Memo to Oprah: This self-flagellation has got to stop.
When I heard the news that you’d hit 200 pounds (again!) and had shamefully confessed it on the cover of the January issue of your own magazine, I wanted to fly to Chicago and give you a hug.
Because you’re not the only woman entrepreneur who’s struggling with her weight. I’m right up there with you–at 5′6″, 195 pounds. That’s a BMI of 31.5–obesity is defined as 30 or higher.
Now I’m not making excuses for my weight. Though I walk several miles a day when I’m in New York and try to eat good carbs (veggies, not bagels) and healthy proteins (salmon, not burgers), the truth is that I’ve been known to grab a Milky Way bar on the way to a meeting if I haven’t had time for lunch and gulp down a can of Coke if I didn’t get much sleep the night before. And unlike you, my doctors told me several years ago that I don’t have a thyroid condition so I can’t use that as an excuse, either.
Oprah, you and I both know that if we ate less and exercised more, we’d both be healthier and trimmer. We might even be able to fit into one of those skin-tight midriff outfits that you modeled on the cover of your magazine back in 2005 when you slimmed down to an awesome 160. But we also know that our businesses often come first–and that, when a crisis hits, we’ve got to jump off that treadmill and put out that fire ASAP. And now that we’re smack in the middle of the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, we’ve got to keep our eyes on the prize.
So here’s my advice, for what it’s worth: Stop beating yourself up about your weight (just ditch those purple pant suits and you’ll look fantastic!) and start paying attention to what’s happening at your magazine and your TV talk show. According to a July 2008 article in Folio, the bible of the publishing industry, O, The Oprah Magazine has seen a 10 percent drop in circulation over the past three years. Meanwhile, your magazine’s ad revenue increased slightly to $57 million during the first quarter of 2008 and ad pages remained flat at about 382. I don’t know how the numbers ended up for 2008, but I’m sure that 2009 will be even tougher.
But remember: You’re still the queen of TV ratings and takings. TV Guide recently reported that you pulled in $384 million from your talk show, making you television’s top-earning celebrity.
Give yourself a nice, big hug for that!
Oprah, as queen of the networks, you’ve got every right to believe that you should be able to wave your magic wand and banish those awful 40 pounds to a fat farm far, far away. But the reality is that weight is hard to lose, especially for busy women like us as we get older.
So while I commend your New Year’s resolution to find balance in your life and make your health your top priority, I also encourage you to make 2009 the year of self-acceptance–and to encourage your viewers and readers to accept their less-than-perfect bodies as well.
In fact, Oprah, I’ll make you a bet. If you and I can both slim down to 180 by Dec. 31, 2009, I’ll treat you to dinner at Per Se, Thomas Keller’s sinfully delicious restaurant in the Time Warner Center at Columbus Circle. If we miss the mark, I’ll take you out for pizza at Patsy’s, a really great little pizzeria around the corner from my apartment in Greenwich Village.
Waddya say?
Rosalind
This entry was posted on Monday, January 5th, 2009 at 8:47 am and is filed under Business. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.2 Responses to “Memo to Oprah: Keep Your Eyes on the Prize”
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January 6th, 2009 at 11:33 am
Hey, can I get in on that deal?
January 6th, 2009 at 7:09 pm
Can I get a big fat hug too? Try as we might, first you have to like yourself, then except yourself, then see how the weight goes. 5′10 375 =50 on the BMI meter. I have a little work ahead of me.