Why Oprah Winfrey Won’t Run for President in 2020
Rumors have been swirling of a Winfrey campaign since her impactful Time’s Up speech at this year’s Golden Globes, but the international influencer has officially put an end to the speculations.
Oprah’s success story is more inspirational than some of the younger generations may know. She was raised by a single, teen-mother in the inner-city of Milwaukee, where she was molested as a child and young teenager. She became pregnant at age 14 to a son who never lived past infancy.
She moved to Tennessee to live with her father and began working a job in radio while still in high school, after which she landed a co-anchoring gig hosting the local evening news at just 19. She was soon transferred to day-time talk show hosting, then launched her own production company shortly thereafter.
Today, Oprah is the esteemed media proprietor, talk show host, actress, producer and philanthropist that we all know and love, with dozens of varying awards and nominations, including ten appearances on the Time 100 (tied for the second-most with Hillary Clinton). Why, then, wouldn’t she aim for the White House?
“In that political structure – all the non-truths, the bullshit, the crap, the nastiness, the backhanded backroom stuff that goes on – I feel like I could not exist,” Winfrey told British Vogue, “I would not be able to do it. It’s not a clean business. It would kill me.”
