Oprah Winfrey has traversed remarkable milestones since touchdown her breakthrough as a information anchor on WLS-TV’s poorly-rated half-hour morning display, AM Chicago. With a multi-billion-dollar net worth and a flourishing media empire to boot, the now 69-year-old is the pinnacle of Hollywood stardom. That stated, the media multi-millionaire’s journey to the peak has not been without its headwinds.
Back in the Eighties, while seeking to land her big-screen breakthrough as Sofia in The Color Purple, the media mogul battled such crippling self-doubt, she in fact joined a fat farm to lose weight for the film. Here’s why, were it not for Steven Spielberg’s well timed intervention, Winfrey's weight issues would possibly’ve ended up costing her the once-in-a-lifetime position.
Landing An Audition For The Color Purple Was A Dream Come True For Oprah Winfrey
Whether it’s having a multi-billion-dollar internet value, consistently score among the most influential people in the international, or earning the nickname “Queen of all media,” Oprah Winfrey doesn’t exactly have a scarcity of accomplishments to be happy with.
However, as surprising as it may well be, none of these exceptional achievements encourage the media multi-millionaire with as a lot satisfaction as getting forged in Steven Spielberg’s The Color Purple.
Already a huge fan of the e-book, Winfrey used to be over the moon when she realized that a movie adaptation was once in the works. “When I heard that they were doing a movie, I had made a decision that I was going to give you the option to get on the`set of that movie,” she told NBC News in 2006. “And I began praying for it. Literally like praying for it.”
As destiny would have it, producer Quincy Jones had happened to catch a glimpse of Winfrey's morning display whilst on a travel to Chicago, and was useless set on casting her as Sofia in the movie. “When I first saw Oprah in Chicago, on Chicago AM, I didn't know who she used to be,” Jones recalled all the way through an interview with NBC News.
“I said ‘That's Sophie. I have no idea who it is, however it's Sophie. If she will be able to act, then it's really Sophie.’"
Despite having little to no acting experience, Winfrey nailed her audition for the role, leaving producer Quincy Jones in awe. “She tore it up. It came flowing out - just rolling out of her everything,” Jones admitted to NBC News. “Every mood, kaleidoscopic characterization and everything else just came out. And it was improvised.”
Oprah Winfrey Joined A Fat Farm After Waiting On The Color Purple’s Casting Team For Months
Despite being a shoo-in for the role, Oprah Winfrey had to wait for months before she finally heard back from the film’s casting team. Frustrated by the long wait, the media mogul decided to take matters into her own hands, placing a rather ill-advised call to Reuben Cannon; the film’s casting agent.
“Reuben says to me, ‘You don’t call me. I call you. And I didn’t call you,” she recalled during her 2016 appearance at Essence Fest. “Do you understand I have real actresses who have auditioned for this part.’ I hung up the phone and start crying,”
Following the heart-wrenching phone call, the media mogul became convinced that her weight issues had cost her the role. “I decide that this is because the fat has finally caught up with me. Now I must get rid of the fat,” she said.
“In two weeks I’m going to go to a fat farm, and I’m going to lose 25 pounds. I’m going to drink a lot of green juice. I’m going to have cleanses and colonics.”
Determined to shrink down by 25 pounds, Winfrey went ahead and joined a fat farm. “I go out on the track by myself. It's cold. It's raining,” she recounted during her interview with NBC News. “I'm alone running around the track. And I start asking “God, dear God, just like Celie. Please help me to let it go so that I can move on with my life.” And I start singing, “I surrender all. I surrender all.”
How Steven Spielberg Saved Oprah Winfrey’s Role In The Color Purple
Just as she was about to completely give up on the role, Winfrey received a life-altering phone call from none other than legendary director Steven Spielberg. “The instant I let it go, a woman comes running out of the cafeteria screaming, ‘Ofrey, is your name Ofrey?,’” she recalled during her 2016 appearance at Essence Fest. “Ten years, still no one knew how to pronounce my name. ‘Somebody is on the telephone for you, says his name is Spielberg.’”
Having gotten word that Winfrey had joined a fat farm, Spielberg was quick to point out how completely unnecessary, and potentially detrimental losing weight for the role would be. “He says, “First of all, what are you doing? I hear you're at a fat farm.' No, [I say] 'it's a health retreat. It's a health retreat,” she recalled during her interview with NBC News. “He says, 'If you lose a pound, you will possibly lose this part. I'd like to see you in my office tomorrow.”
Glad that her weight issues wouldn’t be an impediment to securing her dream role, Oprah speedily made her way out of the fat farm, making a brief pit stop at a Dairy Queen just in case her stay had been fruitful.
“I pack my bags and I leave this health retreat. And I go to the first Dairy Queen on my way home, just in case I lost a pound.,” she admitted to NBC News.
“And the reason it was life changing for me is because in that moment of surrender, I realized that when you've done everything that you can do, when you've given it the best that you know how, you surrender it to that which is greater than yourself.”
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