Oprah Winfrey’s big career decision that resulted in less money

Oprah Winfrey has always had her finger on the pulse, so it’s no surprise that her talk show was one of the most successful of all time. 

Yet The Oprah Winfrey Show, which first graced our screens in 1986, almost didn’t take off due to a major decision that the now billionaire was forced to grapple with.

Crossroads

Oprah opened up about the moment she decided to trust her gut and agree to own the show in a candid interview on SiriusXM’s Let’s Talk Off Camera with Kelly Ripa. 

“What I know for sure [is] that the decision I made to own myself was the best I’ve made,” she told host Kelly Ripa. “So when my attorney, Jeff Jacobs, came to me and said, ‘Do you wanna own the show?’ I go, ‘What does that mean?'”

“‘It means you’re gonna have to take less money now, but if the show really takes off, then you will have half of it. You will earn the same thing as the syndicator earns.’ And I was like, ‘Okay.’ I bet on myself for that. And that is what made all the difference,” she continued. 

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The 71-year-old added that her desire to connect with more people was what clinched the decision for her. 

“I believed that the show would work as a national show because it had already worked in Chicago. And by that time, I had a real connection and understanding to the audiences who were coming every day,” she recalled.

“And I knew that people, at the heart and core of ourselves, whether you’re in Indiana, whether you’re in Massachusetts, whether you’re in Tennessee, whether you’re in Chicago, LA, New York, the heart of us is the same. We all want the same things.”

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She added that people just wanted to be true to themselves and their values, which she strived to replicate on the screen. 

“Everybody is listening to us. That’s what you want. You wanna be able to have the fullest, purest expression of yourself as a human being and not have to pretend to be anything other than who you really are,” she said. 

Words of wisdom

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The show immediately took off and ran for a whopping 25 seasons, was nominated for 105 Emmy Awards, and won 72. Oprah’s ability to empathize with both her guests and the audience allowed a new kind of talk show to bloom, one that could go head to head with other big names at the time. 

The Mississippi native then shared some words of wisdom with Kelly, who has headed her own talk show for more than 25 years and now co-hosts with her husband, Mark Consuelos. 

“I’ve been at the talk show now for 25 years, so I’m asking for a friend. How did you know it was time to step away?” the mom of three asked. 

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“It’s not time for you to step away,” Oprah told her. “And I, if I were advising you, I would say absolutely not because you and Mark are in a groove. And that groove continues to work.”  

“As much as I loved being on a part of the show every day, and as much as I loved the audience, I’m telling you the nature of what we were doing every day became just so hard,” she candidly added.  

“Don’t let go of the platform that you have,” Oprah reiterated. “Do not do it. Don’t even consider it. I feel that the reach that you have, the audience that you’ve built, the family that you’ve created, both inside the studio and in the rest of the world, is really more vital and important now than ever before.” 

To learn more about Oprah’s incredible life, watch below…