The legendary TV host sits down twice a week for “The Oprah Podcast.”

Oprah Winfrey explains decision to expand eponymous podcast: ‘I know how to talk’ (exclusive)

The legendary TV host sits down twice a week for “The Oprah Podcast.”

By Shelby Stivale

Shelby Stivale

Shelby Stivale is a senior writer at **. She has been working at EW since July 2026. Her work has previously appeared on Us Weekly and J-14.

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August 18, 2026 9:00 a.m. ET

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Oprah Winfrey in 2025. Credit:

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- Oprah Winfrey sat down with LinkedIn Editor in Chief Dan Roth for an interview and EW has an exclusive first look.

- Winfrey explained the decision to expand *The Oprah Podcast*.

- “One of the things I know for sure is I know how to talk,” she quipped.

Oprah Winfrey’s decision to start a podcast wasn’t a crazy idea — at least, she didn’t think so.

“One of the things I know for sure is I know how to talk,” Winfrey said in **’s exclusive video from the legendary talk show host’s interview with LinkedIn Editor in Chief Dan Roth. She joked that when she was a “little girl” in church on Sunday, her grandmother’s friends would joke that she was “a talking child.”

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Winfrey put her skills to good use, famously hosting *The Oprah Winfrey Show *for 25 seasons from 1986 to 2011. In EW’s clip, Winfrey said she thought retirement from TV would be going “behind the gates” to “pick roses and take walks in the park.” Earlier this year, Winfrey launched her next chapter by expanding *The Oprah Podcast**.*

“The idea of me doing a podcast is an extension, obviously, of what I’ve been doing on the show all of these years,” Winfrey told Roth. “I just realized that the times and the culture continues to move forward in a way that people are still seeking meaning and a depth of purpose in their lives. People still want that.”

Oprah Winfrey at the Forbes Self-Made 250 Celebration in June.

Astrida Valigorsky/Getty

She added, “With all the algorithms, with all the social media, with all the craziness that we experience, that when people sit silently with themselves, what they really want is to know that they matter in the world and that they are able to achieve a sense of happiness and well-being for themselves and their families.”

Winfrey’s eponymous show has been off the air for 15 years, but she’s taking what she learned from that and expanding on it. Winfrey hosts conversations with leaders, newsmakers, and cultural changemakers. She’s tackled topics like women emotionally detaching themselves from their marriage, discussing breast cancer with Olivia Munn, and was seated in conversation with *Theo of Golden *author Allen Levi.

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“I have observed so much from human behavior, how to live a life that is actually meaningful, purposeful, and fills you with a sense of contentment,” she told Roth. “Being able to do that podcast is an opportunity, at this point, to offer what I’ve learned, what I’ve grown into, a sense of knowingness, a sense of wisdom — in the wisdom seat at 72 — to other people.”

*The Oprah Podcast *drops two episodes every week, on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The show is available on YouTube and all podcast platforms.

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Source: “EW Podcasts”