A month after her exit from WeightWatchers, Oprah Winfrey released an ABC special called “Shame, Blame and the Weight Loss Revolution.” Ahead of that, she revealed in an episode of “Jimmy Kimmel Live” that her decision to leave the company had, indeed, had everything to do with that. However, it wasn’t for any dramatic reason.
“This special was really important to me, and I wanted to be able to talk about whatever I wanted to talk about, and WeightWatchers is now in the business of being a weight health company that also administers drug medications for weight,” she explained. As such, she was acutely aware that her affiliation with the company might make it look as though she was trying to push a product. By removing herself from the company, she explained, “Nobody can say, ‘Oh, she’s doing that special, she’s making money, and promoting her … no, you cannot say that.” Fair enough!
As if that wasn’t enough to allay concerns, in the same interview, Winfrey also pointed out that she didn’t love hearing people say that she had “quit” the company. “I resigned — ‘quit’ sounds so, ‘Whoa,'” she joked. Given that Winfrey had previously said in her and WeightWatchers’ statement that she planned to keep working alongside the company, it makes sense that she didn’t love people thinking there was a rift between them.
