You've articled something I've thought about for a while now, Q. I'm rather ambivalent towards her, but I've always erred on the side of giving her a break. For a bagizillionaire who HAS to some degreed conquered the world, I think she could be a lot more annoying. I think she does have maybe a titch of a god complex, but you know what, I've seen her do more good for humanity than I've ever seen god do. Yeah, there's often a circus around stuff she gives her money to, but I always assume she's giving a lot of money to things we don't hear about as well.
Surprisngly enough, I didn't really realize how much antipathy she engendered until I moved to Chicago. Everyone I know here HATES her.
I'm sure by this point she does have mixed feelings about leaving the show.
I just think more power to her. She's a middle-aged African American woman who came from what seem like Color Purple-esque beginnings. She's made an inconceivable amount of money with a level of fame to match it. I've never ONCE heard her attribute her success to Jesus.
I think sometimes people take issue with her followers, and I agree anyone who's all invested in listening to Oprah to know how to live pretty much reaps what she or he sows. But I think that about anything that people live by, whether it's a belief in god, or yoga or veganism or whatever. There are bad apples in every bunch.
Whatever she does, I believe it's authentic, even is she just kind of ridiculous. I think she's earned it. If I was Oprah I would care what I think. I, Phyllis, that is. About I as Oprah.
Whenever I think of Oprah, I think of one episode I caught a few years ago. It's the kind of story that haters will say proves their point, but I just thought it was really funny. I think they were showing her screening Dreamgirls in the little cinema at the Harpo compound. She wasn't acting all egomanical about anything, but when she got to the screening room, someone was sitting in her chair. And she simply said, hey, that's my chair. And the chair was vacated so quickly. But if I got to watch a sneak of Dreamgirls in MY own cinema at my tv compound I'd want to sit in my effing chair, too.
Updated On: 11/21/09 at 12:13 AM