Oprah Winfrey Reveals the Strangest Thing in Her Refrigerator: ‘The Tentacles and the Head Are There’ (Exclusive)

'The Color Purple' producer opened up about her kitchen staples in this week's cover story

Oprah Winfrey is unearthing the slithery, slimy secrets of her kitchen.

In this week’s cover story, Winfrey tells PEOPLE that the strangest thing in her refrigerator is, in fact, an octopus.

“Stedman likes it for breakfast,” she says of her longtime partner, Stedman Graham, adding that the mollusk sits in her refrigerator whole on a “regular basis.”

“The tentacles and the head are there. He likes it seared [or] sautéed with okra and greens,” explains Winfrey.

The media mogul doesn't share the same passion as Graham. She “never” tries it, she says. “He’s the only one who eats it."

If fans wonder where one procures an octopus whole, the A Wrinkle in Time star tells PEOPLE “you have to go to a special fish market to get it.”

As part of her candid cover story interview with PEOPLE, Winfrey opened up about several life milestones, including how it feels to turn 70 next month.

"I will never be done until my last breath is done," she says. "And whenever that happens it will be a peaceful breath."

She also spoke about her outlook on feeling thankful everyday. Winfrey, who starred as Sofia in the the 1985 Oscar-nominated classic The Color Purple, said it changed everything" for her. "It was a spiritual opening for me to see my life in a different way,” she adds.

The musical movie adaptation of the 1985 original film and Broadway show based on Alice Walker’s acclaimed novel will premiere on Christmas Day. Steven Spielberg and Winfrey co-produced the film.

Winfrey begins and ends each day with "Thank you", the touchstone of a cherished practice in gratitude she recommends to everyone. "If you train yourself to do that, you walk through life feeling the abundance instead of the scarcity," she says. "Obviously, people will say, 'Yeah, well, that's easy for you to say, Oprah.' But I've been doing that forever."

Related: Oprah Winfrey Reigns Supreme in Purple While Promoting The Color Purple: See All Her Looks

Also in the interview, Winfrey opened up about how she is no stranger to scrutiny over her weight.

"It was public sport to make fun of me for 25 years," Winfrey says. "I have been blamed and shamed, and I blamed and shamed myself."

One hurtful moment came early in her career, when she landed on acerbic fashion critic Mr. Blackwell’s list. "I was on the cover of some magazine and it said, 'Dumpy, Frumpy and Downright Lumpy,'" she recalls. "I didn’t feel angry. I felt sad. I felt hurt. I swallowed the shame. I accepted that it was my fault."

Winfrey is optimistic that she now has a better handle on how to maintain a healthy weight long-term and rid herself of shame once and for all. Using a holistic approach that includes regular exercise and other lifestyle tweaks, Winfrey confirms she has also added a weight-loss medication to her regimen.

Related: Oprah Winfrey Reveals She Uses Weight-Loss Medication as a ‘Maintenance Tool': ‘I’m Absolutely Done with the Shaming’ (Exclusive)

Weight fluctuations "occupied five decades of space in my brain, yo-yoing and feeling like why can’t I just conquer this thing, believing willpower was my failing," says Winfrey, whose dogged rehabilitation after knee surgery in 2021 kick-started what has been steady weight loss over the last two years.

"After knee surgery, I started hiking and setting new distance goals each week. I could eventually hike three to five miles every day and a 10-mile straight-up hike on weekends," she said. "I felt stronger, more fit and more alive than I’d felt in years."

Now, she said, "I eat my last meal at 4 o’clock, drink a gallon of water a day, and use the WeightWatchers principles of counting points. I had an awareness of [weight-loss] medications, but felt I had to prove I had the willpower to do it. I now no longer feel that way."

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