After serving on WeightWatchers’s board of directors for almost a decade, Oprah Winfrey decided to step down.
Thilo Semmelbauer, chairman of WeightWatchers’s board, acknowledged Ms. Winfrey’s exit from the company in a statement, writing that he would “dearly miss her presence on the Board.”
“Oprah has been an inspiring presence and passionate advocate for our members, providing critical insights and counsel that has helped shape WeightWatchers over these last 8 years,” he wrote. “On behalf of the Board, I would like to thank her for her energy, dedication, and for continuing to play a role as collaborator and thought partner going forward.”
Ms. Winfrey, who joined the board in 2015, stated that she was not cutting ties with the company entirely. “I look forward to continuing to advise and collaborate with WeightWatchers and CEO Sima Sistani in elevating the conversation around recognizing obesity as a chronic condition, working to reduce stigma, and advocating for health equity,” she said.
After news broke of Ms. Winfrey’s departure, WW International Inc. shares plummeted by 27 percent when the market opened Thursday morning, per Bloomberg. The stock sank to its lowest point since the company went public in late 2001, down to $2.79 a share.
Weight-Loss Medications
The media mogul indicated that she would donate her company stock to the National Museum of African American History and Culture. WeightWatchers said Ms. Winfrey’s donation aims “to eliminate any perceived conflict of interest around her taking weight-loss medications.”The television personality, 70, told People last December that she uses a weight-loss drug “as a maintenance tool” to prevent her weight from fluctuating, along with working out regularly and making other adjustments to her lifestyle.
“I now use it as I feel I need it, as a tool to manage not yo-yoing,” she said.
“The fact that there’s a medically approved prescription for managing weight and staying healthier, in my lifetime, feels like relief, like redemption, like a gift, and not something to hide behind and once again be ridiculed for,” she continued. “I’m absolutely done with the shaming from other people and particularly myself.”
WeightWatchers Shifts Strategy
In addition to Ms. Winfrey, a bevy of other big-name celebrities have reportedly admitted to taking weight-loss drugs, including actress Amy Schumer, comedian Chelsea Handler, actor Tracy Morgan, and television personality Sharon Osbourne, according to NBC’s “Today” show.Forced to contend with the surge in popularity of the medications, WeightWatchers has shifted its diet plan-centric business model in recent years.
“As science advances rapidly, we know there is a significant opportunity to improve outcomes for those using medications,” Ms. Sistani said. “Clinical interventions require better education, access, care management, community and the integration of a complementary lifestyle program for best results.”
She continued, “It is our responsibility, as the trusted leader in weight management, to support those interested in exploring if medications are right for them.”
“The medical community recognizes obesity as a chronic condition, and the need to treat it as such; so does the company’s approach to new treatment offerings,” the statement reads. The program aims to fill a gap in the market “as members navigate life on new weight loss medications.” It also provides members access to the WeightWatchers Clinic, where prescriptions for weight-loss drugs can be obtained.
“What we’ve seen is that people taking GLP-1 medications need help with a different set of behavioral challenges in comparison to people not on these medications,” WeightWatchers’s chief scientific officer, Dr. Gary Foster, said in a statement. “The WeightWatchers GLP-1 Program helps members establish and adhere to healthy habits while the food noise from GLP-1 medications is reduced.”
