I Forgive Oprah

Oprah Winfrey. Photo:  Rolling Out.

It feels like I've been away in rehab but really just reinventing myself at Hollywood's Become a Host TV coaching program.  

"We haven't had a breakthrough until someone's in tears," our coach said. 

I had a breakthrough.  I forgive Oprah.

Back when Oprah shot to fame with her Chicago-based talk show, I was an overweight Black girl on the way to becoming a newscaster; the same way Oprah got started. Given the similarities to Oprah's story, maybe the nickname was inevitable:

Little Oprah. 

I hated it.  I wanted people to view me as a serious journalist, not a daytime diva.  I wanted to cover disasters and wars;  not celebrities with egos as inflated as their paychecks.

And truthfully, Oprah's extra curvy figure wasn't...Well, like many girls, I fantasized about being the hot, thin star on those glossy magazine covers.

I stayed away from the drama of daytime talk show positions or jobs that required interviewing celebrities - leave that throne to Oprah.   

Later, after years on the crime beat, I was so hardened that our news director would send me to cover gruesome murder scenes that none of the men wanted to see.

I tried so hard to prove I was not Little Oprah that I missed my own story.

"I made a mistake," I told my coach.

"You took a different path," she replied reassuringly.

Honestly?  Oprah doesn't need my forgiveness; she's not to blame for my missed opportunities.  Sure, I still want to tell stories that set the world ablaze but now that may mean sharing the set with a celebrity or two.

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