Oprah Winfrey reflects on turning 70, reveals she has ‘no fear of death’ – with star saying her biggest concern is her health … after weight loss admission

Oprah Winfrey reflected on turning 70 and how her ‘number one concern’ is her health in her later years in a candid new interview.

The hosting icon, who reached the milestone in January, said she ‘doesn’t live with a fear of death’ but is focused on a healthy lifestyle – months after revealing her use of weight loss drugs to shed more than 40kg.

Talking to People magazine as part of its star-studded 50th anniversary issue, Winfrey said: ‘For anyone approaching this stage in your life, your biggest concern is your health. I don’t live with the fear of death, but I do live with the conscious awareness that it is possible at any moment…

‘I would say that one of the reasons that I can sit in wisdom now, and I literally sit in wisdom, and I don’t apologize for it, is because I’ve been aware and I’m really fully aware . I have been paying attention for a very long time.

She added that “gratitude is really my religion” and that her outlook on life hasn’t changed.

She said: ‘When you are grateful for what you have, you end up seeing that you have more than you imagine. Start with your breath and acknowledge what an absolute miracle it is that your heart is still pumping. It is a revelation to me every day. I am grateful for it all.’

Last month, Winfrey opened up about her struggle with obesity and how food took over her life during her weight loss special – but viewers flocked online to criticize her for ‘promoting’ the drugs.

Speaking on An Oprah Special: Shame, Blame and the Weight Loss Revolution, the star fought back tears as she revealed how the drugs had meant she was no longer ‘constantly thinking about what the next meal was going to be’.

She said that ‘for 25 years it was a national sport to make fun of my weight’ and that over the years she had ‘lost some weight’ and ‘put it back on’ but since starting medication she had stopped with ‘obsessing’ 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 just days after Oprah left her role as a Weight Watchers board member, citing a potential ‘conflict of interest’ with the show, which heavily featured weight loss drug brands.

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

She said: ‘I’m coming to this conversation in the hope that we can start to release the stigma and the shame and the judgement… to stop shaming other people for being overweight or how they chose to lose weight and not lose say.’

She added: ‘All these years I thought all the people who never dieted were just using their willpower and that somehow they were stronger than me.

“But now I realize you didn’t even think about the food. It’s not because you had the willpower. You didn’t even think about it. You didn’t obsess about it.’

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

Oprah has visibly lost weight in recent months, having shed more than 100 pounds with the help of the weight loss drug.

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

She said in the thesis: ‘The main thing I hope people come away with is knowing that (obesity) is a disease and it’s in the brain.’

In December, the TV mogul admitted to using the drug as a ‘tool’ to stop her yo-yoing weight problems.

Then she told People: ‘I use it now as I feel I need it, as a tool not to yo-yo’ – but did not name the drug she uses.

‘The fact that there is a medically approved prescription to maintain weight and stay healthy, in my lifetime, feels like relief, like redemption, like a gift and not something to hide behind and be ridiculed for again.

‘I’m completely done with the bashing from other people and especially myself’, adding that she had actively recommended the weight loss aid to other people before deciding to take it herself.’

Over the decades of her superstar status, Oprah has been honest with her fans about the various steps she’s taken to lose weight.

Last year she was dogged by rumors that she was on Ozempic, the diabetes drug that has become a Hollywood fad among those trying to lose weight.

As speculation mounted, Oprah finally admitted she had given in and started taking weight loss drugs – after previously feeling she had to rely on her own ‘willpower’ to achieve the figure she wanted.

“It’s a very personal subject for me,” Oprah said in a press release quoted by BET: ‘and for the hundreds of millions of people affected around the globe who have struggled with weight and obesity for years.’

When she had knee surgery in 2021, her physical rehabilitation helped her develop a number of healthy habits that helped her burn fat.

Oprah weighed 237 lbs (107.5 kg) at her heaviest, she has previously revealed.

She said undergoing knee surgery in 2021 started a journey for her to improve her health and live a ‘more vital and vibrant life’.

The broadcasting icon said she now eats her last meal at 4 p.m., drinks a gallon of water a day and uses Weight Watchers principles to count points along with regular walks.

She added that her fitness and health routine is an integral part of her weight loss, saying: ‘That’s everything. I know everyone thought I was in, but I worked so damn hard. I know that if I don’t also train and be alert to all the other things, it won’t work for me.’

She said: ‘I had an awareness of (weight loss) medication but felt I had to prove I had the willpower to do it. I don’t feel like that anymore’.