Anna Wintour, editor-in-chief of American Vogue, attends the ribbon cutting ceremony to officially re-open the Charles Engelhard Court, centerpiece of the newly renovated American Wing, at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 18, 2009 in New York City. (Photo by Neilson Barnard/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Anna Wintour (Getty Images)more pics »Winfrey, Wintour, and the Vogue cover shot in 1998. In outtakes from an interview segment for 60 Minutes that aired this Sunday, Anna Wintour details telling Oprah Winfrey that she maybe wanted to lose a few pounds before appearing on the cover of Wintour's Vogue in 1998.
It was a very gentle suggestion I went to Chicago to visit Oprah, and I suggested that it might be an idea that she lose a little bit of weight. I said simply that you might feel more comfortable. She was a trooper!
Aw, she was a trooper, you guys! Oprah was totally just a brave little champion about being told that she was too fat to be on the cover of a magazine. Wintour goes on to note that Oprah did indeed go on a "stringent" diet and dropped the weight, and that the cover was one of the most successful in history.
Of course, it's not just Oprah that Wintour thinks needs to skip a meal or two. In a seperate unaired segment, Wintour says that she understands American's struggle with obesity: I'd just been on a trip to Minnesota, where I can only kindly describe most of the people I saw as little houses. There's such an epidemic of obesity in the United States, and for some reason, everybody focuses on anorexia. Remember: this is Anna Wintour describing people kindly.
You can see the aired segment from 60 Minutes below, and check out all the awesomely horrifying outtakes over at CBS's website.
Winfrey, Wintour, and the Vogue cover shot in 1998.
