Oprah Winfrey has revealed that only God could convince her to run for president in 2020.
The talk show host has been touted for a run at the presidency since she made her inspiring Golden Globes speech to a standing ovation and thunderous applause last month. Winfrey’s longtime partner Stedman Graham then fanned the speculation when he told reporters that she would ‘absolutely do it’.
Winfrey revealed that amid all the presidential chatter, and offers to finance her campaign, she went into prayer to seriously contemplate whether she could run.
Oprah Winfrey has revealed that only God could convince her to run for president in 2020
‘I pay attention, and when you have that many people saying something, I thought gee, I never in my life, ever, ever, thought I would be in politics. I’ve always said no no no no no,’ she told People. ‘Am I at least supposed to look a that question?
‘I had enough people, billionaires calling me, saying I can get you a billion dollars, I can run your campaign.
‘And I went into prayer. God, if you think I’m supposed to run, you gotta tell me, and it has to be so clear that not even I can miss it.’
But Winfrey said that so far, she hadn’t ‘gotten that.’
Winfrey revealed in an interview with People (pictured) that amid all the presidential chatter, and offers to finance her campaign, she went into prayer to seriously contemplate whether she could run
Winfrey said she asked God for advice but hasn’t received any any answer
A poll conducted last month showed that Winfrey would beat Trump in a head to head battle in the 2020 election.
But, the media mogul has been reticent about any plans to run, saying it was not in her DNA to become a politician.
In another interview, with 60 Minutes Overtime, she said she was ‘humbled’ that so many people wanted her to become the next US president.
‘I am actually humbled by the fact that people think I could be the leader of the free world, but it’s just not in my spirit,’ Winfrey said.
Winfrey, herself a 60 Minutes special contributor, said if she had been thinking about running for president seriously, she would have walked away from her more journalistic or ‘conversationalist’ role.
She started getting political buzz when she delivered a ‘Me Too’-themed speech, that a politician could have given on the stump, at the Golden Globes in January.
Winfrey had recounted how, as a child, she watched Sidney Poitier become the first black actor to win an Academy Award in 1964, and how that had influenced her. She also praised the Time’s Up movement’s efforts to end sexual misconduct in the industry.
Rumors about whether Winfrey would run for office began after her Golden Globes speech (pictured) last month, when she accepted the Cecil B. DeMille lifetime achievement award
She ended with a statesman-like call for solidarity, saying, ‘A new day is on the horizon.’
Two unnamed sources later told CNN that Winfrey was ‘actively thinking’ about jumping in.
Winfrey told 60 Minutes that she was ‘stunned’ that she suddenly was being named as someone who could run for the highest office in the land.
‘I was just trying to give a good speech,’ the talk show host said. ‘I was looking for a way to express what was going on in this moment in terms of gender and class and race.’
‘I cared about landing that speech in the room,’ Winfrey added.
In two other interviews, Winfrey said it wasn’t going to happen, though those Q&As were conducted before the Golden Globes.
After the awards show, Winfrey said she was inundated with offers of political and financial help.
‘I had a lot of wealthy men calling, telling me that they would run my campaign and raise $1 billion for me,’ Winfrey told 60 Minutes. ‘I think that when you have that many people whose opinions you value coming at you, it’s worthy of thinking about.’
Oprah Winfrey (right) told 60 Minutes that running for president was not in her ‘DNA,’ though also suggested during the interview that she had thought about it briefly after being approached by a number of potential backers and donors
But Winfrey said she hadn’t heard from a higher power, the one voice who might compel her to get involved.
A survey, conducted by SSRS and commissioned by CNN, found that Winfrey would best Trump among registered voters by nine points, with the talk show queen receiving 51 per cent and the sitting president getting 42 per cent.
In the talk with InStyle which would have been conducted in mid-December, she said: ‘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.’
Referring to her best friend, CBS News anchor for This Morning Gayle King, Winfrey said: ‘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?”
‘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.”‘
President Trump said he would ‘beat Oprah’ if she ran in 2020 but a new poll suggests otherwise
Winfrey made an impassioned call for ‘a brighter morning even in our darkest nights’ at the Golden Globes, prompting her peers and fans to call for her to run for office.
As she became the first black woman to win the Cecil B. DeMille Award, Winfrey told the audience: ‘For too long, women have not been heard or believed if they dared to speak their truth to the power of those men, but their time is up.’
She added: ‘I want tonight to express gratitude to all the women who have endured years of abuse and assault because they, like my mother, had children to feed and bills to pay and dreams to pursue.’
Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks are among the stars who are sharing their backing for Winfrey.
Donald Trump said that he would ‘beat Oprah’ if she ran against him at the next election.
Earlier this month, he urged her to try, saying: ‘Hope Oprah runs so she can be exposed and defeated just like all of the others!’