Oprah Winfrey may admit she gave Dr. Phil McGraw and Dr. Mehmet Oz platforms but she won't take responsibility for the conservative figures they would become years later.
Before "The Dr. Oz Show" and McGraw's "Dr. Phil" daytime talk shows hit TV airwaves, they were guests on "The Oprah Winfrey Show." In recent years, the two doctors have shown public support for President Donald Trump, with Oz currently serving as the White House's administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
In a new interview with Emmy Magazine published Aug. 11, Winfrey explained why she welcomed both the psychologist and cardiothoracic surgeon to her show.
"People criticize me for Dr. Phil and Dr. Oz, because of their politics or their views. Dr. Phil, he was
so practical, so down to earth, so real," she told the magazine of meeting McGraw before he was a guest on her show in 1998. "I felt that he was so instrumental in helping me. I thought, 'Oh, you could help a lot of people. You should come on my show.'"
She also recalled Gayle King introducing her to Oz before his debut on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" in 2004.
"I thought he had the language for explaining medical things in a way that was helpful to me. I thought it would be helpful to many other people. And that is how they ended up on the show," she said.
'I don’t have one thing to do with them'
Ultimately, her decisions were based on what she felt they could contribute to her audience, Winfrey explained.
"Everybody has their own path in life, and it has not one thing to do with me, and I don’t have one thing to do with them," she added. "At the time, the reason and intention behind me giving them their breaks was I thought they had valuable information to share that had been meaningful to me."
Following their TV debuts, McGraw later starred on his own daytime talk show where he welcomed guests grappling with personal and social issues for 21 seasons from 2002 to 2023. "The Dr. Oz Show" ran for 13 seasons from 2009 to 2022 where Oz discussed health, wellness and lifestyle topics.
Trump welcomed Oz to his cabinet to oversee the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services in his second term. While McGraw is not a member of the Trump administration, he has shown support for the president, endorsing him at a campaign event ahead of the 2024 election and supporting his immigration policies on social media after he returned to office.
Winfrey has long opposed Trump and endorsed former Vice President Kamala Harris in a speech during the 2024 Democratic National Convention, where she urged all independents and undecided voters that "values and character matter most of all in leadership and in life, and more than anything, you know, this is true, that decency and respect are on the ballot in 2024."
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Oprah Winfrey reacts to criticism for platforming Dr. Phil and Dr. Oz
