Oprah’s Little Red Wagon

Explicit content warning

10/06/23 • 43 min

In Retrospect with Susie Banikarim and Jessica Bennett

In 1988, Oprah Winfrey revealed on her hugely popular talk show that she’d shed 67 pounds, which she illustrated to her audience by wheeling out a little red wagon full of exactly that much animal fat. That show, the highest-rated of her 25-year run, would kickstart a cycle of speculation about this wildly successful woman’s body that would endure for decades. In this episode, Susie and Jess explore why Oprah’s weight struggles have been the subject of so much fascination, her recent special that touches on that scrutiny, the rise of Ozempic and the pressure women feel to be perfect.

FOR MORE:

Oprah Daily’s The State of Weight Special (Oprah Daily)
Making Oprah podcast (WBEZ)
From the Archives: Oprah Winfrey Cover Story (Vogue)
Losing It in the Anti-Dieting Age (New York Times Magazine)

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

FOR MORE:

Oprah Daily’s The State of Weight Special (Oprah Daily)
Making Oprah podcast (WBEZ)
From the Archives: Oprah Winfrey Cover Story (Vogue)
Losing It in the Anti-Dieting Age (New York Times Magazine)

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Previous Episode

Pamela Anderson & That Iconic Red Swimsuit

When lifeguard CJ Parker, played by Pamela Anderson, ran in slow-mo down a sandy California beach in her iconic cherry red swimsuit — you know the one, low in the front, hiiiiiigh on the sides — she didn’t just turn “Baywatch” into the number-one TV show in America, she became the enduring symbol of 90s sexuality. In this episode, Jess and Susie trace that swimsuit’s surprising history — and its ripple effects.

Guests:

Pamela Anderson, actor, activist and author
Susan Douglas, professor of media studies at the University of Michigan and author of “Enlightened Sexism”

FOR MORE:

Pamela Anderson Doesn’t Need Your Redemption. She’s Just Fine. (NY Times)
How Baywatch Went from Early Belly Flop to the Big Screen (NY Times)
Pamela: A Love Story (Netflix)

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Next Episode

The Word We Won’t Use on This Show

It’s “problematic.” In this mini episode, Jess rants about her dislike of this overly simplistic label (used to describe everything from people to paint colors), and Susie asks her why, if that’s the case, she can’t seem to stop using it.

FOR MORE:

If Everything Is ‘Trauma,’ Is Anything? (NY Times)
I Was Wrong About Trigger Warnings (The Atlantic)
What If Calling People Out, We Called Them In? (NY Times)
The Problem With the Word 'Problematic’ (The Atlantic)

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In Retrospect with Susie Banikarim and Jessica Bennett - Oprah’s Little Red Wagon

Transcript

Speaker 100:00:01.800

There's an episode of Oprah Winfrey's talk show from nineteen eighty eight that I always think about because it touches on so many things I've also struggled with. It's her highest rated episode of all time, and in it, a svelt Oprah in tight Calvin Klein Genes dramatically reveals to her audience that she has just lost sixty seven pounds and tells them how she did it. What I did was I fasted without cheating for solid six weeks. And to demonstrat