Barbara Walters On Star Jones Weight Loss Dramas

In a previous blog entitled Twitter I discussed how Oprah Winfrey had an entire show at the beginning of April dedicated to losing weight in the public eye.  Her three guest were Valerie Bertinelli, Marie Osmond and Star Jones who was the focus of the majority of the one hour show.

(Image of Star Jones From DailyCeleb.com - All Rights Reserved)

During the approximate 40 minutes Oprah dedicated to Star Jones and her drastic weight loss of 160 pounds over three years, Star was extremely candid about why she gained 75 pounds in one year, her emotional state of shame, denial and angst and how her weight impacted her career on The View.  Although there were other circumstances blamed for her termination on The View, some felt her weight played a part.  Not only her excessive public weight gain but her refusal to discuss her obvious gastric impact which she termed "medical intervention".

At some point in the past, before her interview with Star, Oprah had interviewed Barbara Walters about what happened with Star Jones and why she was removed from The View after nine years on the show.

After the first segment of interviewing Star the past interview with Barbara Walters was played for Star and the audience to see.

What Barbara Walters Had To Say About Star Jones Leaving The View

Barbara started her past interview with Oprah by saying "Star who had been perhaps the most popular member of the cast began to change.  The first thing that happened is that she was clinically obese.  She knew this herself."

"She (Star) could barely walk onto the set.  You could hear her breathing and she decided to have a gastric bypass operation, which she did.  Then she decided she would tell nobody and then we had to lie on the set everyday because she said it was portion control and pilates.  Well I mean we knew it was portion control and pilates that doesn't."

Oprah turned to the audience and said "we in the audience knew it wasn't portion control and pilates too."

Barbara said "and you know the whole point....  Oprah said "why did you all go along with it?"   Barbara said "she was our colleague and she really did not want us to out her and we cared about her and felt we owed that to her and we said let's talk about it she said 'no' and Barbara demonstrated Star pushing her away.  Barbara said Star said "she didn't want to be a poster child for it (gastric bypass).  So little and little the audience was uncomfortable with it.  They didn't relate to her anymore."

Star's Response To Barbara Walters

Star's response to Barbara's prior interview with Oprah?  "I'm so sorry that I placed a burden on my collegues I never asked them to lie.  I don't know where pilates and portion control came from.  I think a tabloid actually wrote that first."

Tabloid Wrote Pilates And Portion Control First

Oprah "because I'd heard pilates too and at the time Star I was doing pilates and I went well damn this pilates is not.... Star said "can I call Star and get some Pilates"  Oprah said "and see what kind of pilates she's doing."

Medical Intervention Not Gastric Bypass

Star "I'm slipping up, notice how I don't say smart as a lawyer I know how to couch my words and I would say medical intervention.  Because that's what I said from the very beginning.  I never said it was just exercise and portion control. I wanted to keep it private, I wanted them to keep my confidence but I didn't realize that I was placing a burden on the people around me."

"I wish that I had the strength and courage to have faced my own demons so that I could have allowed someone to help me.  That's really where it was.  I didn't have that courage.  If I had been stronger than I could have let people in."

Oprah said "and did you not have that courage because ultimately...what I thought as a viewer is that you were, exactly what you just told us in the last segment, that you were ashamed and I wasn 't thinking ashamed of the weight because I really believed you along with so many other people that you were fine being overweight.  I thought you were ashamed of gastric bypass.  I thought you were ashamed to say I did it this way.  And I didn't work out everyday And I didn't do the diet route.  I thought you were ashamed of that."

Star Ashamed Of Selling Viewers A Bill Of Goods

Star  "Oprah that would have been the easiest thing in the world is to say it was gastric bypass.  I can give you chapter and verse about the surgery.  The harder thing was admitting that I was selling a bill of goods for the years, for those last years

I didn't want to talk about it at all.  Oprah "because talking about made you not be the big bold brazen Star we had come to know.  Because talking about it made you less confident and in control.

Star Didn't Know Who She Was

Star "I didn't know who I was.  I didn't know who I was going to be.  I had no idea Since I'm 18 years old I'd never worn anything in a size that started with a 1.  I wore a size 20, a size 22, a size 24, a size 26.  So I didn't even know who I was gonna be. I don't know what people understand what 300 pounds means.  That's Shaq O'Neil and he's running up and down the basketball court, he's 7 foot 900.  I mean it's huge.  And I was the same weight?

Didn't Realize The Need For Therapy

"So for me emotionally I knew I had to lose the weight but I didn't realize I should do therapy.  And that's what I did. I got into very intense therapy and I started to lose the weight (and she pointed to her head ) here.  And then I felt like I could talk about it."

Summary

Anyone who has watched The View for years, as I have, is probably aware that Star Jones didn't just balloon from 220 pounds to over 307.  They watched her go up the scale and then start shrinking.  But as Barbara pointed out, Star wouldn't share her journey.  In fact, she couched her words and said "medical intervention".  Barbara pointed out that Star didn't want to be a "poster child" for gastric bypass.  That is understandable.

There were other very public issues with Star Jones and probably why she was terminated.  Her wedding and her use of corporate sponsors to fund it were found very distasteful by many viewers.  There was also the issue of her leaking her termination before a formal announcement was made which obviously enraged Barbara.  As a result all traces of Star were wiped clean from The View almost overnight.

Whether you liked Star, hated her or had no feelings, her interview with Oprah showed courage and clearly demonstrated someone struggling with an eating disorder and classic emotional food addiction.

What are your thoughts about Star Jones and her interview with Oprah?  Did you agree she should be fired from The View?

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