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Speaker 1: Welcome to stuff Mom Never Told You from how Stuff

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Speaker 1: Works dot Com. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. I'm

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Speaker 1: Kristen and I'm Caroline. And you know what, Caroline, this

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Speaker 1: episode a a rerun of the Oprah Winfree Show. Show

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Speaker 1: is coming out on Christmas Day. Well, Oprah is one

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Speaker 1: of my favorite things. That's right. I felt like a

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Speaker 1: an update plus rerun on Oprah is a present in

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Speaker 1: and of itself. Don't you think I agree? I mean,

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Speaker 1: because here's the thing about Oprah. When this episode first

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Speaker 1: aired on stuff Mom Never Told You in late November

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Speaker 1: of two thousand eleven, Oprah had just finished up with

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Speaker 1: The Oprah win Free Show and was going through this

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Speaker 1: transition to the Oprah win Free Network, and everyone was

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Speaker 1: wondering can Oprah weather the transition? Yeah, there are a

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Speaker 1: couple of shaky moments there. Oprah Winfrey Network did not

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Speaker 1: look like it was going to be as hot a

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Speaker 1: commodity as her show was. But I mean, she has

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Speaker 1: proved herself to be a resilient lady, quite a tough cookie,

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Speaker 1: and she not only has pulled through, but she is

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Speaker 1: doing some pretty darn amazing things. Now, Yeah, Oprah kind

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Speaker 1: of had the best two thousand thirteen. Ever, first let's

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Speaker 1: back up and just say that she has gotten the

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Speaker 1: Oprah Win Free Network on stronger footing with Oprah's Next Chapter,

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Speaker 1: which is kind of the hallmark show of the entire network,

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Speaker 1: where she gets these exclusive celebrity interviews. Her interview, for instance,

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Speaker 1: with Lance Armstrong when he fessed up to doping was

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Speaker 1: a huge ratings boost. She's also talked to people like

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Speaker 1: Lindsay Lohan and the NBA player who came out, Jason Collins.

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Speaker 1: So she's figuring out how to do this whole new

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Speaker 1: network thing. And she's even restarted up the Oprah book Club,

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Speaker 1: but it's now called Oprah's book Club two point oh.

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Speaker 1: So she's, you know, she's she's back in the game.

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Speaker 1: But she really came back in the game this past year. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: Forbes named her its highest earning celebrity, often worth two

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Speaker 1: point nine billion dollars. Yeah. And on top of that,

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Speaker 1: on top of doing very well financially, she also received

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Speaker 1: a little thing called the Presidential Medal of Freedom, which

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Speaker 1: is only the nation's highest civilian honor. She she was

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Speaker 1: awarded that medal by President Obama. With the likes of

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Speaker 1: Bill Clinton, glorious stein Um all sorts of incredible movers

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Speaker 1: and shakers, and Oprah herself is quite a mover and shaker.

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Speaker 1: She hit the big screen and Lee Daniels The Butler,

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Speaker 1: and she actually got a Screen Actors Guild Award nods,

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Speaker 1: so she might be up for a big award as

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Speaker 1: Best Supporting Act Risks for Awards. She played Gloria, who's

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Speaker 1: the wife of Cecil Gains aka the Butler played by

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Speaker 1: Forest Whitaker. Yeah, and people are saying that she is

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Speaker 1: very likely going to get an Academy Award nomination for

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Speaker 1: that role as well. Which can you imagine Oprah turning

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Speaker 1: sixty this coming year in January, right around the time

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Speaker 1: when the Academy Award nominations are coming out, And what

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Speaker 1: if Oprah got an Oscar? What a good birthday present? Seriously,

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Speaker 1: what can't she do well? She did declare in her magazine,

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Speaker 1: Oh the Oprah Magazine, that is your year to shine,

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Speaker 1: and so on the cover, it's featuring her going through

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Speaker 1: a lovely makeover. She goes from curlers to like a

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Speaker 1: incredible sequence dress. I'm gonna say, you know, all you

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Speaker 1: haters out there who think it's silly that she's on

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Speaker 1: her own cover every single time. I mean, I don't

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Speaker 1: mind it. I second that. I mean, just let Oprah

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Speaker 1: the Oprah because you know what she has earned it,

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Speaker 1: as you will learn or perhaps relearn, in this special

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Speaker 1: holiday rerun of a fan favorite episode from a ways

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Speaker 1: back the Oprah Winfrey Show Show, So take a listen.

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Speaker 1: Just for this episode, we brought in uh comfy couches

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Speaker 1: so that Caroline can jump on it because I'm in

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Speaker 1: love with Katie Holmes and yeah, we're we Kristen brought

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Speaker 1: in a wagon of fat Yes. And I also wrote

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Speaker 1: a fictional memoir yes, that I will accuse you of

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Speaker 1: all sorts of things. It's called A Million Little Podcasts. Wow, Wow,

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Speaker 1: Here we go. Here we go, folks, Get ready because

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Speaker 1: we're talking about Oprah today because on two thousand eleven,

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Speaker 1: a date that will live in infamy, the last episode

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Speaker 1: old of the Oprah win Free Show aired. It did

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Speaker 1: and then I mean, she started her own network, so

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Speaker 1: she didn't she didn't go far the Oprah win Free network,

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Speaker 1: which I'll go ahead and stay upfront that Discovery Communications,

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Speaker 1: which is the owner of how suffwork dot Com is

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Speaker 1: affiliated with so we'll keep our open win Free network

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Speaker 1: comments at bay because we really need to just talk

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Speaker 1: about the woman and the show, because she's one of

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Speaker 1: the most powerful and influential women in the world. Yeah, okay,

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Speaker 1: so where where do we start? I say we start

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Speaker 1: with the show and talk about exactly how many people

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Speaker 1: it has sucked into its orbit. Let's go for it.

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Speaker 1: That is forty eight million people. We're viewers of the show,

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Speaker 1: regular viewers of the show. That's a lot of people.

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Speaker 1: She affected the lives of so many people, whether she

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Speaker 1: was telling you to buy a Panini press or you know,

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Speaker 1: helping you overcome something terrible in your life, or giving

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Speaker 1: you a Pontiac G six sedan odd let me tell okay, sidebar.

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Speaker 1: My mother religiously watched Oprah for years. For years, every

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Speaker 1: day four o'clock watched Oprah. She the day what I

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Speaker 1: don't remember what favorite things episode it was, but those

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Speaker 1: episodes always made her so angry because she wasn't getting

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Speaker 1: the stuff. She's like, I have to watch all of

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Speaker 1: these strangers get all of this stuff. She called her

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Speaker 1: sister crying. One of the last I don't know it

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Speaker 1: was in the past couple of years, she called her

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Speaker 1: sister crying and her sister was watching the show too,

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Speaker 1: and they just sat there and complain because she wanted

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Speaker 1: the favorite things so badly. Yeah, those are some cool

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Speaker 1: favorite things. Yeah, it would be Oprah has a good

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Speaker 1: taste in like pajamas and stuff, Pajamas and Panini's uh

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Speaker 1: forty eight million viewers, hundred and fifty countries. The Oprah

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Speaker 1: Winfree Show is beamed too. And just in terms of

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Speaker 1: ad dollars alone, to give you an idea of the

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Speaker 1: value of this talk show, a thirty second ad spot

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Speaker 1: during her show, Um, as it came toward the finale

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Speaker 1: on could run you a cool million millas. Yeah, it

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Speaker 1: was not cheap. No, I don't think I could just

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Speaker 1: run like a personal ad. It's like the super Bowl

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Speaker 1: of regular television talk shows. Yeah, every day, every day

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Speaker 1: of the Super Bowl. And what kind of stuff did

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Speaker 1: she talk about, Caroline, Well, I mean part of her

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Speaker 1: popularity was definitely that she brought so many previously taboo

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Speaker 1: topics to the forefront. Um. I mean, yeah, she had

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Speaker 1: her favorite things episodes which were definitely very popular. Everybody

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Speaker 1: wanted to tune in and be told what to purchase. Um.

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Speaker 1: But I mean she brought stuff forward, um like incests,

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Speaker 1: domestic abuse, sexuality, addiction, depression, AIDS, and she used her

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Speaker 1: own stories to sort of bring people into it, because

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Speaker 1: I think it was in the eighties during a show

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Speaker 1: was like the eighty eight or eighty seven where she

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Speaker 1: admitted to her viewers the whole public that you know,

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Speaker 1: she had been abused as a child and a young uh,

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Speaker 1: young adult also uh. And of course Oprah is not

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Speaker 1: without her critics and her controversies, which will also talk about.

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Speaker 1: Because for all of the influence that she has gained

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Speaker 1: over the twenty five years that she was on the air,

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Speaker 1: she has also launched the careers of other people such

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Speaker 1: as Dr Phil, Dr oz Um, Rachel Ray in fact,

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Speaker 1: which I wish I didn't realize Rachel I used to

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Speaker 1: be on our show and Um, and also the Oprah

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Speaker 1: Book Club that has made so many authors so much

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Speaker 1: money and actually brought reading into the mainstream again. Some

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Speaker 1: people might argue and uh, yeah, with great power becomes

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Speaker 1: great responsibility, and some people think that maybe she has

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Speaker 1: abused that responsibility. But uh, you know, at the same time,

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Speaker 1: she's done a lot of good as well, which we'll

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Speaker 1: talk about with her philanthropy so much, right, Yeah, Well,

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Speaker 1: Speaking of philanthropy, she's reportedly given three fifty million dollars

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Speaker 1: of her own money to charitable organizations, and through her

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Speaker 1: show she's managed to raise more than fifty one million,

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Speaker 1: which is pretty impressive. Yeah, I believe the honorary Oscar

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Speaker 1: that she was given this year was specifically for her

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Speaker 1: philanthropic work. And for instance, in two thousand seven, she

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Speaker 1: opened the Leadership Academy for Girls in South Africa, also

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Speaker 1: kind of controversial, um kind of considering whether or not

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Speaker 1: that was the best way to uh to reach out

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Speaker 1: to those girls. Right. Well, she also had she started

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Speaker 1: the twelve million dollar endowment at More House, So that's

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Speaker 1: a way of lifting people up. You know, she's she's

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Speaker 1: trying to practice what she preaches basically on her show.

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Speaker 1: And she's also invested a lot specifically into the Chicago

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Speaker 1: community because Chicago is really where she got her start

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Speaker 1: in television. And speaking of which, why don't we why

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Speaker 1: don't we offer a little bio of or Gail Winfrey

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Speaker 1: born January Yeah, come with us, Come with us to Mississippi. Yeah, yes,

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Speaker 1: come to the farm on Mississippi where Oprah was born

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Speaker 1: to her unwed teenage mother and she was initially raised

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Speaker 1: by her grandmother on the farm, and then she was

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Speaker 1: sent off to Milwaukee to live with her mother, and

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Speaker 1: she had a rather promising childhood and elementary school. Uh

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Speaker 1: she was a star pupil and one of the television

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Speaker 1: episodes she actually brought back her favorite teacher from elementary

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Speaker 1: school kind of remember remember um. She also enjoyed church

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Speaker 1: involvement school activity, as she was frequently the one called

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Speaker 1: on to you know, say prayers or she handed out

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Speaker 1: Graham crackers at school. She liked she was a participator.

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Speaker 1: She was a joiner, yes, kind of a star personality

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Speaker 1: from the get go. But then at the age of nine,

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Speaker 1: she was moless did and raped by her cousin who

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Speaker 1: took care of um her and her siblings while her

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Speaker 1: mother was at work. And then um in her adolescence

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Speaker 1: she was also raped by an uncle and a family friend,

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Speaker 1: which really started, I mean, just this kind of history

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Speaker 1: of personal tragedy in Oprah's life. Yeah. She there was

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Speaker 1: actually a quote from her where she was reflecting on

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Speaker 1: her childhood of abuse and she just said, at one

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Speaker 1: point I just had the thought of like, Okay, well

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Speaker 1: this is life, Like this is what it's like you know,

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Speaker 1: how do I get away from this? But one thing

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Speaker 1: she did say also is that from the very young,

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Speaker 1: very tender age of four, she had this idea and

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Speaker 1: that there's a lot of talk about Oprah's idea UM

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Speaker 1: that she had for herself and that she never let

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Speaker 1: go of. And she said that it was sparked when

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Speaker 1: she was four years old on on her grandmother's farm

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Speaker 1: and her grandmother was, you know, hanging clothes on the

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Speaker 1: line or you know, doing chores and stuff, and she

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Speaker 1: was like, well, you're gonna have to learn how to

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Speaker 1: do this to one day, and Oprah was going, no,

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Speaker 1: I'm not. I'm getting mad at here. I'm not doing

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Speaker 1: what you're doing. So from a very young age, she

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Speaker 1: was determined to be different, to achieve more and just

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Speaker 1: rise up sort of beyond where she was now. With

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Speaker 1: all of the childhood sexual trauma that was going on

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Speaker 1: um and her getting pregnant at the age of fourteen,

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Speaker 1: it seemed like that dream that Oprah had would certainly

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Speaker 1: not be fulfilled, that she was only following in the

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Speaker 1: footsteps of her mother Um. She because she had been

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Speaker 1: acting out. Actually, she was sent to live with her

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Speaker 1: father in Nashville and her father is just horrified and

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Speaker 1: ashamed at a fourteen year old daughter is pregnant, but

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Speaker 1: she ends up losing the baby, and in a way,

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Speaker 1: this is really the huge turning point for Oprah where

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Speaker 1: she refocuses herself in school and I think she actually,

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Speaker 1: I don't know, she graduated early, but she was um

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Speaker 1: her coursework was ahead of her age group, and she

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Speaker 1: ends up earning a full scholarship to Tennessee State University

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Speaker 1: and in ninth seen seventy one, her real big break

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Speaker 1: begins when she wins two pageant titles in that year,

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Speaker 1: Miss Fire, Miss Fire Prevention, and Miss Black Tennessee. And

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Speaker 1: when she wins Miss Black Tennessee, she's noticed by the

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Speaker 1: local black radio station w v o L that hires

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Speaker 1: her as an on air reporter, and this starts her

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Speaker 1: career in media and the rest is history. Goodnight, Yeah, no, yeah, yeah,

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Speaker 1: she really she really got going from a very young

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Speaker 1: age and eventually started. She had a morning show in

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Speaker 1: n she breaks into the talks show circuit in Chicago,

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Speaker 1: hosting AM Chicago in the same time slot as Phil Donahue.

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Speaker 1: And the interesting thing is, h Phil Donahue was one

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Speaker 1: of the pioneers in sort of the the girl talk

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Speaker 1: talk show format. Um, but he's going up against or

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Speaker 1: Oprah's going up against him, And needless to say, we

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Speaker 1: all know what happens. Oprah gets her own show, AM

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Speaker 1: Chicago is expanded in nineteen eighties six to an hour

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Speaker 1: long format, and eventually Phil Donahue goes down the tubes. Well,

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Speaker 1: oprad just has this way of relating to people. She

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Speaker 1: she you know that she walked out into the audience,

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Speaker 1: she was part of the audience. She was asking questions

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Speaker 1: of her guests, whether it was a celebrity and author

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Speaker 1: or a criminal or you know, just a single mother.

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Speaker 1: You know, she was asking questions that the audience themselves

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Speaker 1: would want to know. And so she had this way

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Speaker 1: of dealing with people, this this sort of empathy that

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Speaker 1: that made them more comfortable and able to share things.

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Speaker 1: And she's just I guess she took her past experiences

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Speaker 1: and we're able to was able to really use those

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Speaker 1: on the show. And like you said, Caroline, Um, when

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Speaker 1: she was so open, initially very early in those talk

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Speaker 1: show days about her history of sexual abuse, it really

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Speaker 1: dismantled that fourth wall between the viewer and you know,

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Speaker 1: that person on the television talking directly to them and

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Speaker 1: relating directly to them. And even now twenty five years later,

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Speaker 1: when she is, you know, one of the richest women

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Speaker 1: in the world, people are still able to relate to

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Speaker 1: her on a very just kind of friendly basis, right,

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Speaker 1: you know, like they would just run into her on

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Speaker 1: the street and be like, hey, let's go get lunch over. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: she's someone you'd see in a grocery store and just

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Speaker 1: be able to have a chat with, even though she's

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Speaker 1: obviously running in circles so beyond you know, the everyday viewers. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: but no, she well, part of her popularity is that

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Speaker 1: she understands the full range of the quote unquote female experience.

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Speaker 1: She knows that being a woman is not just about shopping,

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Speaker 1: but it's not just about being a mother and having

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Speaker 1: a family. There's there's a whole range of things to

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Speaker 1: being a woman. And Caitlin flanagain in The Atlantic I thought,

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Speaker 1: had a good quote about it. Um She's said that

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Speaker 1: Oprah can move so easily between episodes about on the

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Speaker 1: one hand, rape and domestic violence and on the other

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Speaker 1: shopping and decorating, demonstrates not a lack of focus, but

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Speaker 1: the fact that she understands the full equation of the

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Speaker 1: female experiences in ways that few others have. Yeah, and

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Speaker 1: it's not only just the female experience, but also the

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Speaker 1: black female experience on television so open for one of

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Speaker 1: the first times. And that's something that too, that she's

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Speaker 1: been um very consistent with of supporting the black community

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Speaker 1: and supporting other black women. And I think that's one

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Speaker 1: of the reasons too, why she's made such a significant impact,

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Speaker 1: because she's I don't know, I feel like she's been

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Speaker 1: able to, in her own way, love her or hate her,

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Speaker 1: been able to bridge certain communities. Yeah, well, she was

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Speaker 1: inspired by so many different women on television, so I

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Speaker 1: think she took bits and pieces from everybody and you know,

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Speaker 1: and then incorporated them into her own experience. You know.

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Speaker 1: She said that she had so much admiration for Mary

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Speaker 1: Tyler Moore, and she was so excited to see Diana

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Speaker 1: Ross on television and seeing Sydney Portier getting out of

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Speaker 1: a limousine at the Academy Award. So she was just

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Speaker 1: so inspired by all of these things she saw on

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Speaker 1: television and other women hosting talk shows and everything that

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Speaker 1: you know, she was able to combine her knowledge, her

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Speaker 1: life experience with a really stathy television show, exactly, with

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Speaker 1: an incredible amount of influence. For instance, with the Oprah

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Speaker 1: book Club. Okay, we gotta talk about the Oprah book Club. Um.

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Speaker 1: It was launched in and the first book that she

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Speaker 1: promotes was Jacqueline Mitchard's The Deep End of the Ocean.

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Speaker 1: And since then, the number of books sold since being

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Speaker 1: selected on her show million. Yeah that's crazy. Yeah, and

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Speaker 1: only eleven of the books that she's ever single about

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Speaker 1: have not made it onto the USA Today bestseller list. Basically,

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Speaker 1: if Oprah likes your book, you are right. It's Panini

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Speaker 1: Press in your vacuum cleaner or whatever. Yeah, exactly. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: she there's been a lot there's been a lot of

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Speaker 1: flak over this whole book club thing because on the

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Speaker 1: one hand, it's getting people to read, you know, like

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Speaker 1: she's encouraging people to read. She's bringing people in and

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Speaker 1: being like, yes, country as a whole, let's let's all

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Speaker 1: read this book together and talk about it. It's it

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Speaker 1: gives people a sense of community. Um. Even though it's

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Speaker 1: on television and she's so rich and so far, you know,

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Speaker 1: you're still part of something. And so she's encouraging all

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Speaker 1: these people to read. But on the other hand, there

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Speaker 1: are a lot of people who say, well, you're not

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Speaker 1: picking the right kinds of books, or your book club

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Speaker 1: is not cool enough for my book, which was the

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Speaker 1: case with Jonathan Franzen. Oh yeah, please please talk about

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Speaker 1: this Jonathan Franzon controversy because this one. I was not

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Speaker 1: aware of this the frands And episode right. He um,

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Speaker 1: he wrote the novel corrections, just fantastic recommend it. I mean,

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Speaker 1: it's good that you like it. Have you ever watched Oprah?

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Speaker 1: Because he doesn't think that people who watch Oprah would

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Speaker 1: get his book. He said that it would be too

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Speaker 1: hard for them, and basically saying that it would be

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Speaker 1: too hard for the stereotypical middle aged housewife to read

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Speaker 1: this book. Basically, I was like, yeah, that's nice and all,

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Speaker 1: but don't put your corporate logo on my book. Come on,

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Speaker 1: I read that that was my pool side read a

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Speaker 1: few summers ago, so not not that challenge. And I

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Speaker 1: did not need my unabridged dictionary, so I need to

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Speaker 1: figure out the plot your old English. Yeah, I'm magnifying glass.

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Speaker 1: And also, I mean she sent tolstoys Inna Karenina back

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Speaker 1: up to number one in what two thousand. But I

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Speaker 1: mean I've never I mean I've never even read Anna Karna. Really,

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Speaker 1: I mean, I admit it. Hey they're fine. Hey, maybe

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Speaker 1: you should join the Opera Book Club. I know, well

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Speaker 1: I didn't pick up I picked up Love in the

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Speaker 1: Time of Cholera grocery store. You know, we've in our

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Speaker 1: in our romance novel podcast, we talk about mass market

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Speaker 1: paperbacks like sold it, you know whatever, big box store,

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Speaker 1: the grocery store, whatever. And yeah, there are Oprah book

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Speaker 1: Club books at the grocery store. And so I picked

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Speaker 1: up Love in the Top of colg and some went

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Speaker 1: along with my serious whatever. And some of it is

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Speaker 1: fantastic literature. I mean, I think the fact that so

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Speaker 1: many more people now know about authors such as Tony

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Speaker 1: Morrison and Alice Walker, who are two of Oprah's most favorite,

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Speaker 1: uh female authors, I would attribute that to Oprah. But

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Speaker 1: at the same time, though, we got to talk about

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Speaker 1: things like The Secret. Oh yeah, pseudo science. Yeah, she's

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Speaker 1: definitely gotten a lot of flak for her promotion of

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Speaker 1: pseudo science. So books like The Secret, which basically say,

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Speaker 1: um so, all these bad things that are happening to you.

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Speaker 1: You're just not putting enough positive energy out into the universe.

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Speaker 1: It's your fault. It's all about the the universal law

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Speaker 1: of attraction. And you know, I have met people who

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Speaker 1: firmly believe in the power of the Secret. I personally

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Speaker 1: have never read The Secret. UM. But at the same time,

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Speaker 1: you know, when you have that again, it's going back

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Speaker 1: to that thing of what do you do when you

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Speaker 1: have such incredible influence like Oprah has when you make

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Speaker 1: decisions to promote things like the Secret and bring Jenny

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Speaker 1: McCarthy on to talk about autism vaccine connection that is

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Speaker 1: yet to be verified by any kind of scientific study.

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Speaker 1: You can read more about that on how Stuffworks dot

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Speaker 1: com if you don't believe me, UM, And bring on

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Speaker 1: Susanne Summers, who is going over her her controversial health

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Speaker 1: regimen to keep her young in the vein of it's

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Speaker 1: like I'm Parks and Recreation, Rob Blow's character who will

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Speaker 1: live forever? Um. Yeah, And then you know, launching the

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Speaker 1: careers of people like Dr Phil who again probably has

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Speaker 1: just as many if not more critics as he does followers. Well,

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Speaker 1: all this, all this stuff that we were just talking

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Speaker 1: about about, UM, pseudoscience and whatnot, and how you know,

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Speaker 1: there's there's all this talk of Oprah and the Oprah

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Speaker 1: Show as a religion and how you know, she was

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Speaker 1: raised um in the Baptist Church and so religion played

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Speaker 1: a big part in her life and like we said,

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Speaker 1: as as a child, church was really important to her.

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Speaker 1: But you know, through her show she sort of promoted

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Speaker 1: all of this this just different veins, just different types

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Speaker 1: of religion. And she's talked about different ways to find

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Speaker 1: spirituality and that's kind of the key, is that she's

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Speaker 1: definitely focused more on spirituality and finding in her peace

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Speaker 1: than she is talking about like a particular religion. Catherine Lofton,

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Speaker 1: she's an assistant professor of American Studies and Religious Studies

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Speaker 1: at Yale, has has a lot to say about Oprah.

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Speaker 1: In fact, she wrote a book called Oprah The Hospital

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Speaker 1: of an icon She argues that Obrah has become a

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Speaker 1: religion quote because she invites ritual processes towards her and

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Speaker 1: her iconography. Foster's produced ritual and that ritual critics say

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Speaker 1: is that people run out and buy stuff, sort of

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Speaker 1: the whole idea of consumption fulfilling that self need. But

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Speaker 1: at the same time, like you can argue with so

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Speaker 1: many different ways because yes, obviously with segments like favorite things, um,

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Speaker 1: you can say that that promotes just a false consumerism,

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Speaker 1: and yes there's a studoscience aspect of it, um, but

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Speaker 1: it does seem like the root of all of it.

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Speaker 1: It's not a bad message that she is promoting at

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Speaker 1: the end of the day, which is living your best

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Speaker 1: life and enriching yourself and also being open and sharing

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Speaker 1: your experiences with other people. UM. I don't know, it's

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Speaker 1: kind of it's kind of hard. It's like I keep

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Speaker 1: doing this motion with my hands of the weighing the

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Speaker 1: scales because there there's you know, stuffing you can say

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Speaker 1: on on either side. And for someone like me, like

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Speaker 1: I feel like I'm a very uh, basically like Switzerland

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Speaker 1: when it comes to Oprah. I never really grew up

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Speaker 1: with Oprah. Um. My mom never really followed Oprah. I

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Speaker 1: had roommates, um who were really obsessed with Oprah. But

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Speaker 1: I just I don't know, she was never really that

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Speaker 1: much a part of my life. So I recognize the

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Speaker 1: impact that she has and also have been taken aback

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Speaker 1: at certain times by you know, maybe pulling out a

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Speaker 1: wagon of sixty pounds of lard and choosing to promote

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Speaker 1: certain things. It's interesting how strong the reactions are to Oprah,

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Speaker 1: Like people out there are obsessed with her, like they

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Speaker 1: might do you know, like the Michael Jackson concert thing

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Speaker 1: and like totally start trying to pass out, or you know,

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Speaker 1: they just totally slam her and say that she's fake,

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Speaker 1: she's materialistic. You know, she's promoting all of this junks, bions.

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Speaker 1: But you know, I'm the same way as as you. I.

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Speaker 1: You know, I see the good she does. She's encouraging

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Speaker 1: people to read, you know, she's encouraging people to overcome

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Speaker 1: bad circumstances in their life. Um so, yeah, I mean

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Speaker 1: I don't I read OH Magazine, which we haven't mentioned

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Speaker 1: OH Magazine. Forbes named OH Magazine the most successful startup

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Speaker 1: in the entire industry ever. Yeah. Well, when you already

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Speaker 1: have a humongous base of of fans and followers and

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Speaker 1: people who love you and who will do anything that

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Speaker 1: you say, I mean, yeah, yeah. I think that The

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Speaker 1: time when I was most astonished by Oprah's sheer power

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Speaker 1: was during the presidential election and the controversial sway that

427
00:25:50,840 --> 00:25:55,240
Speaker 1: she had an uh pulling for Barack Obama. I mean

428
00:25:55,280 --> 00:25:59,320
Speaker 1: it was It's incredible, um and the fact that I talked,

429
00:25:59,440 --> 00:26:01,760
Speaker 1: I mean, think of out it like a talk show

430
00:26:01,800 --> 00:26:05,560
Speaker 1: host can go into the political arena and show up

431
00:26:06,000 --> 00:26:08,800
Speaker 1: at a rally with Obama and be like, this is

432
00:26:08,840 --> 00:26:12,280
Speaker 1: who I have picked. I mean, what other what other

433
00:26:12,960 --> 00:26:15,440
Speaker 1: Larry King couldn't do that? I mean, like what other

434
00:26:15,480 --> 00:26:17,600
Speaker 1: talk show hosts could do that? Incredible that she can

435
00:26:17,640 --> 00:26:21,280
Speaker 1: do that and yet still form that in sociological terms,

436
00:26:21,400 --> 00:26:26,119
Speaker 1: that paras social relationship with a viewer that allows us

437
00:26:26,160 --> 00:26:29,240
Speaker 1: to still you know, people like your mom to still

438
00:26:29,240 --> 00:26:35,040
Speaker 1: relate to her as a friend. Yeah, women's talk, women's talk,

439
00:26:35,320 --> 00:26:37,560
Speaker 1: I mean, lover or hater like you. You've got to

440
00:26:37,600 --> 00:26:40,679
Speaker 1: give it to Oprah that she has done something pretty incredible.

441
00:26:41,160 --> 00:26:44,560
Speaker 1: And now that she's moved into this new project of

442
00:26:44,560 --> 00:26:46,520
Speaker 1: trying to build her own network, it will be really

443
00:26:46,560 --> 00:26:50,240
Speaker 1: interesting to see whether or not that influence will only

444
00:26:50,320 --> 00:26:53,280
Speaker 1: grow or if it will wayne. But at this point,

445
00:26:53,320 --> 00:26:57,880
Speaker 1: I mean, she's wow, and hey, you know what if

446
00:26:57,920 --> 00:26:59,479
Speaker 1: you want to put yourself on the cover of your

447
00:26:59,480 --> 00:27:01,720
Speaker 1: own magazine and every month I say, do it is

448
00:27:01,760 --> 00:27:03,960
Speaker 1: your magazine, Do whatever you want, I'll read it. I

449
00:27:03,960 --> 00:27:06,480
Speaker 1: don't care. I know, people people use the fact that

450
00:27:06,480 --> 00:27:08,920
Speaker 1: Oprah's only had she's had a She shared the cover

451
00:27:08,960 --> 00:27:12,960
Speaker 1: with Michelle Obama and who else and with Ellen Degenerous.

452
00:27:12,960 --> 00:27:14,919
Speaker 1: I think it was in the same year, so she's like,

453
00:27:14,920 --> 00:27:17,840
Speaker 1: I'll knock it all out of once, and people, you know,

454
00:27:17,960 --> 00:27:23,560
Speaker 1: use it as some sign of this mega maniac. Yeah,

455
00:27:23,760 --> 00:27:26,800
Speaker 1: and of course there are you know, the gossipy anecdotes

456
00:27:26,840 --> 00:27:30,639
Speaker 1: about her being just an incredibly demanding and crazy boss

457
00:27:30,680 --> 00:27:33,480
Speaker 1: to work for. And I'm sure when you are running

458
00:27:33,480 --> 00:27:37,880
Speaker 1: one of the most successful production companies in modern media, yeah,

459
00:27:37,960 --> 00:27:40,360
Speaker 1: you probably are putting in sixteen hour days. And I'm

460
00:27:40,359 --> 00:27:42,000
Speaker 1: sure if you're one of the most powerful woman in

461
00:27:42,000 --> 00:27:44,880
Speaker 1: the world, you probably do kind of crazy sometime. Hey,

462
00:27:44,960 --> 00:27:47,560
Speaker 1: I get cranky when I'm tired and I am on

463
00:27:47,800 --> 00:27:50,840
Speaker 1: you know, I'm managing nothing. And I think it's pretty

464
00:27:50,880 --> 00:27:53,680
Speaker 1: impressive that a woman who has ranked the number three

465
00:27:53,800 --> 00:27:56,680
Speaker 1: most powerful woman in the world behind Michelle Obama and

466
00:27:56,760 --> 00:28:01,119
Speaker 1: Irene Rosenfeld who's an executive at Craft, has kept her

467
00:28:01,160 --> 00:28:04,080
Speaker 1: love life private. I mean, we all, everyone in the

468
00:28:04,080 --> 00:28:07,080
Speaker 1: world knows who Steadman Graham is and Gail King her

469
00:28:07,119 --> 00:28:10,640
Speaker 1: best friend, and all the absurd speculations that go on, right,

470
00:28:11,040 --> 00:28:12,960
Speaker 1: But I mean, I think it's pretty impressive when you

471
00:28:13,000 --> 00:28:17,679
Speaker 1: have celebrity divorces and babies and marriages and whatever on

472
00:28:17,720 --> 00:28:20,080
Speaker 1: the news all the time, Like two seconds after they happen.

473
00:28:20,560 --> 00:28:22,640
Speaker 1: You know, nobody's chasing down open being like, oh God,

474
00:28:22,720 --> 00:28:24,920
Speaker 1: let me get a picture of you eating with Steadman.

475
00:28:25,480 --> 00:28:27,840
Speaker 1: Oprah doesn't need it. She yeah, she just waves her

476
00:28:27,840 --> 00:28:30,120
Speaker 1: finger and it's like nope, Well imagine. I mean, if

477
00:28:30,160 --> 00:28:34,400
Speaker 1: you are that influential and that a list of a celebrity,

478
00:28:34,440 --> 00:28:37,280
Speaker 1: you gotta I'm sure you have to protect your privacy

479
00:28:37,960 --> 00:28:40,920
Speaker 1: fiercely or else. I mean, you're just never going to

480
00:28:41,040 --> 00:28:44,920
Speaker 1: have any time off the camera. What else can we say?

481
00:28:44,920 --> 00:28:47,680
Speaker 1: I mean, there's just so much. There's so much to Oprah.

482
00:28:47,720 --> 00:28:52,200
Speaker 1: She's multifaceted. She she impresses me so much the fact

483
00:28:52,240 --> 00:28:54,840
Speaker 1: that she, as a four year old, had this idea

484
00:28:54,880 --> 00:28:57,760
Speaker 1: that she was going to be different, and she proceeded

485
00:28:57,840 --> 00:29:02,640
Speaker 1: to take every opportunity that she could and she rose

486
00:29:02,720 --> 00:29:05,320
Speaker 1: to the stature that she has now. And if anything,

487
00:29:05,320 --> 00:29:06,880
Speaker 1: you got to give it to her for bringing those

488
00:29:06,880 --> 00:29:10,800
Speaker 1: taboo subjects out of the closet and talking about them

489
00:29:10,800 --> 00:29:14,480
Speaker 1: and making us maybe more comfortable. Um, talking about issues

490
00:29:14,520 --> 00:29:22,440
Speaker 1: amongst ourselves to taking down that fourth wall. So we

491
00:29:22,560 --> 00:29:27,120
Speaker 1: hope you enjoyed listening to revisiting really our Oprah Winfrey

492
00:29:27,160 --> 00:29:30,760
Speaker 1: show show uh this holiday season. And if you are

493
00:29:30,840 --> 00:29:34,920
Speaker 1: Oprah Um, we are two podcasters who are available to

494
00:29:34,960 --> 00:29:37,520
Speaker 1: appear on the Oprah win Free Network at any time.

495
00:29:37,760 --> 00:29:40,520
Speaker 1: That's right because the Oprah win Free Network, I think,

496
00:29:40,520 --> 00:29:44,320
Speaker 1: as we mentioned in that episode, is a part of

497
00:29:44,600 --> 00:29:47,320
Speaker 1: the Hell Stuff Works and Discovery Communications families. So you

498
00:29:47,360 --> 00:29:50,560
Speaker 1: know what, Caroline Oprah is kind of like our coworker,

499
00:29:50,720 --> 00:29:54,320
Speaker 1: that's right. She probably has nicer shoes than I do,

500
00:29:54,440 --> 00:29:57,240
Speaker 1: but she is still a colleague. Yeah, and if she

501
00:29:57,280 --> 00:29:58,880
Speaker 1: would ever want to name us as one of her

502
00:29:58,880 --> 00:30:02,760
Speaker 1: favorite things, we would be fine with that. So and

503
00:30:02,880 --> 00:30:06,720
Speaker 1: that would be the most magical Christmas present of all.

504
00:30:07,200 --> 00:30:09,400
Speaker 1: But I do hope that all of you listening are

505
00:30:09,480 --> 00:30:14,560
Speaker 1: having a happy and hopefully RESTful holidays season. And if

506
00:30:14,600 --> 00:30:17,680
Speaker 1: you have any thoughts at all to share on Oprah,

507
00:30:17,680 --> 00:30:20,280
Speaker 1: did you see Lee Daniels The Butler? I have yet

508
00:30:20,320 --> 00:30:22,400
Speaker 1: to see it. I need to see it because apparently

509
00:30:22,800 --> 00:30:25,760
Speaker 1: her portrayal, as we mentioned, is stellar. So if you've

510
00:30:25,760 --> 00:30:28,000
Speaker 1: seen it, let us know. Moms Stuff at Discovery dot

511
00:30:28,000 --> 00:30:31,320
Speaker 1: Com or any other thoughts on Oprah, Gail Steadman, what

512
00:30:31,440 --> 00:30:33,720
Speaker 1: have you. You can send them our way, or you

513
00:30:33,720 --> 00:30:36,640
Speaker 1: can tweet us at mom Stuff Podcast. You can message

514
00:30:36,680 --> 00:30:39,200
Speaker 1: us on Facebook as well, and we have a couple

515
00:30:39,200 --> 00:30:41,920
Speaker 1: of messages to share with you when we come right

516
00:30:41,960 --> 00:30:45,280
Speaker 1: back from a quick break and now back to our letters.

517
00:30:48,640 --> 00:30:50,520
Speaker 1: So you've got a couple of letters to share from

518
00:30:50,560 --> 00:30:54,360
Speaker 1: our episode a while back on Beauty Salons Versus Barbershop,

519
00:30:54,720 --> 00:30:58,440
Speaker 1: and Megan wrote us big fan of the podcast, been

520
00:30:58,480 --> 00:31:01,520
Speaker 1: listening for years. Thanks Megan. I had a couple of

521
00:31:01,560 --> 00:31:04,600
Speaker 1: thoughts when listening to the Beauty Salon Versus Barbershop episode.

522
00:31:04,840 --> 00:31:07,440
Speaker 1: As a white woman with a very large amount of

523
00:31:07,480 --> 00:31:10,880
Speaker 1: extremely curly hair, I've spent my life walking into hair

524
00:31:10,920 --> 00:31:14,000
Speaker 1: salons and seeing the hairdresser's blanche because they have no

525
00:31:14,120 --> 00:31:17,720
Speaker 1: idea how to cut curly hair. Well, because I'm not Black,

526
00:31:17,720 --> 00:31:19,840
Speaker 1: they can't use that we don't cut that kind of

527
00:31:19,920 --> 00:31:22,480
Speaker 1: hair excuse, so they have to give it a try,

528
00:31:22,560 --> 00:31:26,120
Speaker 1: and generally I end up with terrible haircuts. When I

529
00:31:26,160 --> 00:31:28,400
Speaker 1: moved to a city with a large black population, I

530
00:31:28,440 --> 00:31:30,800
Speaker 1: found I preferred going to black salons because they know

531
00:31:30,880 --> 00:31:33,680
Speaker 1: what they were doing. With my hair. Also, as a

532
00:31:33,720 --> 00:31:35,640
Speaker 1: side note, I have a degree in public health and

533
00:31:35,760 --> 00:31:39,120
Speaker 1: during my schooling we studied several programs that used beauty

534
00:31:39,120 --> 00:31:43,120
Speaker 1: salons to promote positive health, particularly in the Black community.

535
00:31:43,600 --> 00:31:46,560
Speaker 1: Some that come to mind our program advertising breast cancer

536
00:31:46,600 --> 00:31:50,000
Speaker 1: screening and an educational program involving flyers about diabetes and

537
00:31:50,000 --> 00:31:54,240
Speaker 1: heart disease since they disproportionately affect the Black community. Love

538
00:31:54,280 --> 00:31:57,480
Speaker 1: the podcast and keep up the good work. Well thanks Megan,

539
00:31:58,240 --> 00:32:00,600
Speaker 1: and I have a letter here from Mallory. She says,

540
00:32:00,640 --> 00:32:02,720
Speaker 1: thanks so much for highlighting the life and career of

541
00:32:02,760 --> 00:32:05,600
Speaker 1: Madam C. J. Walker in Your Hair Salon podcast. I

542
00:32:05,640 --> 00:32:08,280
Speaker 1: am an Indianapolis native, which is where Walker based her

543
00:32:08,280 --> 00:32:11,440
Speaker 1: beauty empire. India is so proud of our cultural heritage

544
00:32:11,440 --> 00:32:13,800
Speaker 1: and Madam Walker is a big part of it. There's

545
00:32:13,800 --> 00:32:15,479
Speaker 1: a theater in the city that she built as a

546
00:32:15,480 --> 00:32:18,400
Speaker 1: cultural hub and also to house her company. The theater

547
00:32:18,520 --> 00:32:21,040
Speaker 1: is named after her and is still operational. I had

548
00:32:21,040 --> 00:32:23,560
Speaker 1: the opportunity to perform there once as a high school student,

549
00:32:23,760 --> 00:32:26,600
Speaker 1: and it is truly a gem in the city. Walker

550
00:32:26,640 --> 00:32:28,760
Speaker 1: has always been interesting to me because she really is

551
00:32:28,800 --> 00:32:33,280
Speaker 1: one of the most successful Indianapolis entrepreneurs of historical note male, female,

552
00:32:33,320 --> 00:32:36,200
Speaker 1: black or white. I love that she melded her business

553
00:32:36,200 --> 00:32:39,720
Speaker 1: and cultural affinities to support the community. As an artist,

554
00:32:39,720 --> 00:32:42,400
Speaker 1: I think it's important for business leaders to support the arts,

555
00:32:42,440 --> 00:32:44,920
Speaker 1: and Walker was a thought leader in our city pioneering

556
00:32:44,920 --> 00:32:47,479
Speaker 1: this idea as well. One of the things I love

557
00:32:47,520 --> 00:32:51,080
Speaker 1: about Indianapolis is our robust African American culture. I don't

558
00:32:51,080 --> 00:32:54,200
Speaker 1: think many realize this because Indiana is also the historical

559
00:32:54,200 --> 00:32:57,880
Speaker 1: home to several KKK Grand Dragons. However, the city of

560
00:32:57,920 --> 00:33:01,240
Speaker 1: Indianapolis is truly world class has many different cultures to

561
00:33:01,280 --> 00:33:03,560
Speaker 1: thank for its development. I love to hear about the

562
00:33:03,680 --> 00:33:05,959
Speaker 1: rich heritage of my state and city, and I'm thrilled

563
00:33:06,000 --> 00:33:08,360
Speaker 1: at one of our major cultural contributions made it to

564
00:33:08,360 --> 00:33:11,600
Speaker 1: your podcast. So thank you for writing in, Mallory, and

565
00:33:11,640 --> 00:33:14,880
Speaker 1: thanks to everybody who's written in Mom Stuff at Discovery

566
00:33:14,920 --> 00:33:17,640
Speaker 1: dot com is where you can send your letters. You

567
00:33:17,640 --> 00:33:21,239
Speaker 1: can also tweet us and mom Stuff Podcast. Find us

568
00:33:21,280 --> 00:33:23,360
Speaker 1: on Facebook Like us while you're at it. You can

569
00:33:23,400 --> 00:33:25,880
Speaker 1: also follow us on Tumbler at stuff Mom Never Told

570
00:33:25,880 --> 00:33:28,720
Speaker 1: You dot tumbler dot com. You can also find us

571
00:33:28,800 --> 00:33:31,840
Speaker 1: on Instagram as well. Look at all of our pictures

572
00:33:31,840 --> 00:33:34,320
Speaker 1: at stuff Mom never told you, and why don't you

573
00:33:34,320 --> 00:33:36,840
Speaker 1: look at all of our videos while you're at it?

574
00:33:37,080 --> 00:33:40,360
Speaker 1: Just head on over to YouTube dot com slash stuff Mom,

575
00:33:40,440 --> 00:33:46,960
Speaker 1: never told you, and don't forget to you. Subscribe for

576
00:33:47,080 --> 00:33:49,400
Speaker 1: more on this and thousands of other topics. Is it

577
00:33:49,480 --> 00:33:59,000
Speaker 1: how stuff Works dot com