Oprah Winfrey holds back tears as she opens up about food obsession during ... trends now

Oprah Winfrey opened up about her battle with obesity and how food took over her life during her weight loss special - but viewers flocked online to slam her for 'promoting' the drugs. 

Speaking in An Oprah Special: Shame, Blame and the Weight Loss Revolution, on Monday, the 70-year-old fought back tears as she revealed how the drugs had meant she was no longer 'constantly thinking about what the next meal is going to be'. 

She said 'for 25 years, making fun of my weight was national sport' and that over the years she had 'lost some weight' and 'put back on some weight' but since starting to take medication she had stopped 'obsessing' about food. 

Along with messages of support online, some viewers slammed Oprah, accusing her of 'promoting big pharma and pushing Ozempic' and criticizing her for taking the drugs after spending nine years promoting Weight Watchers. 

The show was released days after Oprah quit her Weight Watchers board role, citing a potential 'conflict of interest' with the show, which heavily featured weight loss drug brands. 

Her exit caused Weight Watchers shares to crash 20 percent.

But shares rebounded slightly after Oprah brought the CEO of Weight Watchers Simi Sistani on stage for the special, telling her that she had left the board 'so that I could have a conversation with you' on the show.

She also brought on leaders from two global pharmaceutical companies, Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk, that produce the medication. 

One viewer accused her of having 'all her bases covered' by bringing on both the CEO of Weight Watchers and the pharmaceutical leaders. 

Other fans accused her of 'promoting' the drugs. 

One wrote on X: 'Oprah is on TV right now doing a special that is essentially an hourlong commercial for Ozempic, including advocating for giving Ozempic to children. Grim' 

Another said: 'Who else won’t be watching the Oprah special tonight promoting BigPharna & pushing Ozempic?'

A third said: 'Right now on ABC there is literally a 1-hour Oprah Winfrey special pushing Ozempic on behalf of NovoNordisk. 

'Big Pharma runs this country. They took the baton from big tobacco.'

During the show, Oprah pushed back at people she said wanted to 'shame' her for her weight and for taking the drugs. 

She said: 'I come to this conversation in the hope that we can start releasing the stigma and the shame and the judgment... to stop shaming other people for being overweight or how they chose to lose and not lose weight.'

She added: 'All these years, I thought all of the people who never had to diet were just using their willpower and they were for some reason stronger than me.

'But now I realize y'all weren't even thinking about the food. It's not that you had the willpower. You weren't even thinking about it. You weren't obsessing about it.'

Now, she said: 'I use it as a tool, combined with hiking three or five miles a day or running. It's not just one thing, it's multiple things for me.' 

Oprah has visibly lost weight in recent months, having shed more than 40lbs with the help of the weight loss drug.

Rumors that she was taking Ozempic started to circulate last year, until she admitted she had started taking an unnamed weight loss drug in December. 

She said in the special: 'The number one thing I hope people come away with is knowing that [obesity] is a disease, and it's in the brain.' 

The special also features obesity medicine physician Dr. Jen Ashton, who was shown having a discussion with Oprah during the teaser. 

Dr. Jen explained: 'It is conclusively known that the conditions of overweight and obesity are complex, chronic disease states, not character flaws... so they should be managed accordingly. ' 

Oprah replied: 'Oh, I love that so much, Dr. Jen. It's a disease, not a character flaw.' 

Just three days ago, the TV mogul shared why she was read more from dailymail.....