“If I lost control of the business, I’d lose myself–or at least the ability to be myself. Owning myself is a way to be myself.”
–Oprah Winfrey, in “The Business of Being Oprah,” a 2002 cover story that I wrote about the billionaire media titan. Back then, Oprah was figuring out who she wanted to be, beyond a daytime talk-show host. She had recently (and warily) formed a partnership with Hearst–from which O magazine was born. But she’d rejected every and all offers to license her name for big money. Having been abused as a child, control meant everything to her, she told me.
And it still does. But now she’s taking a giant step, announcing on the air today that she’ll leave broadcast TV after the next season, her 25th on air, to move to cable. Her start-up, OWN, is a 50-50 venture with Discovery Communications. “Twenty five years feels right in my bones, and it feels right in my spirit,” she said, fighting tears, at the end of her program this afternoon.
For more on Oprah’s new network, read “Behind Oprah’s next big move,” posted earlier today. And catch me with Anderson Cooper tonight at 10 p.m. Eastern on CNN’s AC 360.