WeightWatchers CEO apologizes to body positivity influencer after Oprah Winfrey special on weight loss drugs
WW CEO Sima Sistani apologized to body acceptance influencer Katie Sturino for the company's role in contributing to "toxic" diet culture in the past.
The CEO of WW, the weight loss company also known as WeightWatchers, apologized to a body positivity advocate for the company's role in contributing to "toxic" diet culture in the past.
On Wednesday, WW CEO Sima Sistani posted an Instagram story video directly addressing influencer Katie Sturino, author of “Body Talk: How to Embrace Your Body and Start Living Your Best Life” and founder of Megababe Beauty.
Sturino, who has built a following of more than 802,000 on Instagram, had posted her "unfiltered thoughts" about “An Oprah Special: Shame, Blame and the Weight Loss Revolution," which aired on ABC on Monday. Oprah Winfrey, who served as a member of the WW board for almost a decade, used the program to discuss the impact of anti-obesity medications after confirming in December that she takes one herself.
Sistani, who has served as WW's CEO since 2022, was among those present for the special's taping. The company announced last year that it would offer prescription weight-loss drugs and launched a new membership plan for members taking GLP-1 prescriptions drugs such as Ozempic and Wegovy.
“Speaking of WeightWatchers, they had the CEO of WeightWatchers on the program for like 30 seconds last night and she got so close to apologizing on behalf of WeightWatchers,” Sturino said in her video. “She got so close to saying, 'We really got this wrong and we’re sorry for saying it was just willpower, or that like one body is worse than the other, and we’re sorry for all the toxic things we put into diet culture.'”
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