Oprah's Journey to Multi-Billion Dollar Mogul in Never-Before-Seen Interviews (E
Oprah's Journey to Multi-Billion Dollar Mogul in Never-Before-Seen Interviews (E
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00:00 (upbeat music)
00:03 Entertainment Tonight presents
00:04 E.T. Vault Unlocked Oprah.
00:06 You know you've made it
00:07 when Entertainment Tonight is talking to you.
00:09 Five decades of never before seen interviews.
00:11 My greatest gift is my ability to be myself on camera.
00:14 What you never knew about Oprah, the talk show host.
00:17 It's information with inspiration.
00:20 The actress.
00:21 I said to the producer,
00:22 I will do anything to get in this movie.
00:23 And the icon.
00:24 I wanna change the way the world works.
00:27 From her childhood growing up in poverty.
00:29 I was raped by a relative.
00:31 To becoming a multi-billion dollar mogul.
00:33 I have a lot of money.
00:34 How do you use it to the greater and best good?
00:37 Plus her life's biggest regret.
00:39 Big, big, big, big, big, big, big mistake.
00:41 This is E.T. Vault Unlocked Oprah.
00:44 Not just a little show, Entertainment Tonight.
00:48 (humming)
00:51 A leader, a survivor, a bonafide TV titan.
00:54 Welcome to Entertainment Tonight.
00:55 Or you know what, better yet, it's the Oprah Winfrey Show.
00:59 You could say she's one of our favorite things
01:02 to talk about.
01:03 We salute the woman who not only created an empire,
01:06 but also transformed into
01:08 the most powerful media influencer.
01:11 (upbeat music)
01:12 You wanna be an empowered woman, empower other women.
01:16 Life is about trying to grow yourself
01:19 to whatever's the next level.
01:20 Why do people keep wanting you to run for president?
01:22 That is just not gonna happen.
01:23 Okay.
01:24 Yeah, 'cause that would not be my strength.
01:27 Oprah's strength?
01:28 Where do we start?
01:29 Empathy, connection, real talk.
01:31 All reason she's the queen of all media.
01:34 My goal is just to do good work.
01:36 And if other people want to recognize that
01:38 and acknowledge it and you get on Entertainment Tonight
01:41 about it, that's just great.
01:43 Yep, we're all about it.
01:44 And the numbers don't lie.
01:46 Oprah's net worth is estimated at $2.8 billion.
01:49 Also staggering?
01:51 (crowd cheering)
01:53 Winfrey's racked up more than 5,000 episodes of television.
01:57 I'm Oprah Winfrey and welcome to the very first
02:01 national Oprah Winfrey Show!
02:03 It's information with inspiration.
02:07 I think that what our show has evolved to,
02:09 I have never been prouder of the work that we have done.
02:12 For 25 years, Oprah taped her iconic talk show
02:15 at the studio she built,
02:17 something only three women have done.
02:19 Mary Pickford, Lucille Ball, Oprah Winfrey.
02:22 We're the only three who built our own studios.
02:24 That work ethic has helped make Oprah
02:26 the go-to for big celeb sit-downs.
02:29 Were you silent or were you silenced?
02:32 The latter.
02:33 Are you bleaching your skin?
02:35 I have a skin disorder.
02:36 I'm just embarrassed that I didn't make my marriage work.
02:39 In 2011, Oprah launched her own network.
02:41 If you watch for an hour, if you watch for five hours,
02:45 I don't want to waste your time.
02:48 As for the print world, Oprah's conquered that too.
02:51 She's co-authored 20 books and her O Magazine
02:54 had a 20 year run, rebranding online as Oprah Daily.
02:58 I think it's really unhealthy to go around thinking,
03:00 really unhealthy to think, you know, am I powerful?
03:02 What kind of influence do I have?
03:03 I don't, I just do the work, I really do.
03:06 Oprah's empire also includes Weight Watchers.
03:09 I love bread, doesn't mean I'm eating a loaf of it every day.
03:12 The 70 year old has always been candid
03:14 about her weight loss journey.
03:15 I refuse to have my life dictated by numbers.
03:19 I can't believe I'm still talking about weight.
03:21 My life is dedicated to losing weight.
03:23 I mean, who could forget this?
03:25 67 pounds since July 7th.
03:28 In 1988, Oprah dramatically wheeled out a wagon of fat.
03:32 Big, big, big, big, big, big, big mistake.
03:34 When I look at that show, I think it was
03:37 one of the biggest ego trips of my life.
03:39 Looking back now, what would you have told yourself?
03:41 I would have said, don't do it.
03:44 It's a great TV moment, but don't do it.
03:47 The producer's like, oh my God,
03:49 you're gonna drag the wagon of fat?
03:52 And when she joined Weight Watchers in 2015,
03:55 its stock price doubled in one day.
03:57 Shares jumped 11% when Oprah and the company
04:00 signaled support for weight loss drugs.
04:02 What's going on?
04:03 'Cause if this is Weight Watchers,
04:04 please sign me up tonight.
04:05 Well, it's not one thing, it's everything.
04:08 It's not one thing, it's everything.
04:10 It's not one thing, it's everything.
04:11 Now, have you ever wondered what Oprah
04:13 would have been if she wasn't, well, Oprah?
04:16 I always thought I was gonna be a fourth grade teacher.
04:19 Well, seems teaching us all was destiny.
04:22 Her journey began when, at 16 years old,
04:24 Oprah was hired to read the news
04:26 on a Nashville radio station.
04:28 The next year?
04:29 Entering the Miss Fire Prevention Contest,
04:31 that's how this career began.
04:33 And I was the only black girl in the pageant,
04:34 everybody else had red hair.
04:35 The question to me was, what did I wanna do with my life?
04:39 And I had seen Barbara Walters
04:40 on the Today Show that morning,
04:42 I thought, aha, that's a good thing to be.
04:44 So I said I wanted to become a journalist.
04:47 Well, she won the pageant, and at 19,
04:50 she made history, becoming the youngest person
04:52 and first black woman to anchor the news
04:54 on Nashville television.
04:56 In 1976, she relocated to Baltimore
04:59 to anchor the 6 p.m. news, but--
05:01 I got fired.
05:02 Why you--
05:03 (audience laughing)
05:03 Well, demoted.
05:04 I was not a good television reporter,
05:07 I was too emotional.
05:09 So she reluctantly took a job co-hosting
05:12 the station's new talk show, People Are Talking.
05:15 Every day, this is it.
05:16 So here you go next.
05:17 Baltimore is where I learned all of my best life myth.
05:20 Baltimore worked me.
05:22 I didn't just work here, Baltimore worked me.
05:25 Her next move, a morning talk show in Chicago in 1984.
05:29 In just one month, it became the number one
05:31 local talk show, surpassing ratings for Donahue.
05:34 Less than a year later, the Oprah Winfrey Show was born.
05:38 My greatest gift is my ability to be myself on camera.
05:41 People say, you know, gee, I'm hot now,
05:42 I'm doing so great now.
05:43 I've been in television since I was 19 years old,
05:45 so I've been warming up for a while.
05:47 E.T. first met Oprah in 1985.
05:50 Big hair, doing her own makeup,
05:52 her office the size of a closet.
05:54 You know you've made it when entertainment tonight
05:56 is talking to you.
05:57 This was just weeks before the premiere
05:59 of her Oscar nominated movie, The Color Purple.
06:02 When the show goes national in September,
06:04 people will say, oh, that's the girl who was in that movie
06:06 and now she has a talk show,
06:07 but I've been doing that for the longest time.
06:09 My whole career has been based upon
06:11 a connection to the people.
06:13 So I know that if your number one intention
06:16 is to serve the people, the ratings will come.
06:19 The Oprah Winfrey Show went on to become
06:22 the highest rated talk show in television history,
06:25 making Oprah a millionaire at 32.
06:28 (cheering)
06:29 For the first 10 years of this show,
06:31 I didn't have a vacation.
06:32 I didn't, we were doing 220 shows a year.
06:35 I have more balance in my life now
06:37 than I did when I first started.
06:39 I'm gonna be really hurt if I wake up
06:41 and it was a dream.
06:43 That dream would last 25 years.
06:45 Then in 2011 came the end of an era
06:48 and the final episode of the Oprah Winfrey Show.
06:51 I won't say goodbye.
06:53 I'll just say, until we meet again.
06:57 I never wanted to be the person
07:00 who didn't know when to exit the party.
07:04 It was the glorious, most amazing platform
07:08 anybody could have to speak to millions of people every day.
07:11 And I think I exited at exactly the right moment.
07:16 One of the attributes that made Oprah's show
07:18 such a success was her vulnerability,
07:20 especially when it came to her own painful past.
07:23 I was raped by a relative.
07:25 At the time, he was 19 years old.
07:28 The fact of the matter is, it's a big deal
07:30 when it happens to you.
07:33 Seduced as a child by someone
07:36 who is a close member of the family.
07:38 Oprah used her voice to be a champion for other victims.
07:41 I would first like to thank you
07:43 for holding hearings on this important issue.
07:46 In 1991, she testified on Capitol Hill
07:48 to rally support for the National Child Protection Act,
07:52 requiring abusers to be registered
07:54 in a government database.
07:55 A lot of people have come up to me and said, "Thank you."
07:58 Oprah is, without a doubt,
07:59 a survivor of a very difficult childhood.
08:02 She grew up in rural Mississippi, surrounded by poverty.
08:05 The deepest emotion and most prominent emotion
08:08 I would say I felt as a child was being alone,
08:11 being alone and being lonely and not feeling loved
08:13 and getting into trouble in my teens
08:15 like so many teenagers do for the same reason.
08:18 At 14, she became pregnant and gave birth
08:21 to a baby boy who did not survive.
08:23 Afterwards, she moved in with her father
08:25 who helped change the trajectory of her life.
08:27 When that child died, my father said to me,
08:31 "This is your second chance.
08:35 This is your opportunity to seize this moment
08:39 and make something of your life."
08:41 Now I know better so I can do better.
08:45 Oprah ultimately decided not to have more
08:48 of her own children later in life.
08:49 Instead, she did this.
08:51 These are my girls.
08:52 These are our girls.
08:53 It's one fine day.
08:55 Bye, thank you.
08:56 Good girl.
08:56 In 2007, ET made the 10,000-mile journey to South Africa
09:01 for the opening
09:02 of the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls.
09:05 What should we call Miss Oprah?
09:07 What do we call?
09:08 Mama. Mama.
09:09 All this time, I thought I was giving to them,
09:11 but during this whole process of meeting them
09:13 and now being responsible for them,
09:16 I feel that they have given me more
09:18 than I could have ever imagined.
09:20 I have a lot of money.
09:22 How do you use it to the greater and best good?
09:24 How do you use it?
09:25 So I donate to a lot of charities, mostly privately.
09:29 And what I learned is it's wonderful to do good work,
09:33 but I don't wanna just do good work.
09:35 I wanna change the way the world works.
09:38 And Oprah has done just that
09:40 by giving away an estimated $400 million
09:42 of her own money to a variety of causes.
09:45 What would you say has been
09:46 your biggest personal transformation yet?
09:49 The biggest transformation for me
09:51 was living my life with intention
09:53 about what you actually wanna do,
09:55 'cause that's what every sunrise means.
09:56 It's, oh gosh, it's another chance to get it right.
09:59 But I'll kill him dead before I let him bleed me.
10:05 I've watched "The Color Purple" I don't know how many times.
10:07 It's still hard for me to see myself.
10:11 A year ago, I was on my way to California
10:13 and I said to the producer,
10:14 "I will do anything to get in this movie."
10:16 The most exciting, I think,
10:17 was hearing Steven Spielberg say, "You've got the part."
10:21 Now that was just, I mean, out of this world.
10:25 Yes, even Oprah had to audition
10:26 for her big screen debut in 1985.
10:29 Ironically, it was her talk show
10:31 that helped her land the part
10:32 when power producer Quincy Jones was watching.
10:35 I saw her on television,
10:37 saw her talk show in Chicago, bang, she's Sophie.
10:41 But acting for Spielberg gave Oprah major stage fright.
10:45 So he came up to me and whispered in my eye,
10:47 "Do you think you could cry?"
10:48 And I said, "Oh, sure."
10:49 Because if Steven Spielberg asked you to cry,
10:50 you wanna give him a bucket or two.
10:52 First day on the set and I couldn't cry.
10:54 So then I turned around, I started plucking eyelashes
10:56 and poking them under my contact lenses, you know?
10:58 That day it didn't work.
10:59 So I was so upset.
11:01 So I thought I was gonna get kicked out of the movie.
11:03 Oprah says she earned just $35,000 for the performance
11:06 that earned her an Oscar nomination.
11:09 What I like to do more, I'd love to,
11:11 and I think that I will.
11:12 (dramatic music)
11:15 I did all of my own stunt work.
11:19 May I say, I love saying that.
11:20 Every woman I know has some of that freedom.
11:24 That fire inside.
11:25 And what do you do when you have no place to put that fire?
11:27 You might hook up with Terrence Howard if he's next door.
11:31 I got you.
11:32 From "The Butler" to "A Wrinkle in Time,"
11:34 Oprah starred in over 35 projects.
11:37 She helped produce 60 more,
11:38 including the "Color Purple" movie musical.
11:41 And 2014's "Selma."
11:43 In 2015, Oprah helped organize a march on Dr. King Day
11:47 to mark the 50th anniversary of the protest
11:50 we marched alongside.
11:51 Proud to be a part of the historic moment.
11:54 Oprah is right here over my shoulder,
11:56 marching towards the Edmund Pettus Bridge.
11:59 You're actually walking in the footsteps
12:02 of people who come before you.
12:04 (dramatic music)
12:07 I was visiting the set one day
12:12 when Oprah was first starting.
12:14 They said, "Do you wanna be in the movie?"
12:15 I went, "Okay."
12:17 There I am.
12:18 So I was one of the extras,
12:19 but literally you have to blink
12:20 and put it on pause to see me.
12:22 Who knew Gayle King dropped that "Color Purple" Easter egg
12:26 on late night with Seth Meyers.
12:27 And look, we can't celebrate Oprah
12:29 without celebrating their forever friendship
12:31 that started nearly five decades earlier.
12:34 Gayle and I have been friends since she was 21
12:37 and I was 22.
12:38 And there has not been a day where we have not spoken
12:42 at least once or twice a day.
12:44 There's not a day that doesn't go by.
12:46 Last time you laughed so hard it hurt.
12:49 Oh, on the phone with Gayle,
12:52 we're talking about somebody.
12:53 I think that I have heard you start a sentence with,
12:56 "Well, Gayle called me and told me."
12:57 Gayle, so many times.
12:59 It's true.
13:00 But I did call her and tell her.
13:02 The besties met as young journalists
13:04 at Baltimore's WJZ back in 1976.
13:07 Oprah was an anchor and Gayle was a production assistant.
13:10 There was a big snowstorm and she couldn't get home.
13:14 And I said, "You can stay at my house."
13:16 10 years later, the world was introduced to Gayle
13:19 on the Oprah Winfrey Show.
13:20 She became a special correspondent.
13:22 And who could forget the road trips?
13:24 (screaming)
13:27 I thought I'd love to see a man on a horse.
13:31 I know.
13:31 True or false, coyotes are monogamous?
13:35 Yes, they are.
13:36 I need to find me a coyote, don't I?
13:39 (laughing)
13:40 Good morning, America.
13:41 Oprah Winfrey, when she first wakes up, isn't she pretty?
13:45 Go ahead, show 'em that TV smile.
13:46 Wait a minute, and you know what?
13:47 Turn the camera around and look at Glamour Girl.
13:49 (laughing)
13:52 The friendship is at the point, though,
13:54 where you probably don't even have to,
13:55 you can give each other a look and you know exactly
13:58 what's going on. No, we don't even
13:59 have to give each other a look.
14:00 What we try not to do if we're out--
14:02 Is not look at each other.
14:03 Is not look at each other.
14:04 I asked Gayle this, if you guys had any secrets.
14:07 I don't think we have any.
14:08 I think I know everything. I really don't.
14:10 But here's the secret to their 47-year friendship.
14:13 We have always been so supportive of each other,
14:16 but it's been lopsided.
14:18 I mean, she's just been there for me
14:19 and been there for me and been there for me.
14:21 She has a life of her own, and now people can see
14:23 that she has a life of her own.
14:24 The only time that I've ever--
14:26 The only time.
14:27 Sensed a hint of, God, I wish that was me was--
14:29 And that wasn't even jealousy.
14:30 It wasn't jealousy. It was just,
14:31 I wish I could do it too.
14:32 And that was when I was singing on stage
14:35 with Tina Turner. Tina Turner.
14:37 And you got to come down those steps and dance with her.
14:40 But you can't sing.
14:41 Can you?
14:43 (laughing)
14:44 She deeply cares about doing good in the world,
14:47 helping everybody be better, do better.
14:49 Everybody should have a Gayle.
14:51 And I love that people have come
14:52 and they introduce people.
14:54 Even men say, "This is my Gayle."
14:56 She's my sister, my mother,
14:57 and my greatest friend, Gayle King.
14:59 Gayle isn't Oprah's only ride or die.
15:01 Her longtime love, Stedman Graham,
15:03 has been by her side, cheering her on
15:05 for more than 35 years.
15:07 Stedman is a special kind of man.
15:09 It takes a special kind of man, as you know,
15:12 to stand and step back, be in the shadow
15:16 of a woman who has a persona of power,
15:21 and to stand in the shadow, hold your own space,
15:27 and allow the light from that to fall on you,
15:29 and not to be threatened by it,
15:32 or not to try to compete with it,
15:34 or not to resent it in any way.
15:36 The year was 1986.
15:38 Not only had the Oprah Winfrey Show
15:40 just gone into syndication,
15:42 but the talk show host also met her, Honey Graham,
15:44 at a charity event.
15:46 What started as a friendship eventually turned romantic,
15:49 and the couple made it red carpet official
15:51 at the Native Son premiere.
15:53 Have there been times when you thought
15:54 the career came first?
15:56 Definitely.
15:56 I think that this career is extremely important to you.
15:59 I also realize that you're the star,
16:02 and that this is your life and this is what you do,
16:05 and I support you in that.
16:06 I'm a different person when I'm with Stedman.
16:10 I'm not the person that you see on television.
16:12 I'm just a, I'm a puppy.
16:15 I'm a little puppy wagging my tail.
16:18 He softens me.
16:19 After dating for six years, the pair got engaged,
16:23 only to call off the I do's.
16:25 Oprah admits she didn't want a marriage.
16:26 She just wanted to be asked.
16:28 Quote, "The moment after I said yes to his proposal,
16:31 "I had doubts."
16:32 Both Stedman and I say this,
16:34 that had we married, we would not still be together.
16:37 It's not a traditional relationship,
16:38 and marriage is a traditional institution,
16:41 and certain expectations come with marriage.
16:43 The secret to what Oprah has called
16:45 their spiritual partnership?
16:47 The 70-year-old credits Stedman
16:48 for creating his own identity beyond being Oprah's man.
16:52 The thing about our relationship
16:54 is I want the best for her.
16:55 I'm dedicated to her happiness,
16:57 and so that's great for her,
16:59 and I want her to be the best she could possibly be.
17:01 He has always been the person who says,
17:05 dance, sing, be, do what you need to do to be your best.
17:10 Expecting people to do what you would do in a situation
17:18 only leads to your disappointment.
17:21 Just dropping gems all over the place.
17:23 That's what she does.
17:24 Yes, indeed.
17:25 That's just one of the many pearls of wisdom
17:27 that Oprah has gifted us with over the years.
17:29 And lucky for all of us,
17:30 this era of Oprah shows no signs of slowing down.
17:33 No, indeed.
17:34 Good night, everybody.
17:35 Good night, everybody.
17:36 Big star does her own powder.
17:38 I'm Oprah, by the way.
17:39 ♪ Da na na na na na ♪
17:41 ♪ Da na na na na na ♪
17:43 ♪ Da na na na na na ♪
17:44 Is the word retire even in your vocabulary?
17:47 It is not.
17:48 'Cause you're busier than ever.
17:48 It is not.
17:49 Good question, Michelle.
17:50 I'll go first.
17:51 I don't believe in it.
17:52 Oprah has been unfiltered with ET for over four decades,
17:55 and the 70-year-old's golden era is just beginning.
17:58 Up next, a World War II movie directed by Tyler Perry,
18:01 and a Lee Daniels remake of "Terms of Endearment,"
18:04 with reports that she's taking over
18:06 Shirley MacLaine's Oscar-winning role.
18:08 It's going to be spectacular.
18:11 That's all I can say.
18:12 (bells chiming)
18:15 [BLANK_AUDIO]