Oprah Winfrey defends launching the careers of Dr. Oz and Dr. Phil

Oprah Winfrey defended launching the careers of Dr. Phil McGraw and Dr. Mehmet Oz in a recent Emmy Magazine interview, saying she believed both had valuable, practical information worth sharing. 

Ms. Winfrey justified her decision to give Dr. Phil and Dr. Oz their media platforms on her hit talk show and rejected blame for their later political turns, saying their choices since “have not one thing to do with me.

“Everybody has their own path in life, and it has not one thing to do with me, and I don’t have one thing to do with them,” she said in the interview. 

Both men have become prominent Trump allies, with Dr. Oz leading the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and Mr. McGraw endorsing the president in 2024. 

Ms. Winfrey first encountered Mr. McGraw in 1998 while defending herself against a defamation lawsuit brought by Texas cattlemen who accused her of harming the beef industry. He was a jury consultant during her defamation trial. After winning the case, Ms. Winfrey credited him for his help and had him appear weekly on her show. 

She first met Dr. Oz on his Discovery Channel show “Second Opinion with Dr. Oz” in 2003. 

Ms. Winfrey publicly backed former Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 election.