9 Key Takeaways From Keke Palmer's Chat With Oprah Winfrey

Oprah Winfrey stopped by Baby, This Is Keke Palmer to talk about her life and career with Keke Palmer and the hosts connected on a professional and spiritual level. They discussed believing in themselves, the silent shame that can accompany success, and how their approach to relationships with others has evolved. 

The pair bonded over books, talked travel, and dove into what it means to be Black woman in certain spaces as well. 

Think You Know Everything About Oprah? Think Again.

Winfrey was extremely candid as she spoke with the former child star. They shared a full circle moment where Keke showed Winfrey a clip of her twelve-year-old self appearing on The Oprah Winfrey Show. Winfrey squealed, looking at Palmer in what Palmer called her “Doogie Howser suit.” 

We learned so much about Winfrey’s experiences and the way she approaches her life from the conversation. See some of our favorite moments from the episode below. 

Oprah Has Been Slept On More Times Than You Know

Many know that Winfrey was fired from her first job, but that wasn’t the only time people slept on her on the way up. 

She expressed her desire to be a media mogul one day to a superior. He met her ambition with hate. She recalled the story at the 11-minute-mark. “He was like, ‘How dare you use that language? How dare you say that?’ Yes. That’s what he said to me,” she told Palmer. 

He called her “arrogant” for knowing who she was. Luckily, she refused to be defined by that. 

Oprah Milked PTO To Level Up Her Career 

Winfrey explained that she became an owner of her show after fighting for PTO to film The Color Purple. She negotiated heavily to ensure that she could get off of her day job for the Gig. 

“My bosses at the time said, ‘You know, you only have two weeks vacation and I needed two months.” And I ended up giving all of my vacation for the entire contract,” she told Palmer. 

Her lawyer, Jeff Jacobs, suggested she fight for ownership to prevent that from happening again. 

“My lawyer said, ‘You never want to be in a position where you have to give up everything in order to sacrifice to do what you really want to do.’ What if you owned part of the show?”

Her answer to that question would change her life and inspire generations of media girls. 

Oprah Knows There’s Power In People Underestimating You 

She acquired the ownership by allowing people to underestimate her. “Nobody believed that the Oprah show was going to be as big as it was. And the reason why I got the greatest percentage, the percentage that I did, is because none of those guys thought it was going to be that successful,” she said. 

She allowed them to think that way. It didn’t deter her. 

“If they thought it was that successful, they would have never given me 50%,’ she added.  

Oprah Loves Bedrotting As Much As The Rest Of Us 

We know Oprah is always booked and busy, but it turns out that’s not her preferred state. “Yeah. When the day has gone and I say, ‘What have I accomplished? Not one damn thing.’ That’s my favorite guilty pleasure. Couch potato,” she said. 

She revealed her bestie Gayle King mocks her for this occasionally. 

“She’ll call me sometimes and say, ‘What are you doing sitting with your thoughts?’ And I go, ‘Exactly. That’s exactly what I’m doing.’” 

Oprah Restarted Her Stallion Era 

Winfrey shared that she got “two new knees” in 2021. The replacements helped her get into hiking. Palmer celebrated the refresh. 

“Yes, new knees,” she hollered! 

Oprah Is A Reformed Crash Out 

Winfrey shared that before she was a huge star, she was crashing out over a man. She held on the bumper of a man’s blue Datsun trying to get him to choose her. 

“There was a guy who whose bumper I was holding on to at one point. Literally, literally holding on to the bumper of his car,” she said. 

Sis was down bad. She revealed she even wrote prayers in her journal to try and convince God to make the man who fumbled realize she was the woman for him. 

“I have these journals where I’m, you know, asking God to help the guy who whose

bumper I was holding on to,” she said. “God, please make him love me. Help him to see that I’m really the woman he needs,” she recalled writing. 

She realized that while she was waiting on him to change, God was waiting on her to change.

That changed turned out to work out well. 

Oprah Supports The Block Party 

If you have been feeling guilty about cutting off that hater friend or that shady ex-coworker, don’t. Oprah says refusing to surround yourself with people who are good to you without hurting you is an act of violence against yourself. 

“If you allow other people to be in your life to diminish you, you are punishing yourself. It is a violent act against yourself to allow other people in your life to diminish you and to not lift you and exalt you,” she said. Winfrey held an episode of her podcast about going no-contact where she showed both sides of the conflict. In her personal life, she is not playing about people causing her harm.

So the next time you’re wondering if you should let the shade slide from someone in your circle, think about Winfrey’s perspective. “If you don’t have other people who see you for the light that you are, for the joy that you are, for the goodness that you bring, you are with the wrong people.” 

Oprah Doesn’t Do Spoilers 

Winfrey is not feeling spoiler culture. The book lover credited with inventing the modern celebrity book club is strict about this. “I can’t finish it. If I’ve read the spoiler, then there’s no reason for me to continue. I can’t,” she said. 

Oprah Is Fine Rolling Solo 

Winfrey is on everybody’s guest list. She is not desperate to connect though.

“I never experience loneliness,” Winfrey told Palmer. “I don’t even know what that means.” 

She felt that way before she developed a full sense of self. “I think I felt lonely then because I felt I needed somebody to make myself feel whole. I don’t feel that anymore,” she said. 

She enjoys her company above all others.

“Obviously you need connection, relationships and community, but I am happiest with myself.”