentage of people.

In September 2023, Wegovy was made available in the UK to people living with obesity, including some people with type 2 diabetes or prediabetes.

Jean Evelyn Nidetch (October 12, 1923 – April 29, 2015) was an American businessperson and the founder of Weight Watchers. Brooklyn, New York, U.S. Parkland, Florida, U.S. She died on April 29, 2015, of natural causes at her home in Parkland, Florida, at the age of 91.

What did Oprah say about Ozempic? ›

1 concern was her health, Winfrey told People in December 2023. “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 once again be ridiculed for," she said.

In addition to the $43.2 million Winfrey paid for her initial stake, she was awarded stock options by the company over the years. Once the initial payment and exercise costs of the options were stripped out, Winfrey netted $221 million from the stock sales, Verity data shows.

FTC Takes Action Against Company Formerly Known as Weight Watchers for Illegally Collecting Kids' Sensitive Health Data | Federal Trade Commission.