Oprah Winfrey has enough reason to celebrate what life has offered her. In an interview on “Today” with Al Roker, she shared her thoughts on turning 70 this January—a milestone she once doubted she’d reach.
“I remember many, many years ago as a young girl, I had always thought that I would never make it to the 60s or 70s,” the talk show host said Tuesday. “I had this number in my head that I thought, ‘OK, I’m gonna be out by then.’
“I think I had a vision of it when I was a kid, and I think it’s because under the circumstances that I was living when I was a little girl in Milwaukee on welfare with my mother and what I now know, that if I had stayed in those circumstances, I probably wouldn’t be here,” Winfrey said. “I wouldn’t be here healthy and strong and vibrant.”
RELATED STORIES
When Roker asked if her sense of gratitude had deepened at this stage in her life, Winfrey offered a thoughtful clarification.
“I would not say that it’s deeper, Al, because I have been doing it for so long,” she said. “I would say that there is a sense of knowing that there isn’t as much time left, and I am at peace with that knowing.”
“The Color Purple” producer continued: “My great gift is being able to live in the present moment. I think it’s really the thing that brings me the greatest joy. Because no matter what’s going on in your life, you can compartmentalize and be just right here, right now. So, I’m not a worrier, I will worry about the thing when the thing shows up.”
Winfrey throughout her adult life has faced myriad health challenges, including knee surgeries. The former talk show host recounted how discussions with her doctors made it clear that surgery was her only viable option.
“A couple of years ago, 2021, I had knee surgery on one knee, and I had been becoming more and more debilitated to the point where it was hard to walk down even two steps, just to get into the car,” Winfrey told Roker. “And when I finally went to the knee doctor, and I said, ‘I don’t know, is it time?’ and he goes, ‘It’s time if you want to continue walking. Do you like walking? Then it’s time, it’s time.’ ”
Despite her initial fears, the media icon’s knee surgery ultimately gave her a renewed sense of life and vitality.
“And so, I’d never been through surgery or … [I] was intimidated by it,” Winfrey continued. “The best thing I’ve ever done, I really felt like I had a new opportunity to live inside my body in a way that I hadn’t been able to for years because being overweight and the being overweight causing the knees to be even worse.”
Roker who also marked his 70th birthday on Tuesday asked Winfrey if she feels she has fulfilled her life’s purpose.
“I feel like it continues,” Winfrey said. “I think until the last breath it continues, and I think that ultimately there is no offering greater than your love. And it doesn’t matter if you were giving that love through your broadcast audience, you are able to speak to millions of people or you’re just speaking to one, people may forget what you did or what you said, but they never forget how you made them feel.”
Winfrey indicated that how you make others feel is ultimately “your legacy” and encouraged Roker to fully embrace his 70s as he enters this new chapter of life.
“Don’t be scared, Al,” she quipped. “It’s gonna be all right, it’s gonna be all right [and] you know why? Because you have already overcome some of the greatest challenges. I mean, you can tell us what it’s like to almost not make it and what it means to have the most vital part of your life in order, and that is your health.”
Roker took a break from work in late 2022 after being hospitalized for blood clots in his lungs and legs. By May 2023, he had undergone his second knee replacement surgery.
