Media mogul Oprah Winfrey appeared at the Cannes Lions International Festival, where she spoke about her decades-long career as a media personality. During the chat, the star shared anecdotes from her life on the set of the film while encouraging rising media personalities to show restraint and compassion.
Opera In her time with Whitney Houston
In her conversation with Cannes Lions Festival President Phil Thomas, Winfrey discussed philanthropy, her journey to becoming one of the world’s most influential self-made people, and more. Emphasizing the responsibility that comes with influence, Winfrey revisited one of her most memorable interviews with Whitney Houston on The Oprah Winfrey Show. Recalling the trust they built before filming, she said: “We did the whole, ‘Hey girl, how are you?’ “The greeting thing. Then I turned off the cameras and went behind the stage and said, ‘Tell me, what do you want to happen here?’ And I’ll tell you what I want to happen here.”
“That was one of the most powerful interviews.”
Oprah remembers Whitney Houston falling on stage
She went on to reveal that Houston later returned to the show to perform at the time she suffered the setback. “I had a lot of trust from the Oprah audience…I think it was her [Houston’s] “The last show with us, she was back on drugs,” Winfrey said.“The first interview I had with her when we were behind the stage and I asked her about her intention, she was clean, but the day she came to my show to perform in front of the audience, she was not, and she fell off the stage.”
Oprah “begged” the public not to release Whitney Houston’s details to the media
The TV presenter recalled that she “begged” her fans not to reveal the incident to the media. “I knew that if that story got out… she would be devastated by it,” she said. “And even though the public was there and the public had cameras, I begged them not to show those pictures because it would ruin her life, and they didn’t.”Reflecting on how dramatically the media landscape has changed since then, Winfrey added: “That wouldn’t happen today, I can tell you that.”Houston died in February 2012 at the age of 48. Her death was ruled an accidental drowning.
