Oprah Winfrey is addressing the buzz on social media that poked fun at her walk during a fashionable appearance at Paris Fashion Week, where she was seen with her longtime friend, Gayle King.
The 72-year-old media icon, who has been proudly displaying her significant weight loss at various runway shows in the French capital, stirred conversation upon her arrival at the Chloé show at the Tennis Club de Paris on March 4.
While her outfit drew plenty of attention, it was the footage of her gingerly navigating the red carpet that quickly went viral. Gayle King, aged 71, followed suit, moving with the same cautious pace.
Social media users chimed in with their opinions, with one saying she seemed ‘disoriented, unsteady, stiff,’ while others speculated about possible past knee surgery or joked about the pair appearing older than their actual ages.
But Winfrey wasn’t about to let the internet have the final word. In a clip shared by @jznotthatjayz and later reposted to her Instagram Stories, the star addressed the moment directly during a break from filming.
Winfrey, however, has a simple explanation for the widely discussed walk.
Oprah Winfrey is setting the record straight after social media critics mocked her walk during a glamorous appearance at Paris Fashion Week alongside longtime friend Gayle King
The 72-year-old media mogul sparked chatter after arriving at the Chloé show at the Tennis Club de Paris on March 4
“On the internet, someone was—you know how people can be online—so they were dragging me and Gayle, saying, ‘Look at them walking like they’re 90 years old,’” she shared, eliciting laughter from the audience.
Winfrey then explained that the awkward moment happened just as she arrived at the Chloé fashion show.
‘And so there was a moment where we’re walking into the Chloe fashion show and my [assistant] had just handed me the Chloe sunglasses before I got out of the car.
‘Now I wear glasses or I wear contacts, so those were not prescription glasses,’ she said with a laugh, as the audience appeared to realise where the story was going.
‘I didn’t know where I was walking, I could not see,’ she added as the audience laughed.
‘So everybody who’s saying you walking like you’re 90, I could not see! I said to security, “I can’t see. I can’t see. Tell me, tell me where I’m walking. I can’t see.”
‘And Gail’s like, “I got two broken toes. I can’t walk.” And that’s the reason we looked like we were 90-years old.’
Winfrey’s viral moment comes as former Entertainment Tonight host John Tesh recently reflected on his brief romance with the media mogul during their early broadcasting careers.
Although her outfit turned heads, it was clips of the star cautiously waddling down the red carpet – with King, 71, moving just as gingerly behind her – that quickly went viral
‘On the internet, somebody was – you know how people drag you on the internet – so they were dragging me and Gail saying “Look at them walking like they’re 90 years old”,’ she began, prompting laughter from the audience
Winfrey explained the awkward moment happened because she had just put on non-prescription Chloé sunglasses before stepping out of the car – leaving her unable to see where she was walking
‘So everybody who’s saying you walking like you’re 90, I could not see! I said to security, “I can’t see. I can’t see. Tell me, tell me where I’m walking. I can’t see.” And Gail’s like, “I got two broken toes. I can’t walk.” And that’s the reason we looked like we were 90-years old,’ Oprah explained
Speaking to Page Six, the 73-year-old recalled dating Winfrey while the pair worked at competing TV stations in Nashville, Tennessee – a relationship that drew attention at the time.
He admitted it was ‘very uncomfortable back then for an African-American woman and a very, very white guy’ to be dating, adding their relationship ‘was unusual in the South.’
‘My whole family grew up in the South, and so I was obviously aware of that,’ he said.
Still, the two refused to let public reaction derail their relationship.
‘It became a joke between us,’ he recalled, explaining that because their schedules were so busy they barely saw each other. ‘because we would work all day and then, like we really saw each other once a week, and she or I would say, “Hey, which restaurant do you want to empty tonight?”‘
Although their romance was short-lived, Tesh said even then it was clear Winfrey was destined for greatness.
Today, Tesh is married to actress and author Connie Sellecca. The couple wed in 1992 and share daughter Prima.
Winfrey, meanwhile, has been with longtime partner Stedman Graham since 1986.
Writing in O, The Oprah Magazine in 2020, she reflected on their decades-long ‘spiritual partnership.’
At first, however, she wasn’t convinced.
Winfrey admitted she initially thought Graham was a ‘player’ and ‘too handsome’ to be interested in her, noting he always seemed to be with the same girlfriend whenever she saw him — so she ‘didn’t pay much attention’ to him.
That changed when they both visited a sick mutual friend in 1986.
‘We left together, and I asked if he wanted to get a beer,’ she recalled. ‘(Yes, I drank a lot of beer then and wore cowboy boots every day.) He said he didn’t drink. (Still doesn’t—not one sip of nothin’ alcoholic since I’ve known him.)’
She continued: ‘I thought he was nice enough, but I wasn’t that impressed… Tall and handsome, for sure. But actually too handsome, I thought, to be interested in me.’
‘I figured he must be a player. So did all my producers. They warned me not to get involved with that Stedman guy.’
Despite those early doubts, the pair went on to build one of the longest-lasting relationships in show business.
