Oprah Winfrey says she does not accept responsibility for the political paths Dr. Phil McGraw and Dr. Mehmet Oz took after she helped introduce both men to massive daytime television audiences.
The 72-year-old media mogul addressed the criticism in a new Emmy Magazine interview marking the approaching 40th anniversary of The Oprah Winfrey Show. Asked how she now feels about giving McGraw and Oz a platform, Winfrey acknowledged that people criticize her “because of their politics or their views.”
Winfrey said her decisions were based on what each man brought to her own life and what she believed they could offer viewers at the time. “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,” she said.
Those paths now extend far beyond daytime television. Oz is the 17th administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services in President Donald Trump’s administration, while McGraw was named to Trump’s Religious Liberty Commission in 2025.
Dr. Phil Entered Oprah’s Life During Her 1998 Court Battle
Winfrey’s connection with McGraw began during a difficult period years before Dr. Phil became its own daytime franchise. In 1998, Winfrey was defending herself against a defamation lawsuit filed by Texas cattlemen who accused her of harming the beef industry with comments made on her show.
Winfrey recalled that McGraw rode with her to court each morning during the six-week trial and made a strong impression because of his practical, direct approach. “Dr. Phil, he was so practical, so down to earth, so real,” Winfrey told Emmy Magazine. “I felt that he was so instrumental in helping me.”
That experience made her think McGraw could provide the same kind of help to her television audience. “I thought, ‘Oh, you could help a lot of people. You should come on my show,'” she recalled.
McGraw began appearing on The Oprah Winfrey Show in 1998 and became a recurring presence before his own syndicated program, Dr. Phil, launched in 2002. The show ultimately ran for 21 seasons.
Gayle King Introduced Oprah to Dr. Oz
Oz arrived in Winfrey’s life through a completely different route. “Gayle introduced me to Dr. Oz,” Winfrey said, referring to her longtime friend Gayle King. What impressed Winfrey was Oz’s ability to explain medical subjects in straightforward language.
She specifically remembered him discussing topics including colon cancer and bowel movements in a way she could easily understand. “I thought he had the language for explaining medical things in a way that was helpful to me,” Winfrey said. “I thought it would be helpful to many other people.”
Oz made his first appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show in 2004 and went on to become a frequent guest before launching The Dr. Oz Show in 2009.
His career eventually moved into electoral politics and then the federal government. Oz ran as the Republican nominee for U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania in 2022 and later joined the second Trump administration. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services currently identifies Oz as its 17th administrator.
Oprah Says Their Later Choices Were Their Own
Winfrey’s comments came in direct response to a question about how she now feels about giving McGraw and Oz the television exposure that helped turn them into household names. “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,” Winfrey said.
As Entertainment Weekly noted, both men later became associated with Trump’s political orbit. Oz’s role is a full-time federal position overseeing CMS. McGraw, meanwhile, was named by the White House as a member of Trump’s Religious Liberty Commission in May 2025.
Winfrey’s position is that neither development changes the reasoning behind her original decisions to put them before her audience. “Everybody has their own path in life,” she said.
The Question Comes as Oprah Looks Back on 40 Years of Television
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The discussion of McGraw and Oz was part of a much broader Television Academy retrospective on the decisions that shaped The Oprah Winfrey Show as its 40th anniversary approaches in September. Winfrey recalled a turning point when she told her producers that the show would no longer make episodes without a clear purpose. “From this day forward, we will not produce a show unless it is intentional,” she remembered telling them.
That philosophy coincided with the show’s increasing use of experts and advice-driven segments, creating the environment that eventually introduced viewers to figures including McGraw and Oz. The program aired nationally from 1986 until 2011. According to the Television Academy, it averaged approximately 12 million to 13 million viewers per day at its peak, remained the country’s top daytime talk show for years and accumulated 50 Daytime Emmy Awards from 124 nominations.
Its ability to turn guests, books and products into immediate national sensations became so recognizable that it acquired its own name the “Oprah Effect.” The show’s library is also getting another life. In April, Amazon reached a multiyear licensing agreement with Winfrey covering all 25 seasons of The Oprah Winfrey Show, along with rights tied to The Oprah Podcast, Oprah’s Book Club and Oprah’s Favorite Things.
Looking back at the influence her program once had, Winfrey said she viewed that power as a responsibility to the people watching at home. “It felt like sacred work to me,” she said, “to be allowed into people’s homes.”