Oprah on Sarah Palin Presidential Chances: Nil!

From one influential to woman to another, Oprah Winfrey has a message for Sarah Palin: best of luck with that 2012 Presidential campaign... you'll need it!

In the latest issue of Parade, the talk show host refers to the reality star as "charming and likable." But can she foresee Palin as President of the United States? No.

"It does not scare me because I believe in the intelligence of the American public," Oprah said.

 Oprah on Sarah Palin Presidential Chances: Nil!

Winfrey also admits she's "succumbed" to the notion that she's a "brand," while explaining how Michael Jackson influenced her decision to branch off with her own network.

"I thought, I don't want to be Michael Jackson. This [Vanity Fair] article specifically said that after Thriller, which sold over 100 million albums and is still the highest-selling album of all time, when he then did Bad, which sold 20 million albums, he felt like a failure. Anybody today would bow down in prayer for 20 million.

"I didn't want to be that person who's been given this great opportunity of a network and thinking, but how am I going to make it what the Oprah Show has been for 25 years? What I recognize is that it took me at least 10 solid years to build [that show]."

OWN will launch on January 1.

Oprah Winfrey’s TV Channel Gives Her Newfound Freedom

 Oprah Winfrey’s TV Channel Gives Her Newfound Freedom

Oprah Winfrey may be ending one chapter in her life with the end of her hit talk show, but she’s certainly opening another. With the start of her TV channel, Oprah says it’s given her a newfound freedom because she now believes that she can do anything.

“The great benefit of having your own channel is that you can be walking down the street. The other day I was in a restaurant, and there was the most handsome waiter. I was like, ‘Well, what are you interested in doing? You have a very good TV face.’ I look at everything. If I have an idea, it feels like a huge paint box. So I have moved from ‘Oh my God, what am I going to do?’ to ‘I can do anything.’ “

Even though Oprah is one of the most successful women in the world, that does not guarantee anything — she’s still nervous about whether or not people will tune in.

Will you be watching Oprah’s new programming?

Oprah Wanted To Build A Boat Or Move To France

 Oprah Wanted To Build A Boat Or Move To France

Oprah sits down with PARADE for their December 26th issue to chat about launching her network, her other retirement choices, and standing behind the President.

She shares what her original options were for retirement, before committing to launching her network:

“I was questioning, Why don’t I build a boat and sail around the world? Why don’t I learn French and find a nice little house in Provence? I could see myself bicycling with my baguettes and the whole thing. But I talked it over with my friends, and they all said, ‘You’re not going to be happy doing nothing.’ ”

On failure:

“What will be a failure is if nobody comes and watches this network. What others will perceive as failure is if some shows don’t succeed. I’m concerned about the bigger overall picture: my belief that people are basically good and want to see the good in them reflected through their experiences and the shows that they watch. This is a gamble I’m taking. I believe that the banal state of television, the kind of insipid space that we’re in–that you can have as many channels as we have and not find anything that really interests you–means that to a great extent we’ve lost our way.”

Oprah shares that she still firmly believes in President Obama:

“I think that no one understands until you’ve been in that seat the enormous pressure to please and satisfy everybody. And I think instead of being grateful for where we are and what he has done, we’ve forgotten that we were on the brink of a depression when he took over this office. And as everybody celebrates the holiday season and sits around with their families, regardless of your circumstance, we could’ve had breadlines. How soon we forget that.”

Will she ever consider an ambassador position:

“Nobody’s offered [that] to me in this administration. But I will tell you a funny story. When I was at the Kennedy Center Honors for Tina Turner [in 2005], I was sitting at Colin Powell’s table, and he said that we were in the ambassadors room [a room at the State Department with portraits of ambassadors and secretaries of state]. And I said, ‘Gee, this is really–this is lovely. An ambassador, I think that would be really great.’ He goes, ‘Name your country, baby, name your country.’ ”

You can check out the rest of her interview at PARADE’s site.
Photos by WENN

Oprah Confronts Lesbian Rumors In Barbara Walters Interview

 Oprah Confronts Lesbian Rumors In Barbara Walters Interview

Oprah Winfrey has been dogged by rumors about her sexual orientation for YEARS. 9 times out of 10, they claim that her best friend, Gayle King, is really her partner and not just a friend and that boyfriend Stedman Graham is just a “cover”. Oprah has finally had it and wants to set the record straight. She shares her frustration with Barbara Walters in an upcoming interview.

“I’m not a lesbian. I’m not even kind of a lesbian.

“The reason why it irritates me is because it means that somebody must think I’m lying. That’s number one,” Winfrey says. “Number two … why would you want to hide it? That is not the way I run my life.”

She explains her relationship with BFF Gayle:

She is … the mother I never had. She is … the sister everybody would want. She is the friend that everybody deserves. I don’t know a better person. I don’t know a better person,”

“It’s making me cry because I’m thinking about … how much … I probably have never told her that. Tissue please. I now need tissue. I’ve never told her that.”

I think with as open and honest about EVERY facet of her life – past and present – that she has been, if she were a lesbian, she would have shared that a LONG time ago. Don’t you?? Maybe the rumors persist because she keeps her relationship with Stedman so private when she’s been so open about everything else?

imnotobsessed/Photos by INF

 

Oprah Admits: “I Have Never Felt Such Fear”

 Oprah Admits: “I Have Never Felt Such Fear”

What is TV titan (and cultural icon) Oprah Winfrey so scared of? The launch of her new cable network, OWN (Oprah Winfrey Network). She admits in O Magazine that she’s REALLY nervous about it.

“I have never felt such fear in all my life. … I was afraid it wouldn’t be what The Oprah Winfrey Show has been, and has meant, for all these years. “

I can see that. ‘The Oprah Winfrey Show’ is a phenomenon. If OWN doesn’t become another phenomenon, the haters will be out in full force talking about Oprah’s failure.

I say, no matter what, nothing can lessen all Oprah has accomplished (she is one of the top-earning women in Hollywood) and will still do.

What are your thoughts on OWN (which launches at noon on January 1)?

(imnotobsessed)