Oprah Talks Depression, Emotional Eating

Is macaroni and cheese one of Oprah Winfrey's favorite things?

The queen of daytime, 56, has always been up-front about her struggle with emotional eating, and she recently opened up about one particular low point in her past. When her film Beloved, based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning Toni Morrison novel, debuted to a disappointing opening weekend in 1998, Winfrey admitted to feeling deeply affected.

"It premiered on a Friday and I remember hearing on Saturday morning that we got beat by something called [Bride of] Chucky," the talk-show tycoon and actress recalled in an outtake from next Monday's premiere of Piers Morgan Tonight. "I didn't even know what Chucky was. So I asked my chef at the time, Art Smith, to make some macaroni and cheese … and I ate about 30 pounds worth. I'm not kidding! It's the only time in my life I was ever depressed. I recognized I was depressed because I've done enough shows [to know], 'Oh, this is what those people must feel like.'"

Winfrey isn't known for her fighting spirit for nothing. She used the failure as a learning experience. "I think the way life is set up for most people who have the opportunity to succeed, is that if you get the lesson, you don't have to repeat that again," she said. —KIMBERLY STEELE