Oprah goes on secret vacation eating binge

Friends fear her binge eating is out of control. At 47, Oprah now tips the scales at 220 pounds, up 90 pounds from her fat-free size of 130 pounds just 21/2 years ago. 

And she's so embarrassed about it that she refused to leave her suite during a recent vacation on a nearly deserted private island in the Bahamas. 

"Oprah was paranoid that someone other than her entourage would see her in a bathing suit," the source on the island-resort said. "She had lunch on the beach a few times, and she sat with her back to the ocean. What was she afraid of? That a passing fisherman would see her? 

Pals say the 5-foot-7 multi-millionaire TV star and magazine publisher simply can't help herself. 

She escaped from the stateside hustle-and-bustle and Chicago's crummy winter weather last month for a week's vacation on Mush Cay with eight friends and employees. A source on the 150-acre $325,000-a-week getaway 85 miles south of Nassau said that when resort bigs heard the notoriously picky Oprah was on the way, they replaced their regular chef with one flown in from nearby Miami. 

Amazingly, the talk-show hostess - with-the-mostest ditched the new chef's lavish buffets to dine on veggies - at least in front of everyone. 

Alone in the luxury of her suite, however, Oprah did some serious eating. 

"One afternoon she asked, real loud for all to hear, that the chef bring her a veggie sandwich to her suite," the source said. "Then she buttonholed him when she was away from her friends and asked him to include a pecan pie, too. When the staff cleaned later, the veggie sandwich was intact and the pie had vanished. There were just a few crumbs left in the dish." 

Oprah's secretive overeating has also been noticed by those in her Chicago entourage. Friends are worried that this time Oprah's really out of control. She's ballooned before, but they fear there won't be any going back this time. 

"Oprah is a closet eater," said one close friend. 

"She likes snacks like Cheetos and especially Doritos. 

She loves saltine crackers and is crazy about peanut butter and jelly. 

She has a junk-food stash in her home, her office, her dressing room, her studio office - even her car!

She is starting to accept the fact that she was born to be fat.

She believes she can't force her body to become something it's not at least for long. 

She's slimmed down one, two, three times.. but she always eats her way back to being big." 

Pals say Oprah's eating is out of control because her motivational speaker beau Stedman Graham wasn't with her during her vacation. He's been promoting his book Teens Can Make It Happen. 

When Stedman tags along, as he did on their recent trip to South Africa, Oprah eats sensibly - healthy foods and small portions. But when he's not around, she eats whatever and as much as she wants. 

"Stedman's been touring and has speaking engagements. With him out of the picture, she's losing it completely," says a concerned pal. 

"But Stedman is telling friends that every time he gets back from a trip, Oprah's put on more weight, and he's worried about her health." 

Beauty earned her stardom

The 32-year-old former model originally wanted to study law, before a friend suggested she go to Milan and try modelling. It was seeing her photograph that inspired an Italian director to cast her in his film, leading to roles in a number of Italian and French movies. Then her photo caught the eye of Francis Ford Coppola, who cast her in Bram Stoker's Dracula, which led to a role in Under Suspicion with Gene Hackman and Morgan Freeman. Now she is in negotiations to join Keanu Reeves in both sequels to the hugely popular Matrix.

In Malena, she plays a school teacher who is desired by every adolescent boy but arouses the jealousy of all the local women in her small, war-torn Sicilian village. Hollywood has responded positively to the film, which has won two Oscar nominations, and to Monica herself.

Edward Norton was reportedly seen at a screening with her and wants to work with her, while George Clooney rang and wanted to meet her and so does Bruce Willis. The film's director Giuseppe Tornatore, of Cinema Paradiso fame, says of his star: "Monica is mysterious."
' I feel comfortable with myself, but not because I'm beautiful. I'm a lucky person because I've been loved a lot'

Behind her beauty there is a world you want to know. But, unlike so many beautiful women, she doesn't think her beauty is everything.

Monica, tell us about your character, the Sicilian school teacher, in Malena?

"I come from a small village in Italy, so I can understand Malena because I know what it means to live in a place where everybody knows everybody. I know what it means to live in a place where you are walking down the street and men look at you and women are jealous of you. On the other hand, I'm completely different to Malena. I'm independent and travel all the time."

Now that you're a celebrity, how do they treat you back home?

"Almost the same as in Malena - except walking down the street now is even worse. People looked at me before just because I was beautiful. Now it's because I'm beautiful and famous."

Do you understand what it means to be the object of young men's affections?

Of course. I started to be a woman when I was only 12. Recently I was in Paris and saw Charlotte Rampling, who is still beautiful, so sensual and incredible. I believe beauty is nothing to do with age, nothing to do with physical beauty. I can meet beautiful women and men, but if I speak with them and they're stupid then after five minutes I don't see the beauty any more. When you're beautiful, people are curious about you, but if there's nothing behind it...."

Has beauty been a handicap for you?

"If you're stupid it is a handicap, but not if you're intelligent and know how to use your beauty. I feel fine and comfortable with myself, but not because I'm beautiful. I know many beautiful people whose lives are terrible because they feel so uncomfortable with themselves. Being comfortable is not about what you look like but how you feel. I'm a lucky person because I've been loved a lot. I have a great family. I had a happy, solid childhood with loving parents, no siblings but good friends, and went to the same school all my life."

Did making Malena present you with any particular challenges?

"The idea of the film was a challenge. I have few words in the film and I wanted to see if I could make my part exist just by using my body. It was possible to do it. I learned how a body could speak. Acting is not words. Holly Hunter in The Piano didn't speak and she won an Oscar."

You worked with Gene Hackman and Morgan Freeman on Under Suspicion. What was that like?

"They were really nice to me. It was my first English-language feature film and I was working with two of the greatest actors in the world."

You married the French actor Vincent Cassel a year ago.

"Yes. We met on L'Appartement, then did Dobermann, and we have another film coming out called Brotherhood Of The Wolf'."

You have been compared to Italian screen sirens Sophia Loren and Claudia Cardinale. How does that feel?

"I have dreamed about these actresses. For me, they are a symbol of beauty and talent. I met Claudia Cardinale, she was a great woman. I haven't met Sophia Loren, but I would love to. She's still working. Beauty doesn't have age."

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