When Oprah Winfrey delivered an empowering speech at the Golden Globes ceremony earlier this year, about the aftermath of abusing women and silencing them, and how that's not going to happen anymore, many began to speculate whether she was plotting a presidential run for 2020.
Again and again, Winfrey downplayed such rumors, repeatedly telling reporters that running for the most vaunted office in the United States is out of her priorities — even though the man that currently occupies that chair, Donald Trump, hasn't done a very good job thus far.
Oprah For 2020? Not So Fast
Now, Oprah is finally putting those rumors to bed. Running for president in 2020 would, she said, "kill me." In an interview with British Vogue, Winfrey said she wouldn't be able to stomach a presidential campaign.
"In that political structure — all the non-truths, the bullsh*t, the crap, the nastiness, the backhanded backroom stuff that goes on — I feel like I could not exist. I would not be able to do it. It's not a clean business. It would kill me."
Winfrey has said before the she looked to God for signs whether she should run for president.
"[Y]ou gotta tell me, and it has to be so clear that not even I can miss it," she said. "And I haven't gotten that."
She's Got The Support Of Many
So far, this should serve as confirmation that Winfrey is definitely not running. But even still, some high-profile celebrities have already promised to support her if she does run. Academy Award-winning director Steven Spielberg is one of them.
"I think Oprah Winfrey would make an absolutely brilliant president," Spielberg said in January. "If she declares, I will back her."
Winfrey, who appears on British Vogue's August cover, has been outspoken about the #MeToo movement and sexual abuse victims and whistleblowers. Unlike people who describe these times as "dark," she told the magazine she sees it as a remarkable sign that the world is waking up.
"[Women are] allowing themselves to not just become corroded, but to become hysterical. You've got to lean to the happiness."
The full interview will appear in the magazine's August issue, which hits newsstands on July 6.
Do you think Oprah should run for president? Or is it time for the United States to stop electing celebrities into office?
