Oprah Winfrey’s weight-loss journey includes medication, which she says is a “gift.” The media mogul shared how the medication has assisted in her recent weight loss in a People cover story, published Wednesday.

Over her long career, especially during the 25 years on her talk show, Winfrey, 69, has navigated weight loss and gain in the public eye. She told the outlet she was “blamed and shamed” constantly during that time.

“It was public sport to make fun of me for 25 years,” she said. “I have been blamed and shamed, and I blamed and shamed myself.”

Winfrey said one of the more challenging moments came when her image was plastered on a magazine cover with the words “dumpy, frumpy and downright lumpy.” And she took the criticism as a personal failure.

“I didn’t feel angry,” she said. “I felt sad. I felt hurt. I swallowed the shame. I accepted that it was my fault.”

Weight loss “occupied five decades of space in my brain, yo-yo-ing and feeling like why can’t I just conquer this thing, believing willpower was my failing,” she told the magazine.

The businesswoman, who serves as co-producer of the musical film adaption “The Color Purple” (in theaters Christmas Day), now says she has put the shame to bed and is now optimistic about her weight journey — which includes exercise, lifestyle tweaks and an unspecified weight-loss medication.

The movie producer discussed on the red carpet at the world premiere of “The Color Purple” last week what she had to do to achieve her weight transformation.

“It’s not one thing, it’s everything,” Winfrey told Entertainment Tonight at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles. “I intend to keep it that way.”

She later admitted to working out ahead of hitting the purple carpet: “I was on that treadmill today.”

In other news  – WATCH: Zahara’s memorial service

Friends and family of the late award-winning musician Bulelwa Mkutukana popularly known as Zahara are paying their last respects to the star at Rhema Bible Church.

On Monday evening, news broke that the singer and songwriter, 36, had died. The news comes just after her family confirmed her hospitalization following complaints about physical pains. Read More