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Worth the Weight

Twelve years ago, a slim and trim Oprah Winfrey revealed her new figure to millions of viewers.

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By Clarissa Cruz

Clarissa Cruz

Clarissa Cruz is an EW correspondent

Before there was a book club, before there was a white-hot magazine, before there were presidential pit stops, there was this: A newly svelte Oprah Winfrey prancing around in a skinny black turtleneck and size-10 Calvins. On Nov. 15, 1988 -- after four months on a liquid diet and rigorous exercise regimen -- the talk-show queen unveiled her new bod in a show dubbed ''Diet Dreams Come True.''

''This has been the most difficult thing I have ever done in my life,'' Winfrey told a cheering audience. ''Not one single thing I have ever done has measured up to this kind of accomplishment.'' To dramatize her weight loss, Winfrey went on to wheel out a wagon containing 67 quivering pounds of animal fat (''Is this gross or what?'' she cracked) before detailing how she did it: The self-proclaimed food addict ingested nothing but Optifast (a protein powder mixed with water) five times a day, every day. Though she admitted to cheating once -- secretly gobbling a bacon-avocado cheeseburger while on vacation -- she stuck to the medically supervised program, worked up to running six and a half miles per day, and lost a total of 30 inches from her bust, waist, and hips.

The show -- which also featured a congratulatory call-in from Winfrey's beau, Stedman Graham, a video clip featuring Shirley MacLaine, and testimonials from other successful dieters -- remains the highest-rated episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show to date. And the response to the broadcast was as frenzied as Richard Simmons sweatin' to the oldies. Novartis Consumer Health, the Minneapolis-based manufacturer of Optifast, saw an estimated 20 percent sales spike, and, on the day the show aired, its 800 number reportedly received more than 1 million calls for referrals to hospitals or clinics with Optifast programs.

But health care providers -- including even the makers of Optifast -- are still concerned that Winfrey's dramatic loss sent dieters the wrong message. ''It's not a quick fix,'' says Novartis spokesperson Malesia Dunn. ''People are looking for a magic bullet, and if Oprah [uses] it, they think it's an instant thing -- and it's not.... If you don't modify your life, [you] could go into relapse.''

And, indeed, Winfrey has continued to wage a seesaw battle with her weight in the years since that show. ''There's a tendency for people to [forget] that, because Oprah is who she is -- one of the wealthiest, most successful women in the world -- that she's human,'' says Gail Weaver, president of the San Diego-based Lifetime Health and Nutrition Center (a longtime Optifast provider). ''She still has the same struggles and realities as the rest of us.''

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time capsule/nov. 15, 1988

AT THE MOVIES, Mystic Pizza, featuring a little-known actress named Julia Roberts (far right), is hyped as ''America's No. 1 romantic comedy.'' ON TV, audiences tune in to Part 2 of Herman Wouk's epic miniseries War and Remembrance. IN MUSIC, the soundtrack to U2's film Rattle and Hum begins a six-week run at No. 1 on the Billboard chart. AND IN THE NEWS, a week after his election, President-elect George Bush taps John Sununu for his chief of staff, and Ronald Reagan says his administration's biggest regret was having failed to reduce the deficit.