'09
There’s a lot of behind-the-scenes drama between First Lady Michelle Obama and the first lady of television, Oprah Winfrey. According to the National Enquirer, Michelle Obama is being forced (by advisers) to “distance herself” from Oprah, out of a fear that if Michelle and Oprah seem too close, the Obama White House will look too “Hollywood”. Of course, there’s another hidden agenda lurking in there, too. It seems that Michelle’s two closest advisers, Valerie Jarrett and Desiree Rogers, are totally jealous of Michelle’s relationship with Oprah. Because what is the White House east wing other than the backdrop for Beverly Hills 90210 plotlines?
Anyway, Desiree Rogers seems to have the biggest ax to grind with the whole “Michelle and Oprah, Best Friends Forever” thing. Desiree is the White House social secretary, which basically means she’s the administrator who oversees events within the White House, like state dinners and cocktail parties, as well as state visits to and from the White House. The social secretary oversees all of the first lady’s official activities, especially since Michelle doesn’t seem too interested in getting involved with policy. Desiree is absolutely furious that Oprah sometimes gets on her turf, and plans and advises Michelle about clothes, events, et cetera:
Michelle Obama is stabbing Oprah Winfrey in the back!
That’s the angry charge of Oprah’s pals, who say jealous advisers are warning the first lady to “distance herself” from the talk queen - even though Winfrey’s vigorous support helped put the Obamas in the White House.
“Michelle had promised Oprah all kinds of special behind-the-scenes access for her upcoming Oprah TV channel,” disclosed a pal of the media mogul.
“But now Michelle is backing out - telling Oprah she has to go through ‘the proper channels’ and speak to her advisers.”
“[Oprah] believes Michelle is being manipulated by jealous advisors - such as White House social secretary Desiree Rogers and another of Barack’s old Chicago friends, Valerie Jarrett, who moved to Washington, DC, to work in his administration,” said the friend of Oprah.
A Chicago source…[claims] that [Rogers and Jarrett] harbor feelings of “intense jealousy” against Oprah.
“Desiree, in particular, felt Michelle had been relying on Oprah too much in some aspects to do the job that she had been hired to do as social secretary.”
“Michelle had been calling Oprah for advice for a long time regarding her wardrobe, her makeup, her hair - and it’s continued since the inauguration.”
“The calls left Desiree steamed, because Michelle was side-stepping her on things she thought she was hired to do.”
“This past Valentine’s Day, for instance, Oprah even arranged for Michelle and Barack to celebrate at a fancy Chicago restaurant, where the executive chef had once been Oprah’s personal chef.”
“Desiree was angry, because behind the scenes she was working out a special dinner for the first couple in DC, which she had to embarrassingly cancel.”
“Michelle, who doesn’t want to lose Desiree, and is caught in the middle of this jealous feud, has been going to her more and more lately.”
“The first lady told Desiree she’ll now be in charge of her family’s TV spots, and Desiree is coming up with all kinds of excuses why Oprah can’t get special access anytime soon for her upcoming TV network.”
“Both [Valerie Jarrett and Desiree] want Oprah’s impact diminished over time.”
Valerie and Desiree “strongly caution” Michelle about letting Oprah get too close to her of the president, warning she could turn the White House into a celebrity sideshow, said the pal.
Oprah fully intends to win her war with the advisers by keeping up a warm and helpful relationship with the first family, say those close to the talk-show host.
[From The National Enquirer, print edition, May 18 2009]
I don’t buy big chunks of this story, but I suspect there may be a grain of truth. Michelle and Oprah do seem to have gotten a lot closer over the past few months - this, after it seemed they were being a little bitchy and passive-aggressive to each other during the primaries and general election (just my opinion, but it really seemed Michelle was shooting Oprah the stink-eye at times).
So Michelle has grown to really like and depend on Oprah’s advice, and now Michelle’s advisers are trying to convince her to reel it in. I don’t buy that there’s this much drama, but there might be some. Honestly, though, I think Michelle and Oprah are both too mature for most of this crap. And by the way, if there is so much drama, why were Michelle and Oprah having so much fun together at Time Magazine’s New York bash this week?
Written by Kaiser
Posted in Michelle Obama, Oprah
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35 Responses to “Diva Drama: Michelle Obama & Oprah fight over access”
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Bullshit!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Oh Lord. I agree that this is just being over blown by the media to seem more exciting.
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i don’t buy this at all. i’m sure michelle obama doesn’t give a fig what oprah thinks.
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Oprah can just take a backseat and get over it. I think she really overstates her influence on the election results. If she is actually planning to engage in a battle of sorts just to ‘win’ this thing, then it’s obvious that her so-called support was conditional, based on her being able to just toss Michelle Obama’s name around like she does Gail’s. I’m not on Oprah’s side in this at all. Who the heck does she think she is?
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Apparently some people will believe anything. I wouldn’t be surprised if the underlings are a bit jealous of their turf, though. DC is a very political, status-conscious town and these employees want to protect their positions.
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This story doesn’t even sound partly plausible.
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you guys are all correct, Oprah sucks. Go celebitchy.com!!!!!!!!
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seems like a bullshit story
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As if these people have nothing better to do
Although I do recognise and agree with Raven’s point - but that doesn’t translate into the bitchfest that this tabloid is dreaming up. Evidently they’ve never seen men act the total jealous beyotch over their status - it’s in no way the preserve of women, let me tell you.
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I believe this is bullshit because Desiree has always been a pretty high powered person herself in this state and I’m sure she and Oprah run in the same circles…
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More fabricated BS….and highschool stuff at that. Maybe the gossip media should hire better educated writers.
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What was it my grandma used to say–something about “Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer?”
I don’t know if its applicable here or not, but Granny was a smart old bird.
And she wouldn’t think too highly of either one of these two.
I miss granny.
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i don’t buy it… i think oprah and michelle seem to be too big to be embroiled in these petty battles…
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Nice airbrush job on Michelle, she doesn’t look so masculine and angry.
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oh please. what laughable bullshit.
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@ Kansasrefug: Well said!! I am always telling my daughter that the reason women don’t rule the world is that we are too busy tearing each other apart to concentrate on anything else!
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During the primaries, I saw Oprah and Michelle Obama at an event. They seemed to totally respect and admire each other. There was absolutely nothing strange, and I was on the look-out for it. I don’t buy any of this.
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Eden - There’s nothing masculine or angry about Michelle.
You must some weak waif threatened by strong, intelligent women.
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I do think that Oprah has a tendency to over step her boundaries. When Oprah is involved, she’s involved 100%. Oprah is one of the reasons that Gails husband divorced her….he basically said that Gail put Oprah first before their marriage. I watch Oprah everyday and sometimes a guest cant even complete a sentence without her jumping in and cutting them off, so I can totally believe this.
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Eden, I agree, some pics of Michelle make her look a little harsh, I think it’s the eyebrows.
J-Lin, you need to get a grip. Everyone has an opinion and you insulting someone over a comment they make truly shows what an ignorant person you are. I guess insulting Eden by calling her a weak waif means that you are fat bully hiding behind a keyboard!!!! Ha ha ha
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The First Lady is a guest in the White House. She is the Lady of the Manor, but she doesn’t own or run the manor.
Events she schedules are not official, and thus must go through “the proper channels” to get clearance and permission granted.
There are others in place who decide whether or not pimping out the White House to a talk-show host is in the best interest of the image of the office of President of the United States and his (or her, hopefully) perpetual home. She is there because she happened to be married to the elected official. -
BS, BS, BS,and more BS!!!!!
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I wonder how the Grand Ole’ Oprah-ie’s
bestest ever in-the-whole-wide-world
girlfriend, Gayle, feels about all this?Snubbed? Cast aside? Betrayed?
Stay tuned…same CAT time, same CAT channel!
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I like Oprah but sometimes I miss Phil Donahue. He was a cool.
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i’m not sure about that magazine cover. seems an odd choice–in media res, and all.
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I’m inclined to think that Michelle Obama is the REAL president, & that Barack is just a wimp with a ring in his nose who is lead around by this masculine type woman. He makes the main appearances for her, & does her bidding.
He is actually just the 1st husband who obeys everything this woman president tells him to do. He is president in name only! -
i like michael obama but i hate obama hes stupid and hasnt made one right dscision yet
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Sandeana - what are you talking about? We are apparently not reading the same reports of the Presidency.
I suspect this is much more about your issues than about Pres. & Mrs. Obama?
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The header pic nauseates me. Oprah holding her hands as if in prayer and gazing at Mrs. Obama with awe and adoration. Yuck. Michelle looks beautiful in the photo but I agree that many times she looks harsh and angry.
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The National Enquirer also claimed a few months ago that the Obamas’ marriage was in trouble and they were going to have a make or break White House baby…
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Both MO and O are used to being the queen bees wherever they go.
Of course they’re going to be competitive in private and lovey-dovey in public. How politely or impolitely this plays out will vary over time.
Who cares?
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you guys are jealous puppets. I love Oprah and Michelle, they are wonderful people. Please leave them alone.
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Well first of all Oprah did not get Obama into the white house the united states of america did! and Oprah needs to sit down and mind her own businnes and if those so called secatery friends did this then they need to mind their own buisnes as well and let Obama do wat he has to do which is watch over the country
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WATCH OVER THE COUNTRY? I can’t believe that someone has their head buried so deep up something that they don’t know what these people are doing to help the people who are really running this country, to sell you and your children and their children down the tubes of opression and loss of freedom. Watch over the country indeed. Just browsing thru to see what people are thinking. Well you just go on kiddees…one day you will wake up!
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I think one problem is that we still are not seeing enough females holding Presidential, Supreme Court and other top-ranking position and so these women are relegated to talk-show host and first lady roles, and everyone wants to imagine a catfight between them. Despite the fact Oprah is very wealthy and has some serious power because of it, she does spend most of her shows and energy on traditional “female” domains (health & relationship & decorating issues) and does not get into more gender-neutral issues, and certainly not into traditional male domain issues very much. I am not intending this as critical but just to say that women, to break that glass ceiling, need to learn a more gender-neutral approach. (And I want us to shatter that ceiling (or ceilings!), soon!).
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