Any time anyone writes anything, positive or negative, about Oprah Winfrey these days, the comments inevitably devolve into blaming her for foisting Mehmet Oz and Phil McGraw on the nation. Both Dr. Oz and Dr. Phil got their starts on television via Oprah’s syndicated talk show, and she produced Dr. Phil’s talk show too. All of this happened years (if not decades) before Oz and McGraw’s true characters came out and both men completely lost the plot. Oz now works for the Trump administration, and McGraw became a cautionary tale of exploitation and toxic work environments (plus he just sucks as a person). Well, Oprah finally addressed her role in giving these two men a national profile.

Oprah Winfrey responded to those who’ve critiqued her for platforming Dr. Phil McGraw and Dr. Mehmet Oz decades ago. Speaking with Emmy Magazine for an interview published Tuesday, Aug. 11, Winfrey, 72, reflected on her introductions to the TV personalities, whom she tapped to appear as experts on The Oprah Winfrey Show. McGraw, 75, made his debut on the show in 1998, while Dr. Oz, 66, got his start on Winfrey’s show in 2004.

“People criticize me for Dr. Phil and Dr. Oz, because of their politics or their views,” Winfrey told Emmy Magazine.

She added, referring to a 1998 libel lawsuit that connected her with McGraw, “He was so practical, so down to earth, so real. And he would ride in the car with me every morning on the way to trial, where I’m literally sitting on trial for six weeks. 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.’”

As for Dr. Oz, Winfrey said friend Gayle King introduced her to him. “He explained practical things like colon cancer and bowel movements. I thought he had the language for explaining medical things in a way that was helpful to me,” she said. “I thought it would be helpful to many other people. And that is how they ended up on the show.”

Winfrey added, “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.”

“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,” she added.

In the years since, and after both men launched eponymous talk shows of their own, they’ve become staunch supporters of President Donald Trump, with Trump appointing Oz to lead the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Dr. Phil serves as a member of Trump’s Religious Liberty Commission and was present in ICE raids, including in Chicago in 2025.

Elsewhere in her latest interview, Winfrey responded to talk about her wealth. “I don’t think people understood how it was a ministry,” she said of her show. “Now people just talk about, ‘You’re a billionaire.’ I’m a billionaire because I bet on myself…. Because none of those men — all men, all White men — ever, ever expected this show to be as successful as it was. Because they would have never, ever agreed to that percentage. I started out with 35 percent [ownership] … ended up with 92 percent.”

[From People]

I think her perspective amounts to: stop blaming women for gross men. And that’s a totally valid perspective, in my opinion. What’s left unsaid is that Oprah probably wouldn’t have platformed them if she had any knowledge of how they would eventually turn out. But of course Oz and McGraw hid certain aspects of their politics and personalities when they were around Oprah – they were on their best behavior around her because everyone is on their best behavior around Oprah. Plus, it’s more than possible that Oz and McGraw were a lot different over 20 years ago. They both seem like they’ve changed a lot since Oprah “discovered” them. That’s not on Oprah either.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.