Five times YouTube star Oprah Winfrey got it wrong while grilling showbiz stars – Daily Mail
Popular talk show queen Oprah Winfrey has been known to sit down with family members, such as the bombshell interview with Harry and Meghan.
But even long-time hosts like Oprah sometimes get it wrong, as Nathan Lane recently highlighted when NBC Sunday told NBC today that the late actor Robin Williams was a ‘saint’ after he ‘fell down’ and kept him in an interview with Oprah in 1996 when he was not ready to publicly come out cheerfully.
Lane, 67, officially came out three years later in 1999, but during the press tour of his film The Owl – in which he sat alongside Williams – he simply was ‘not ready’ to tell the world when Oprah asked him if he was. He was worried about the typist because he played a queen in a network movie.
I do not think [Oprah] trying to me,’ Lane said. But I told Robin before: You know, I’m not ready. I’m so scared to go out there and talk to Oprah.
‘I’m not ready to discuss the fact that I’m gay on national television. I am not ready.’
In a 1996 interview, Oprah asked a nervous-looking Woolen: ‘Are you going to take that role and kind of send people out for everything? Are you not? Is it honey? I do not know’
Before Lane had a chance to respond, Williams jumped up and said: ‘Um girl, you just changed your mind in the middle of that sentence…’
He said: It is true, do not worry. We don’t want to talk, we don’t want to talk.
MailOnline see more Oprah Winfrey got it wrong in the course of grilling some of the biggest stars of showbiz.
Dolly Parton
In 2003, Dolly Parton sat down with Oprah for a heartfelt interview talking about plastic surgery, mental health and her latest album.
During the interview, Oprah asked her: How do you age, Dolly? Whatcha do?’
Dolly said: ‘Oh I don’t know, I’m a cartoon to see at the same time!’
Instead of moving, Oprah asked again while looking directly into the camera: ‘But you were open because you did some work. Some tucks and pulls and sucks?
Dolly smiled persistently at the question and said: ‘Yes, I have, and I’ll have some more when I need it! I was telling the girls a funny thing, all the girls who sing tribute albums, a lot of them are young.
‘I was already in plastic surgery when I was still sleeping in plastic sheets!’
Drew Brees
In 2010, Oprah interviewed NFL quarterback Drew Brees, and made a faux pas within just a minute of appearing on the show.
After Oprah said ‘wow, wow, wow, wow, wooooo! trying to break something off of Brees’ left cheek, which Oprah assumed was looking for a smear of lipstick: ‘Who just kissed you?’
This powder lipstick is actually Brees’ signature. He laughs at the awkward moment, but it is revealed in conversation Roncus two years later, others mocked him because of his acquaintance when he was a child.
In his book Coming Back Stronger, the NFL star has since revealed that while embarrassment used to be his trademark, it’s no longer taken away to set him apart from everyone else.
It’s just a part of who I am. I don’t want to cut off my arm. ‘I don’t want a brand to be lost,’ he wrote.
In 2010, Oprah interviewed NFL quarterback Drew Brees, and made a faux pas within just a minute of appearing on the show.
Barbara Streisand
Again in 2003, Barbara Streisand appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show wearing a white turtleneck and carrying her white dog Sammie around the studio.
After the music scene in which Streisand used a white microphone, Oprah called on her to adapt her clothes and hair to the microphone as well, saying: ‘I just want to say… I admit this studio, I’ve been here. I don’t know how many years. I’ve never seen an album mic.’
Streisand replied to Oprah: ‘It’s actually white, so you can refer to my white sweater.’ I like the simplicity, and the monochromatic paintings.’
‘So you sprayed the mic?,’ Oprah asked again in the meeting that Kathy Griffin Comedian said at Oprah for weeks to eat the book Official Book Club Selection.
Barbara Streisand appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show wearing a white turtleneck and carrying her white dog Sammie around the studio
Elizabeth Taylor
In 1998, Oprah’s guest Elizabeth Taylor interviewed her for “still looking heavy… for many reasons – including my bad hair,” according to Oprah.com.
One of the conditions of the interview was that Oprah could not ask Taylor questions about her relationships – but the host of the show asked anyway.
Hence, Taylor would respond with ‘none of your business’ or ‘they look blue death’, according to New York.
Oprah’s site also reveals: ‘Liz’s answers were so blunt that Oprah couldn’t help but tease, “You’re so revealing – you just tell everything! I mean, you only have to talk, Ms. Taylor!” ‘
Despite this mistake, Taylor appeared several times on Oprah’s talk show after investigating the awkward relationship.
In 1998, Oprah’s guest Elizabeth Taylor interviewed her as “still a burden to watch… for many reasons – including my bad hair.”
Saint Field
On Rob Lowe’s podcast literally!Oprah revealed that she also regretted asking Sally Field about her relationship with Burt Reynolds, who Field had been dating for five years in the late 70s and early 80s.
Oprah asked her: “Does Burt sleep with a toupée?
In retrospect, he called it a big mistake and said Field ‘went cold’ by asking that question and ‘shut off’ the rest of the interview.
In the podcast, Oprah, looking back, thinks that the question was not right, and can understand why the field went cold on her.
‘I earned it, I earned it, I wanted it, because that’s the question,’ Oprah said.
Oprah asked Sally Field: “Does Burt sleep with his toupée?
