From Daytime TV Queen to Kamala campaign disaster: How billionaire Oprah lost touch with ordinary Americans

The exuberant audience, the smiling chorus of A-list personage friends and a beloved broadcaster arsenic fired up and inspirational arsenic ever arsenic she appealed to millions to 'unite for America!'

It was each classical Oprah Winfrey – and it backfired spectacularly.

The live-streamed 'townhall event' which the icon held for Kamala Harris successful Detroit backmost successful September had each the glossy razzamatazz, over-excitement and heart-on-sleeve emotion which made Oprah 1 of the country's astir influential and palmy tv stars.

But successful confidently predicting that her person and state would soon beryllium sailing into the White House connected an 'unprecedented' question of optimism and energy, she couldn't person been wider of the mark.

Uncharacteristically mislaid for words, Oprah told a newsman past week that she wasn't going to speech to him astir the election, which successful the circumstances, is wholly understandable. According to governmental pundits, the Democrats' reliance connected multi-millionaire Hollywood celebrities to archer financially-struggling mean Americans what to deliberation went down peculiarly severely with voters this time.

And the Oprah shindig boasted a tiny service of these celebrated faces, including Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts, Ben Stiller, Bryan Cranston and Jennifer Lopez.

However the 'Queen of Daytime' has had different reasons to regret the 'Unite For America' rally she hosted aft investigation of national predetermination committee records revealed the Harris run had paid Winfrey's company, Harpo Productions, an eye-popping $1 million.

Queen Oprah, present 70, is not a pistillate who is utilized to having to warrant herself excessively overmuch and she looked nary excessively pleased erstwhile that aforesaid newsman asked astir her fiscal dealings with the Harris campaign.

'Is it existent that they paid you a cardinal dollars for the endorsement of Kamala?' the writer pressed.

'Not existent - I was paid nothing, ever,' she said arsenic she climbed into her caller $170,000 golden Range Rover.

That was that, then, but for the information that it wasn't rather the afloat story, arsenic she aboriginal admitted successful a consequent Instagram post. Harpo Productions, had received the hefty payment, but contempt owning and moving the company, Oprah was 'not paid a dime'.

She continued: 'My clip and vigor was my mode of supporting the campaign… I did not instrumentality immoderate idiosyncratic fee. However the radical who worked connected that accumulation needed to beryllium paid. And were. End of story.'

But it wasn't. Despite claims that nether national predetermination run rules, the Harris run was legally obliged to reimburse Harpo Productions for its costs successful staging the lawsuit astatine the marketplace rate, it inactive struck immoderate arsenic wholly incorrect that a billionaire specified arsenic Winfrey - and 1 who prides herself connected being a Democrat diehard - couldn't person paid the cheque herself.

The editorial committee of the Chicago Tribune, her hometown newspaper, delivered a stinging rebuke of Winfrey, nether the header 'Oprah Winfrey should not person asked Kamala Harris for a check.' Oprah, said the newspaper, was chairwoman and CEO of Harpo, and 'the accumulation fees should person been a run donation'.

And it added: 'Better yet, alternatively than bash specified events, the Harris run would person been amended advised to fto its campaigner reply questions from autarkic journalists and springiness her much of a accidental to explicate herself and laic retired her plans for America's future.'

According to the New York Times, insiders accidental the Oprah rally really outgo the Democrats $2.5 cardinal - an astir transgression discarded of supporters' contributions.

Even if Team Harris was legally obliged to wage Oprah's institution $1 cardinal (and 1 wonders if organizers couldn't person done the 90-minute gig a small cheaper fixed it was Democrats' hard-earned wealth paying for it), the information that truthful galore person been keen to condemn her speaks volumes for Oprah's slipping currency nowadays.

That currency, which soared for decades arsenic Oprah was endlessly hailed by a breathless media arsenic not lone 1 of the astir influential radical successful the satellite but adjacent of the 20th century, was lone months agone shaken by accusations that she was a shameless hypocrite implicit her transportation with WeightWatchers

It's rather the turnaround for the speech amusement host-turned-media mogul who appeared (when she wasn't doling retired escaped cars to assemblage members) to person the magic interaction successful being capable to link with mean Americans and recognize what matters to them.

We each cognize that Winfrey overcame a pugnacious childhood, calved to a teenage parent successful agrarian Mississippi and raised without indoor plumbing. And portion she inactive intelligibly has galore devoted fans, it's hard to expect the communal interaction from a billionaire who owns much than a twelve homes including a $50 cardinal property successful Montecito, California, wherever neighbors see the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Gwyneth Paltrow and Jennifer Aniston; and 2,100 acres of onshore connected the Hawaiian land of Maui.

According to Forbes, which puts her wealthiness astatine $3 billion, (that could wage for 3,000 cardinal Kamala Harris municipality hallway rallies), she 'transitioned her deed speech show, which ran for 25 years until 2011, into a media and concern empire'.

And that awesome wealth-creating grounds has included a precise lucrative transportation with the dieting elephantine WeightWatchers for which she was its astir important ambassador for astir a decade.

However, that confederation came embarrassingly unstuck successful December past twelvemonth erstwhile Oprah, who has fought a agelong conflict with her weight, admitted she'd shed 40lbs aft taking a weight-loss drug.

This was a wide no-no for WeightWatchers, a institution that had built its planetary occurrence connected steadfast controlled eating and robust willpower arsenic the keys to achieving sustainable value loss.

Oprah, dubbed America's 'dieter-in-chief' erstwhile she joined the WeightWatchers committee successful 2015, would spell connected to gain $221 cardinal selling the company's banal implicit the years, owning immoderate 10 percent of the company.

Her critics were peculiarly infuriated, immoderate going online to marque her a 'hypocrite', that conscionable 2 months earlier admitting successful an interrogation she was taking the unnamed value nonaccomplishment drug, Winfrey had publically derided specified medications arsenic 'the casual mode out'.

Oprah didn't uncover which cause she used, though galore speculated that she had got a medicine for Ozempic.

In January, fittingness adept Jillian Michaels attacked Oprah for her 'financial interest' successful Ozempic aft WeightWatchers embraced the gyration and bought a company, Sequence, which prescribes the cause to radical wanting to suffer weight.

'Oprah has a fiscal inducement with Ozempic,' said Michaels. 'Oprah, I believe, is 1 of the biggest shareholders of WeightWatchers, and WeightWatchers is present successful the Ozempic business… I deliberation it's important to enactment that retired determination close disconnected the bat.'

In February, Oprah acknowledged the evident quality of a struggle of involvement was excessively large and stepped down from her committee presumption astatine WeightWatchers, donating her shares to the National Museum of African American History and Culture.

The pursuing period saw the merchandise of an Oprah documentary successful which she praised the revolutionary accomplishment of weight-loss injections and attacked those who shame radical who crook to specified drugs. And successful May, Winfrey - who has a agelong past of promoting perchance unsafe fad diets specified arsenic liquid-only ones - apologized for helping popularize unhealthy 'diet culture', saying: 'I ain what I've done, and present I privation to bash better.'

But immoderate of the disapproval of her from different women has been fierce. 'Ok… truthful Oprah is connected Ozempic and telling america to emotion our bodies the mode they are,' 1 aggravated Instagram idiosyncratic replied to a video shared by Jen Hatmaker, an writer and podcast big who was invited to enactment successful Winfrey's documentary. 'That's rich.'

It's surely undeniable that portion the diets that Oprah utilized to urge to her viewers mightiness person been criticized arsenic ineffective and adjacent perchance harmful, they were astatine slightest cheap. A people of Ozempic costs arsenic overmuch arsenic $1,000 a month, if you don't person insurance.

Oprah whitethorn beryllium losing weight, accidental critics, but she's besides losing credibility. Her bombshell 2021 interrogation with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex was different example. Insiders were anxious to accent that neither Winfrey nor broadcaster CBS paid the mates for the interview.

However, they hardly needed to, fixed the 2 hours of free, primetime publicity she gave Harry and Meghan to enactment guardant their factually-flawed case.

Winfrey, who'd erstwhile had a estimation for asking pugnacious questions but was besides a impermanent astatine the Sussexes' 2018 Windsor Castle wedding, was putty successful their hands - ne'er challenging their much outrageous claims and fanning the flames of their shocking allegations of Royal Family racism.

When America started to aftermath up to the couple's little good points - with South Park devoting an full occurrence to mocking them, comedian Chris Rock saying it hadn't been racism but mean 'in-law' behaviour and sentiment polls showing the Sussexes plummeting successful US affections - their fawning person down the roadworthy successful millionairesville Montecito looked erstwhile again retired of interaction and excessively cozy with her celebrated chums.

Oprah present has 4 years of what volition apt be, for her, Trump medication misery to assistance her reconnect with faithful fans. But whether she'll ever regain that communal origin with mean Americans seems unlikely.