Oprah Winfrey Finally Addresses Backlash For Putting Dr. Phil and Dr. Oz in the Spotlight

Oprah Winfrey is finally opening up about the backlash she’s received in recent years over her past decision to platform folks like Dr. Phil and Dr. Oz, two men who have come out to espouse right-leaning MAGA ideologies. But be warned, you may not like what she has to say.

Dr. Phil, who holds a Ph.D. in clinical psychology and a post-doctoral fellowship in forensic psychology, first appeared on “The Oprah Winfrey Show “ in 1998, where he quickly became Oprah’s go-to relationship and “life strategy” expert. Dr. Oz, a trained cardiothoracic surgeon and former professor at Columbia University, made his debut in 2004, eventually becoming her resident health expert.

Both men became household names through their frequent daytime talk show appearances before eventually launching their own series. However, their careers both took a turn into politics—specifically, increasingly public associations with President Donald Trump and his MAGA movement.

Related: A Look At Oprah Winfrey’s Villain-Era Moments

As a result, Dr. Oz landed a job leading the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services under Trump, while Dr. Phil served on Trump’s Religious Liberty Commission, positions that have sparked major online backlash and criticism towards the two men and Winfrey for giving them a platform in the first place.

Now, sitting down for a new interview with the Television Academy, the “What I Know For Sure” author finally decided to address the critics and naysayers, explaining why she was initially drawn to both doctors. She explained that the allure for Dr. Phil came after he proved himself to be a steady and reliable advice-giver during Winfrey’s 1998 Texas cattlemen trial.

“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. 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,” she said. “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 far as Dr. Oz goes, she revealed that her best friend and “CBS Mornings” cohost Gayle King was the one who introduced her to him. The draw, allegedly, came from his ability to take complicated medical procedures and diagnoses and explain them in layman’s terms.

“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. I thought it would be helpful to many other people. And that is how they ended up on the show,” Winfrey explained.

Speaking to their political associations nowadays, Winfrey chalked it up to the fact that people veer off into their “own path in life,” and distanced herself from both gentlemen.

“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 [that] I thought they had valuable information to share that had been meaningful to me,” she said.