Published 15 August 2017
Buckie Got It, St. Kitts and Nevis News Source
At 63, Oprah has ‘no damn apologies’ for how she lives
Like a fine wine, Oprah Winfrey’s wisdom only ripens as she ages.
The 63-year-old Mississippi native, whose name has become synonymous with a multimedia empire, opened up about a variety of topics, including weight and marriage, in a recent interview with Vogue.
When asked what she’s learned about society by remaining unmarried, Winfrey said, “Live life on your own terms.”
She explained that the prospect of marriage has never been an issue for her and Stedman Graham, her partner of more than 30 years.
“Nobody believes it, but it’s true,” Winfrey said. “The only time I brought it up was when I said to Stedman, ‘What would have happened if we had actually gotten married?’ And the answer is: ‘We wouldn’t be together.’ ”
Winfrey contends that marriage requires a different way of existing in the world, which would have rendered their relationship untenable.
“His interpretation of what it means to be a husband and what it would mean for me to be a wife would have been pretty traditional, and I would not have been able to fit into that,” she admitted.
Winfrey also spoke about aging and how the difference between your 40s and 60s is “the knowing.”
“In your 40s, you’re coming into it, you’re intellectualizing things, and you kind of know it and you feel it,” she said, recalling how Maya Angelou used to tell her that your 50s are everything you’ve been meaning to be.
“By the time you hit 60, there are just no damn apologies. And certainly not at 63,” Winfrey said, before adding additional insight about a topic of continued conversation: her size.
“And the weight thing that was always such a physical, spiritual, emotional burden for me,” Winfrey said. “No apologies for that either.”
Winfrey’s full interview is available in the September issue of Vogue, its 125th anniversary, available on newsstands Aug. 22.
