Serena Williams and Oprah on Deciding to Take GLP-1 Medications

The Oprah Podcast

Harpo

Society & Culture

4.2 • 1.5K Ratings

🗓️ 13 January 2026

⏱️ 68 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

For her most of her adult life, Oprah has struggled with her weight. She never dreamed in her lifetime, there would be medications that could help her as well as millions of others. On this episode of The Oprah Podcast, Oprah is joined by Dr. Ania Jastreboff, leading endocrinologist and associate professor at Yale School of Medicine in front of a live audience in New York City. They discuss Dr. Ania’s new book, Enough: Your Health, Your Weight, and What It's Like To Be Free which delivers a deeply transformational message: there is a path to healing from the blame and shame of obesity to lead the life you have always wanted. Dr. Jastreboff shares the science behind why obesity is a disease and not a question of willpower and why the new medications have been so effective for tens of millions of people. Oprah shares her decades-long public struggle with her weight and reveals how her experience with a GLP-1 medication has given her a freedom and energy she never thought possible. Plus, 23-time grand slam tennis champion Serena Williams joins the conversation and opens up about her own battle with weight calling it “the one opponent she couldn't defeat.” Serena also reveals why - after her initial skepticism - she decided to start a GLP-1 medication. Finally, we hear from guests in the audience about how the GLP-1 medications have changed their lives. One of those guests is Stedman Graham’s nephew Julius who shares with heartbreaking honesty how his weight held him back for decades. He says that after losing 64 pounds on a GLP-1 medication he is now “fully alive.” BUY THE BOOK! https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Enough/Ania-M-Jastreboff/9781668217283 00:00:00 - Welcome Dr. Ania Jastreboff, author of “Enough” 00:01:30 - 74% of americans are overweight 00:04:30 - Obesity is a disease 00:07:30 - We live in an obesogenic environment 00:09:10 - Genetic link to obesity 00:10:50 - You can’t willpower away obesity 00:13:30 - Defining food noise 00:18:30 - Recalibrating your “enough point” 00:22:30 - Some people have food noise, others don’t 00:23:40 - Welcome Serena Williams 00:27:00 - Why Serena tried GLP-1s 00:29:30 - Everyone responds to GLP-1s differently 00:31:00 - How Serena feels on GLP-1s 00:40:00 - Why your body settles on an unhealthy “enough point” 00:42:00 - Welcome Julius, Stedman’s nephew 00:50:00 - How GLP-1s changed Julius 00:54:00 - Do you stay on GLP-1s forever? 01:02:00 - Can GLP-1s prevent obesity? 01:04:00 - Oprah wants GLP-1s available to all 01:05:40 - Dr. Ania wants people to understand obesity Follow Oprah Winfrey on Social: https://www.instagram.com/oprahpodcast/ https://www.facebook.com/oprahwinfrey/ Listen to the full podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/0tEVrfNp92a7lbjDe6GMLI https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-oprah-podcast/id1782960381 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	But I love to dance.
0:01.2	I can drop it.
0:01.8	I got knees like Megan now.
0:05.5	Did you like to see?
0:06.7	Yes.
0:07.0	I would love to see.
0:10.3	Okay.
0:10.7	Okay.
0:11.0	I'll be like.
0:12.2	Hey.
0:12.7	Hey.
0:17.0	Hi.
0:24.6	Hi. Hi everybody. Thank you for joining me on the Oprah Podcasts. So great to be here with you who are watching and those of you are listening and great to be with this fantastic audience in New York City.
0:32.6	So I am really, really, really excited for this episode
0:43.0	because I have been waiting to share with you all the details of how my life has just
0:52.0	opened up in ways that I could never have imagined. Okay. I feel strong. I feel
0:59.5	vibrant and I feel more connected and alive than I have in decades, in decades. And I can honestly
1:09.2	say I feel liberated. I feel a sense of freedom. And the reason
1:14.5	I'm so excited to share this is because just like me, I know that 74% of Americans, that's almost
1:21.9	three quarters of us in this country, share the same struggle, being overweight or living with obesity.
1:30.6	And besides cancer, did you know this,
1:32.6	besides cancer and heart disease,
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Harpo, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Harpo and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.