(AP) Before her iconic Golden Globes speech sparked a new presidential push on social media, Kosciusko native Oprah Winfrey declared that she’s not interested in a White House bid.
The billionaire media mogul says in a newly published interview that she’s aware of the clamoring among Democrats and liberals looking to counter President Donald Trump, a wealthy real estate titan who parlayed his reality TV career into the presidency.
“I’ve always felt very secure and confident with myself in knowing what I could do and what I could not,” Winfrey told InStyle magazine. “And so it’s not something that interests me. I don’t have the DNA for it.”
The 63-year-old Winfrey is among the wealthiest businesswomen in the country and is one of the world’s most recognizable black women, perhaps exceeded only by former first lady Michelle Obama.
The interview is the cover story for InStyle’s March edition, which features a smiling Winfrey along with the headline: “Hello, Madam President?”
Winfrey’s comments came several weeks before her Jan. 7 acceptance of a lifetime achievement award at the Golden Globes. She drew widespread acclaim for her remarks on overcoming racism and her praise of women speaking out against pervasive sexual harassment across multiple industries.
The speech spawned the Twitter hashtag #oprah2020, which trended for several days afterward.
Oprah was born in Kosciusko in 1954. She spent a number of childhood years in Attala County before moving to Milwaukee, WI at the age of six. The road she grew up is now marked as “Oprah Winfrey Road.” The family’s first homestead and the church where she first took the stage are all marked along the county road.
