“Everybody has their own path in life, and it has not one thing to do with me,” Oprah Winfrey said
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NEED TO KNOW
- Oprah Winfrey responded to criticism over her past affiliation with Dr. Phil and Dr. Oz
- Winfrey featured them on her eponymous talk show in 1998 and 2004, and they went on to host their own daytime shows
- “Everybody has their own path in life, and it has not one thing to do with me, and I don’t have one thing to do with them,” she said
Oprah Winfrey responded to those who’ve critiqued her for platforming Dr. Phil McGraw and Dr. Mehmet Oz decades ago.
Speaking with Emmy Magazine for an interview published Tuesday, Aug. 11, Winfrey, 72, reflected on her introductions to the TV personalities, whom she tapped to appear as experts on The Oprah Winfrey Show.
McGraw, 75, made his debut on the show in 1998, while Dr. Oz, 66, got his start on Winfrey’s show in 2004.
“People criticize me for Dr. Phil and Dr. Oz, because of their politics or their views,” Winfrey told Emmy Magazine.
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She added, referring to a 1998 libel lawsuit that connected her with McGraw, “He was so practical, so down to earth, so real. And he would ride in the car with me every morning on the way to trial, where I’m literally sitting on trial for six weeks. I felt that he was so instrumental in helping me. I thought, ‘Oh, you could help a lot of people. You should come on my show.’”
As for Dr. Oz, Winfrey said friend Gayle King introduced her to him. “He explained practical things like colon cancer and bowel movements. I thought he had the language for explaining medical things in a way that was helpful to me,” she said. “I thought it would be helpful to many other people. And that is how they ended up on the show.”
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Winfrey added, “Everybody has their own path in life, and it has not one thing to do with me, and I don’t have one thing to do with them.”
“At the time, the reason and intention behind me giving them their breaks was I thought they had valuable information to share that had been meaningful to me,” she added.
In the years since, and after both men launched eponymous talk shows of their own, they’ve become staunch supporters of President Donald Trump, with Trump appointing Oz to lead the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Dr. Phil serves as a member of Trump’s Religious Liberty Commission and was present in ICE raids, including in Chicago in 2025.
Elsewhere in her latest interview, Winfrey responded to talk about her wealth. “I don’t think people understood how it was a ministry,” she said of her show. “Now people just talk about, ‘You’re a billionaire.’ I’m a billionaire because I bet on myself.”
She added, “Because none of those men — all men, all White men — ever, ever expected this show to be as successful as it was. Because they would have never, ever agreed to that percentage. I started out with 35 percent [ownership] … ended up with 92 percent.”