Cindy Crawford called out Oprah Winfrey for making her ‘stand up and show off her body’ in wild interview
Cindy Crawford's modeling career peaked in the 1980s when she walked big fashion shows and was featured in elite fashion magazines, earning her the supermodel moniker. In 1986 she was invited on Oprah Winfrey's show, and her appearance created history albeit for the wrong reasons. By objectifying Crawford's attractiveness, Winfrey placed the then 20-year-old in a humiliating circumstance during the interview. The media tycoon asked the model to "stand up just a moment" to show off her slim figure. "This is what I call a body," Winfrey remarked as Crawford reluctantly posed for the camera. Winfrey's disrespectful inquiries directed at John Casablancas, the founder of Elite Modeling Agency, who was also present, made her behavior even more embarrassing. “So did you have to groom her?” she asked. “Did she always have this body? This is unbelievable.”
The public didn’t realize how disgusting Oprah Winfrey was in 1986 when she was interviewing super model Cindy Crawford. Oprah was probably thinking about Cindy being a great sacrifice to Oprah’s best friend, Harvey Weinstein. “Stand up and let everyone see this body”, Oprah… pic.twitter.com/ZnLVUBwRr7
— 𝔹𝕦𝕕 & ℂ𝕒𝕤𝕖𝕪… (@bud_cann) October 25, 2023
Years later the former Playboy model criticized the TV host for traumatizing her forever saying, “I was like the chattel or a child, be seen and not heard." As per Today, Crawford made the startling accusation against Winfrey during her 2023 interview on the first episode of the Apple TV+ four-part docu-series 'The Super Models,' which premiered in September of last year. “When you look at it through today’s eyes, Oprah’s like, ‘Stand up and show me your body,” she continued. “Show us why you’re worthy of being here.’ At the moment, I didn’t recognize it. And watching it back, I was like, ‘Oh, my gosh. That was so not OK, really.’ Especially from Oprah.”
According to the Daily Mail, the awkward interview was discreetly switched to private mode from the host's page on YouTube hours after the 'Fair Game' actress called out the media magnet. Winfrey's close friend and anchor Gayle King expressed disappointment towards the unfortunate resurfaced interview. "I haven't seen it, and I want to see it, but I'm surprised and a little disappointed," King told ETOnline during the 2023 Albie Awards in New York. "Because I know Cindy's been on her show many, many, times and it has always been a pleasant experience, [so] I would hate to think that something that happened years ago [could have bothered her], she added.
However, she defended her decades-old friendship stating that Winfrey would never try to humiliate anyone, "It's not Oprah's thing to humiliate or make anybody feel bad. I have to see it, but, as far as I know, everything is good between Oprah and Cindy," King stated. Over the years, Crawford and Winfrey remained professional, with the former model making ten more appearances on the talk show after her 1986 debut. In 2013, she also appeared as a featured guest on the media mogul's Master Class on OWN.
Crawford also discussed the demanding modeling schedules and starving herself to achieve a supermodel appearance in the documentary. "I passed out there more than once. Especially right before lunch, you pass out and you would faint. And then they would prop you back up and you would do it all over again," she recalled. Winfrey never openly addressed the controversy.