Would Oprah Winfrey Ever Consider Running for President? See Her Response!

Television personality says ‘’not in this lifetime.’’

By Kendall Fisher Oct 14, 2015 6:23 PMTags
Oprah WinfreyKristina Bumphrey/Startraksphoto.com

There's no doubt the thought of Oprah Winfrey running for president has crossed all of our minds at some point…but would she actually ever consider it?

Unfortunately, she says no, "not in this lifetime."

Joining her best friend Gayle King on CBS Wednesday morning, the 61-year-old got to chatting about her opinion on Jennifer Lawrence's recent letter about sexism in Hollywood and how this conversation has finally hit a pivotal point in this country.

"Of course it is brave, but I also think it's a moment in time," she tells the co-hosts. "I don't think it's changing. I think the conversation has hit a critical moment."

She recalls, "It's so interesting, when I read Jennifer's piece yesterday, I was thinking about, ‘Wow this sounds like 1985!' Because when I first started the Oprah Show…I had five women producers…I went in and said ‘Everyone needs raises!' And they said, ‘Why do a bunch of girls need raises? They're not married. They don't have children. They don't own their houses.' This was in 1985 in Chicago."

So what did Oprah do? "I put $10K in cash in a roll of towel paper just to say, ‘Okay guys I want you to know you're thought of,'" she reveals.

Her strong opinions on equality and raising awareness around related topics eventually lead to the conversation about politics.

"Well, see, Oprah. That brings up the question: you should be president," King says. "There's not a day goes by that I'm not in the public where people say to me, ‘Oprah should run!'"

Rob Latour/Variety/REX USA

"Oh, come on! I'm president of my own company," Oprah responds without hesitation. "Not in this lifetime."

However, she says that being the president of her company has enabled her to make a dent in the movement of equal pay.

"What I can control is my own business and my own work," she continues. "I work in a business, the Oprah Show, all those years and [that I] now own. We're predominantly female. Obviously, there's fair pay going on there, and I've done it on my own."

CBS

Speaking on the topic of running for president, CBS also rolled an old clip of Oprah interviewing Donald Trump on her show in 1988. At one point, she asked if he'd ever consider diving into politics and perhaps running for president.

"Probably not," Trump responded at the time. "But I do get tired of seeing the country ripped off. I just don't think I have the inclination to do it."
Oprah quips, "Also it doesn't pay as well!"

"It doesn't, and I just probably wouldn't do it, Oprah," he continues. "But I do get tired of seeing what's happening with this country, and if it got so bad I would never want to rule it out totally."

How times have changed!