The queen of chat is hitting the road. In September, Oprah Winfrey will appear at the 3Arena in Dublin for what is billed as a “unique live experience”. This isn’t Oprah’s debut tour – she has been headlining arenas in the United States for years. But it is certainly a first for Ireland – and a reminder that, during the peak of her 1986 to 2011 chatshow, there was no bigger cultural force on television. Whether nattering with royalty, turning obscure books into best-sellers or encouraging movie stars to be their best, cringiest selves, here are 10 Oprah moments that speak to her stardom.
10. The weight wagon (1988)
Oprah accidentally nailed the concept of “too much information” when she wheeled on a kids’ trolley loaded with 4.7 stone in animal fat to demonstrate how much weight she had shed on a “strict liquid diet”. The episode was the highest rated ever of the Oprah Winfrey Show – but she later apologised for promoting extreme dieting.
9. James Frey book club scandal (2006)
James Frey’s book A Million Little Pieces at a bookstore in New York City, 2006. Photograph: Spencer Platt/Getty Images
By the early 21st century, Oprah’s Book Club had the power to turn obscure writers into overnight best-sellers. But with such influence came huge scrutiny – as Winfrey discovered when it was revealed that the James Frey addiction memoir she had endorsed contained significant fabrications, such as the claim that the author had spent “87 days” in jail (it was just a few hours). With her reputation on the line, Winfrey summoned Frey back to her show for the mother of dressings-down. “I feel duped,” she said as the humbled Frey sank into the couch. “But more importantly, I feel that you betrayed millions of readers.”
8. Oprah vs Jonathan Franzen (2001)
Most authors would have given a spare limb to be selected for the Oprah Book Club. But not literary “It Boy” Jonathan Franzen, who worried Oprah’s endorsement of his family melodrama, The Corrections, would lead to a perception that he had gone “lowbrow”. Oprah did not take his remarks well and withdrew an invitation to have Franzen on her show. Was it a fit of pique? Or was she correct to push back against what many at the time regarded as snobbery by Franzen towards Oprah’s audience, which was largely female and working class? Either way, it was too late for Franzen’s publishers, which had printed an additional half a million copies of The Corrections in anticipation of an Oprah bounce.
7. Oprah vs the farmers of Texas (1997)
In 1996, Winfrey concluded a segment about the outbreak of mad cow disease in Britain by stating that concerns over food safety had “just stopped me cold from eating a burger”. This didn’t go down well with cattle ranchers in Texas, who sued her for “false disparagement of a perishable food product” – ie, their delicious beef. The case went to trial in 1997 and eventually was struck out. Leaving the courthouse in Amarillo, Oprah declared: “Free speech not only lives, it rocks.” History does not record whether she celebrated by going to Burger King for a Whopper.
6. Jenny McCarthy’s anti-vaccine madness (2007)
Winfrey was widely criticised for giving a platform to actor and model McCarthy in 2007, who linked her son’s autism to the MMR vaccine. “I said to the doctor, I have a very bad feeling about this shot,” McCarthy said. “This is the autism shot, isn’t it?”
Winfrey hailed McCarthy as a “mother warrior” and praised her book, Louder Than Words: A Mother’s Journey in Healing Autism. She also read out a statement from America’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which stated there was no link between autism and vaccines. “It is important to remember, vaccines protect and save lives,” the statement read. However, McCarthy had the last word when she referred to her son. “My science is named Evan, and he’s at home,” she said. “That’s my science.”
5. Mo’Nique and her estranged family (2010)
Actor Mo’Nique said she was blindsided by Oprah when the host confronted her with her estranged family in an interview promoting her movie Precious. Mo’Nique said she had agreed to her brother appearing, but was shocked when Oprah also brought on her mother and other family members. She would later describe Oprah as a “betrayer”. “You betrayed me, sister,” Mo’Nique told a podcast in 2024. “Had Oprah Winfrey said, ‘I’m [going to] have your mama [on the show]’ I would’ve said shut that shit down.”
4. Oprah and Whitney Houston (2009)
Houston spoke at length about her substance abuse and her troubled marriage to Bobby Brown in a searing two-part interview that took place just three years before her death. She delved into her drug use – and revealed her biggest addiction was to Brown, whom she had divorced two years previously. “He was my drug. I didn’t do anything without him. I wasn’t getting high by myself. It was me and him together.”
3. Oprah and Michael Jackson (1993)
Desperately in need of an image reboot, Michael Jackson turned to Oprah. While he had yet to be publicly accused of child abuse, his addiction to plastic surgery and the stark whitening of his skin had fuelled his “Wacko Jacko” persona. He went on Oprah and stated that his lightened skin was the result of a medical condition, vitiligo. It was the first major sit-down TV interview Jackson had given in years and Oprah did not stand on ceremony: at one point during the exchange at Neverland Ranch she even asked the singer if he was a virgin. “How could you ask me that question?” he responded, adding, “I’m a gentleman”.
2. Harry and Meghan (2021)
A chat with Oprah in the back garden of their home in California seemed the perfect way for the Sussexes to quietly reboot their careers as thoroughly modern celebs, free of the restrictions of royalty. But it didn’t take long for Oprah – their neighbour, with a house just up the road in Montecito – to cut through the couple’s polished exterior and to lay bare the stark truth of life in the British royal family. Most shocking was Meghan’s revelation about the discussions she had while pregnant with their first child, Archie. There had, she said, been “concerns and conversations about how dark his skin might be when he’s born”. “That conversation I’m never going to share,” Harry added later. “At the time, it was awkward. I was a bit shocked.” Everyone was shocked – not least executives at Netflix, who had just signed Harry and Meghan to a multi-million-dollar production deal including a tell-all documentary. But wily Oprah had got the horrid truth out of them first.
1. Tom Cruise on the couch (2005)
It took years for Cruise’s reputation to recover from the onslaught of pure cringe that was his declaration of love for future wife, Katie Holmes. Theoretically promoting the film War of the Worlds, Cruise looked like an alien playing at being a human as he pumped his fist, fell to his knees, slapped the ground and, yes, bounced on a couch. For once, Winfrey was largely lost for words. “What has happened to you?” she blurted, adding, “We’ve never seen you behave this way before.”
Tickets for Oprah Winfrey at the 3Arena on Mon, Sept 14 go on presale Thurs, May 7th and on general sale on Fri, May 8th