Oprah Watch: Best Life Continuing Ed, Kate Winslet's Breasts, and Being Hormonal
By Ali Trachta in Miscellaneous on Jan 16, 2009 8:45PM
Last week Oprah gave us a five-point instructional checklist on how to live our best life, and on Monday she gave us a pop quiz to make sure we’d paid attention. First thing’s first, we all know Oprah’s madder than Faith Hill after losing her Grammy for once again falling off the wagon and putting on weight, and clearly, misery loves company. Oprah invited a handful of former weight loss success stories who have recently bulked up again to, as she did, face the truth and get back on track. Her featured guest was Erik Chopin, who lost 214 pounds and won his season of The Biggest Loser. He once told the Oprah camp he wasn’t able to appear on a recent show due to a busy work schedule, but in truth, he was afraid to show the world he’d regained more than half of what he’d lost. But Erik, as well as with various chubbed up Skypers, forgave themselves and began anew, and Oprah sent them running along towards a better year. Oprah also peeked in on our sex lives, and viewers raved about Dr. Laura Berman’s foreplay map, which can of course be downloaded at Oprah.com, although we think hands-on learning may be the more appropriate approach.
Tuesday’s show brought a welcome sigh of comic relief from the heavy introspection of the last six shows. Oprah finally gave us a break from all the Best Life banter and instead tickled us with a star-studded show in celebration of Sunday’s Golden Globes. Kate Winslet was first to grace the stage, just as genuinely giddy and adorable as she was during her second acceptance speech two nights before. In addition to all the critical acclaim she is enjoying from her performances in The Reader and Revolutionary Road, Oprah had one more compliment for Ms. Winslet: “Thank you for having real breasts.” Kate replied, “You mean when they go like this?” She asked making a flopping motion with her hands. “How about the moment when they race for sanctuary under your armpits when you lie on your back?” HOT. Leading man Leonardo DiCaprio joined the ladies via Skype to bring the sexy back to the conversation, but try as he might to chat it up about his movie with Kate, Oprah mind was somewhere else. “Well are you going to the inauguration?” Oprah asked him out of nowhere. His answer was “maybe.” Oprah immediately ended the interview.
Mickey Rourke joined via Skype as well, which was just about as close as we could handle him. As “out there” as he looks, though, he’s really quite reserved and a little blah. The interview with Meryl Street was going the same direction but had a surprise ending. Oprah told Meryl that she asked director John Patrick Shanley if she could play the role of Mrs. Miller in Doubt, but was told no. No? To Oprah? Ballsy.
Ok, recess over. Back to Best Life class! On Wednesday Oprah used her hour to revisit the topic of spirituality, which above all else, is truly her favorite thing. She welcomed Elizabeth Lesser, spiritual leader, founder of the Omega Institute and author of Broken Open: How Difficult Times Can Help Us Grow to set a challenge before us. Lesser encouraged us to find our spirits at the most difficult time: when life has hit us hard. During a loss of a loved one, a divorce, a tragedy. At the times when it’s easiest to complain that life isn’t fair and it’s everyone else’s fault. She explained these are the most valuable times to discover the strength of character within us that will carry us though no matter the circumstances. The guests that followed, a family who had lost one of their sons, personified this very idea. Mother, father and twin brother of the departed each told of their absolute despair, and what it was that finally broke their grief. Brother Ryan summed it up best when he explained his realization that while the picture of his life had changed, he could create a new picture. Yet another invigorating sermon from the Church of Oprah. She is our shepherd and we, her flock. Amen!
Or so we thought until Thursday. OMG, Oprah. A whole show about hormone replacement therapy? Really? We were already dreading this episode but were doubly put off when we discovered Dr. Phil’s wife, Robin McGraw, was the first guest. (We do not like Dr. Phil, by the way. This was solidified on a day of unemployment 5 years ago when he filled a room with both working moms and stay-at-home moms and spent the hour pitting them against each other.) We’ll admit though, that our guilt by association was a little unfair. She and Oprah set the stage to talk about women taking control of their well-being, which is apparently the most empowering thing we can do. Dr. Christiane Northrup joined the pair to give us the skinny on the science, clarifying what symptoms appear when particular hormones are out of whack. The most shocking piece of info she shared was that synthetic hormones, that millions of women have taken for decades, are made from horse urine. That ain’t right. So of course there’s a movement towards bio-identical hormones, which match the molecular structure of natural hormones and are made from soy beans and yams. So that’s better, right? Well, many of them can be purchased over the internet and aren’t FDA-approved, so not necessarily. The purpose of this show was to raise questions more so than it was to provide all the answers, but ultimately it encouraged women to not rest until they feel the best they can feel, whatever it takes. And isn’t that what Oprah’s all about?
Friday kicks off the live Friday shows for 2009, and today Oprah finally addresses the pesky fake Holocaust story rumors. Have we once again been James Frey-ed? Say it ain't so.