Media mogul Oprah Winfrey ended speculation Thursday that she might run for president in 2020, telling InStyle magazine that she isn't interested in launching a White House bid.
"I've always felt very secure and confident with myself in knowing what I could do and what I could not. And so, it's not something that interests me. I don't have the DNA for it," Winfrey said in an interview published on the magazine's website Thursday.
“I met with someone the other day who said that they would help with a campaign. That’s not for me.”
Fans called for Winfrey to run for president after she gave a rousing, nearly 10-minute speech at the Golden Globes on Jan. 7. She was honored with the Cecil B. DeMille Award for her contributions to the entertainment industry and used her time to address the “#MeToo” movement against sexual harassment and assault.
Speculation was fueled by comments by Winfrey's partner, Stedman Graham, who told the Los Angeles Times after the speech that Winfrey "would absolutely do it." Winfrey's longtime friend, "CBS This Morning" host Gayle King, later said she believed that Graham misunderstood the question and thought he was being asked whether she would make a good president.
Unidentified friends of Winfrey's told CNN earlier this month that she was "actively thinking" about running for president, and King said Winfrey was "intrigued" by the idea, but not "actually considering it."
"Gayle -- who knows me as well as I know myself, practically -- has been calling me regularly and texting me things, like a woman in the airport saying, 'When's Oprah going to run?'" Winfrey told InStyle. "So Gayle sends me these things and then she'll go, 'I know, I know, I know! It wouldn't be good for you -- it would be good for everyone else.'"
Winfrey will appear on the cover of InStyle magazine’s March issue.
Credit: Jordan Strauss
Credit: Jordan Strauss
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