Barbara Walters Interviews Oprah Winfrey the Next Chapter

Forbes Magazine estimates Oprah as the richest woman in the world. She is leaving her extremely popular daytime program to start her own network. She has so much love for her fellow human beings that she has given away so much money for charity and is probably the most generous woman ever.

As she was pondering what she wanted to do in the future, she decided to start her own network. She and Stedman were discussing the state of television today and he gave her the idea of starting her own network and OWN is just what it is to be called. The Oprah Winfrey Network will be her own with reality shows, Oprah behind the scenes. It will show inspirational and educational programming. One program that she is extremely proud of is called Kidnapped by the Kids. This show gives parents a chance to spend some quality time with their kids who desperately need some of their busy parent's time.

As a child, she had an eighteen year old mother who could not handle such a feisty child. At fourteen, she went to live with her father. Her relationship with her mother is distant, but she has made sure that both her mother and father could retire and want for nothing.

She aspired to be a journalist and be just like Barbara Walters, who stood alone among so many men in journalism. But quite some time ago she told Barbara about the sexual abuse that she experienced in her life. She said she spent her time in the fifth grade worried about getting pregnant. She devoted much of her time talking to people who were abused too, both men and women. Many celebrities also opened up about their similar experiences.

They visited the Chicago studio where she hosted over 4400 shows and gave away gifts to countless people. Her book clubs meant astronomical sales for lucky authors. There have been so many celebrities; but her favorite were just ordinary people. She pointed out a woman who lost her arms and legs after giving birth to her second child. She talked about Matty Stepanik stricken with terminal muscular dystrophy, who I felt was the smartest child in the world. He was an angel and when he died in 2004, every Oprah fan cried. She gave so many people their start; Dr. Phil, Dr. Oz, Nate Berkus to name a few.

Oprah's weight was something of a challenge. Several years ago she lost quite a lot of weight, but found out that she needs to devote herself entirely to the weight and no longer wants to be defined by her weight. She has made peace with that part of herself.
She discussed her friendship with Gail King. Gail and Oprah have been accused of being lovers, but Oprah calls her the mother she never had, the sister everybody would want and the friend that everybody deserves. Oprah does not know a better person. Oprah then cried because she has never told her these things. She spent thousands of hours on the phone with Gail and she never needed therapy because of her friendship.

Stedman Graham has been Oprah's boyfriend forever, but they have never married. Barbara even stated that she thought that they were no longer an item. They live together in Chicago in a lovely duplex apartment overlooking Lake Michigan. When the show ends in May, they plan to move to Santa Barbara to her forty-two acre estate. They have no plans to marry regardless of where they live. She no longer regrets not having children because she could not take care of children and work with the intensity that her life has taken.

Her philanthropy spreads far and wide. She built a school in South Africa and gave fifty million children Christmas gifts. She plans to use herself until she is used up and that is what she plans to do. She loves God and her fellow human and intends to keep doing her thing