Megyn Kelly Slams Oprah for Calling Obesity a ‘Disease’ While Pushing GLP-1 Drugs

Megyn Kelly is once again taking aim at a major media figure, and this time her target is Oprah Winfrey. The conservative commentator unleashed a scathing critique of Winfrey’s latest book, which advocates for the use of GLP-1 medications to manage weight. Kelly took issue with the fundamental premise of the book, specifically the idea that obesity is a disease rather than a matter of willpower.

During the Friday, January 16, episode of The Megyn Kelly Show, Kelly dismantled Winfrey’s perspective on weight loss. “The whole theory of this book is that obesity is a disease that happens to you and all those efforts were for not because she didn’t have willpower, but because she has a disease,” Kelly, 55, stated to her listeners.

She went further, characterizing Winfrey’s claim that the medication helped silence “food noise” as a “f***** lie.”

The controversy centers on GLP-1 agonists, a class of diabetes medications that have become ubiquitous in Hollywood for their weight-loss properties. According to Harvard Health, these drugs “act in the brain to reduce hunger and act on the stomach to delay emptying, so you feel full for a longer time.” While effective, the philosophical implications of using them, and how celebrities discuss them, have sparked intense debate.

Kelly argued that struggling with food cravings is a universal human experience, not necessarily a medical condition that absolves one of accountability. “I have not been obese my whole life … I constantly think about food too. It’s called being human,” Kelly pointed out. She emphasized that resisting temptation is a choice many people make daily without pharmaceutical intervention.

“It’s a reward. We all love it. You eat out of boredom. I mean, millions of Americans who have never been obese have that food conversation in their head, but they managed to say no,” Kelly continued. Her co-host, Maureen Callahan, supported this view, labeling Winfrey’s medical stance as “highly irresponsible.”

Kelly clarified she isn’t against the drugs themselves but rejects the “no personal responsibility” narrative as a “copout.” The host then attacked Winfrey’s motivations for publishing the book, suggesting it was a bid for attention rather than genuine altruism. “She saw yet another way to get herself into the news and get her face back on camera,” Kelly told her audience. “Which is the only thing that makes her happy, and she used it.”

Winfrey’s book, titled Enough: Your Health, Your Weight and What It’s Like to Be Free, was co-written by Dr. Ania M. Jasreboff. In the text, Winfrey details her lifelong struggle with obesity and her revelation in July 2023 regarding the biology of weight gain. The 71-year-old mogul writes that she “came to understand that overeating doesn’t cause obesity. Obesity causes overeating. And that’s the most mind-blowing, freeing thing I’ve experienced as an adult.”

Winfrey also revealed that she attempted to stop taking the medication to see if she could maintain the results alone but gained 20 pounds in just 12 months. She now views the medication as a lifelong necessity, similar to other maintenance drugs. “Everybody was saying if you get off the medication, you’re going to immediately put the weight back on,” she admitted.

For Winfrey, the science is settled, and she compares the treatment to managing a heart condition. “It’s going to be a lifetime thing. I’m on high blood pressure medication, and if I go off the high blood pressure medication, my blood pressure is going to go up,” she reasoned. “The same thing is true now, I realize, with these medications. I’ve proven to myself I need it.”

Oprah Winfrey has spent decades in the public eye, often making her battle with obesity a central theme of her career. One of the most famous moments in her talk show’s history involved her wheeling out a wagon of fat to represent the weight she had lost, a moment she has since looked back on with regret. She was a major shareholder and board member of WeightWatchers (now known as WW) for nearly a decade before stepping down in 2024.

Since leaving the board, she has become a vocal advocate for destigmatizing medical weight loss interventions. In addition to her new book, she recently produced the musical adaptation of The Color Purple and continues to conduct high-profile interviews. Her media empire remains vast, though she has largely stepped back from daily broadcasting.

Megyn Kelly continues to expand her influence in independent media after high-profile stints at Fox News and NBC. Her podcast, The Megyn Kelly Show, has become a top-performer on SiriusXM and has a massive following on YouTube. She is known for her unfiltered commentary on cultural and political issues, often challenging mainstream Hollywood narratives and celebrity activism.

Let us know if you agree with Megyn that “food noise” is just part of being human or if you side with Oprah that obesity is a disease requiring medical intervention in the comments.