O Magazine Interview
Blige speaks about the inspiration behind her new album, The Breakthrough:
It means a lot. One day I realized that I wasn’t getting anywhere by blaming other people for my circumstances. I finally understood: Even if you feel someone has wronged you or owes you something, no one is going to give you anything for free. In the inner city, there’s a mentality that the government owes you something. My breakthrough came when I stopped feeling sorry for myself and took responsibility for every part of my life.
O Magazine interview
Meg Ryan gives an interview to Winfrey for O Magazine about CARE an international aid organization.
CARE came to me because they were initiating a campaign called I Am Powerful, which is about paralleling the lives of women in the first world with women in the third world. They’re always looking for the seed of the idea that can be most productive in building people’s lives. I just kept thinking, Wow, this is a beautiful idea. I’d gone to India before, but I’ve never seen it the way I did with CARE. Have you been there?
O Magazine Interview
Ryan speaks about visiting India on behalf of the international aid organization CARE:
CARE came to me because they were initiating a campaign called I Am Powerful, which is about paralleling the lives of women in the first world with women in the third world. They’re always looking for the seed of the idea that can be most productive in building people’s lives. I just kept thinking, “Wow, this is a beautiful idea.” I’d gone to India before, but I’ve never seen it the way I did with CARE.
O Magazine interview
Rusesabagina gives an interview to Winfrey for O Magazine about his memoir, An Ordinary Man.
Men I’d known for years were carrying machetes, grenades, guns, spears any weapon you can think of. Neighbors I’d seen as gentlemen had suddenly become killers in military uniforms.
O Magazine Interview
Rusesabagina discusses how he survived the Rwandan genocide in 1994:
It was complicated. If you want to control someone, you’ve got to keep him close, talk to him. That’s what I did [with the armed men constantly threatening to take over the hotel]. The people inside were frightened. There was no water, no electricity, and we were cooking any corn and dried beans we could find with firewood.
O Magazine interview
Davis talks to Winfrey for O Magazine about her role in the show Oval Office.
We know how powerful media images are. The show is entertainment but seeing a woman in this role week after week makes people comfortable with the idea. That’s when television is of its greatest service. This show gives us a picture of a real woman with a somewhat rounded life. Some people have asked, Why do you have to include a family? Well, every president during my lifetime has had children.
O Magazine Interview
Davis talks about going through the process of starring in the movie Thelma & Louise:
I read the script a year before I got cast. After reading it, I thought, God, I have to be in this movie. When I told my agent, he said the role had already been taken. But then the movie went through several directors and many sets of women before the producer, Ridley Scott, decided to direct it himself. So my agent called Ridley—the guy he’d called weekly for a year—and asked, Would you consider Geena for the part? Ridley said, Anyone with this much passion obviously deserves a meeting. So I met him at the Four Seasons for tea. I had notes and notes and notes on the script. I poured out my guts for two hours straight about why I should play Louise.
O Magazine interview
Foxx talks to Winfrey for O Magazine about the most successful event in his career.
Winning the Oscar. Everybody was crying. Speedy, a friend I’ve known since I was Eric Bishop, and all the other guys couldn’t hold back. Because it’s like this: Halle and Denzel are supposed to win the Oscars. Speedy and I were always just a couple of Wet Willies [pranksters] with cops harassing us. You know how our folks are: When one of us wins, we all just want to celebrate.
O Magazine Interview
Foxx gives his thoughts on why winning an Oscar caught him off guard:
Winning the Oscar. Everybody was crying. Speedy, a friend I’ve known since I was Eric Bishop, and all the other guys couldn’t hold back. Because it’s like this: Halle and Denzel are supposed to win the Oscars. Speedy and I were always just a couple of Wet Willies [pranksters] with cops harassing us. You know how our folks are: When one of us wins, we all just want to celebrate.
O Magazine interview
Theron discusses why she started an anti-rape campaign in South Africa in an interview with O Magazine.
When someone gave me the facts, they devastated me. I knew rape was a big problem in South Africa, but I had no idea how bad it was. One out of every three women there will be raped in her lifetime. Every 26 seconds, a woman is raped.
O Magazine interview
Turner gives an interview to O Magazine and talks about her thoughts on becoming a Buddhist.
The women who sold drugs to Ike said, What are you doing here, Tina? How can you live with this madness? Then one day, someone told me, Buddhism will save your life. I was willing to try anything. I started to chant. Once, I chanted, went to the studio, and put down a vocal, just like that. Ike was so excited that he gave me a big wad of money and said, Go shopping! I thought, This chanting stuff works. I was hooked. I still believe in the Lord’s Prayer. I find a form of the Lord’s Prayer in Buddhism.
O Magazine interview
Amanpour discusses covering the Bosnian War in an interview for O Magazine.
I consider Bosnia the most important work I’ve ever done. All during the war, CNN was there every day, and we weren’t only covering car and suicide bombs; we did human interest stories. That made a difference. I’m absolutely convinced that had we not been there—not just CNN but every news organization there—perhaps the West might not have intervened.
O Magazine interview
Stewart speaks about his comedy taking on a more political tone in an interview with O Magazine.
It was a conscious decision to move to relevance—to make the show something people care about. I had done a talk show where it was, Ladies and gentlemen, tonight we’re doing three segments instead of two with Maria Conchita Alonso. Because it turns out the guy with the falcons is not going to come tonight. I thought, This can’t be how I live my life. So I decided not to give a crap about what anybody else thought anymore.
O Magazine interview
Penn speaks about his new film The Assassination of Richard Nixon in an interview for O Magazine.
It’s just good luck that the movie speaks to what’s current. In some respects, you could call it bad luck. I was working on this for several years before 9/11. At the time, I thought, “The guy who wrote this wants me to do it and he should have what he wants because he’s up to something important.” I came to regret it because it was the most miserable shoot ever. (Laughs) You saw the movie. There’s not a lot of time spent with dancing girls.
O Magazine interview
Obama discusses writing his memoir, Dreams from My Father, in an interview for O Magazine.
I had the opportunity. When I was elected president of the Harvard Law Review, people were willing to give me money to write. That’s a huge luxury. I thought I had something interesting to say about how our cultures collide as the world shrinks. My family’s story captures some of the tensions and evolution and crosscurrents of race, both in this country and around the globe.
O Magazine interview
Walters talks about leaving the ABC news show 20/20 in an interview for O Magazine.
I’ve worked all my life, and I’ve never had time to go to a city or country where I haven’t been in the studio. I watched your special (Diane Sawyer devoted an hour of Primetime to Oprah’s work in South Africa) not just with tears but with yearning. I’ve been to China four times—but I’ve never really seen China.
O Magazine interview
Keys speaks about why she left Columbia Records in an interview for O Magazine.
Once I saw that these people were completely disrespecting my musical creativity. I was devastated and crushed, like a blooming flower that’s trampled on. Nothing hurts more. I’m fortunate that my manager was confident. Some of our incredible legends will die with nothing. They were jerked.
O Magazine interview
Clinton gives his thoughts on his impeachment trial during his presidency in an interview with O Magazine.
The personal aspect: What was I thinking? No matter how mad or scared I was about what else was going on, why in the wide world did I do that? And how can I make it up to everybody involved, beginning with Hillary and Chelsea, my administration, and the American people? That was by far the most difficult thing. Fighting (Kenneth) Starr and the impeachment was easy.
O Magazine interview
Crystal talks about things not working out with Saturday Night Live early in his career in an interview with O Magazine.
I don’t blame anyone. It just got all blown out of proportion with the managers. They stood up for me, and Lorne stood up for his show. I understand that. The hard part was calling all the relatives and saying, “I’m not going to be on. They’re like, But we took naps so we could watch this at 11:30, Mr. Big Shot. What did you do, open your mouth?
O Magazine interview
Wonder speaks about getting the idea for his song I Wish in an interview with O Magazine.
When I first came up with I Wish, it was going to be about some kind of crazy philosophical stuff, but that didn’t work with the song. So after a Motown picnic, we came back to the studio, and we were all sitting around the piano. We started talking about the different experiences we had growing up, like when I got a whipping for playing doctor with a girl.