Celebrity News February 25, 2018
Oprah on Donald Trump Calling Her 'Insecure'
“Extra's” Tanika Ray sat down with Oprah Winfrey, Reese Witherspoon and Mindy Kaling — stars of the upcoming Disney film “A Wrinkle in Time” — today to talk about the experience they had making the movie and the message of the Ava DuVernay film.
Oprah shared, “The message of this film is that you are enough... It's the number one lesson that Maya Angelou gave to me, is that you are enough.”
Mindy said making the film was "very challenging for me, I was really scared about this project. I was so excited to get the project and to work with Ava, but it was from the very beginning incredibly daunting to me. It was challenging, but it was a good challenge.“
And did Reese bring her mothering skills to the set? She said, “At the time, I was the only mom, so I would be mindful of bedtimes and homework and mommy stuff. But I have teenage kids, so I have a different compassion because I'm living it.”
Tanika also asked Oprah what her response was to Donald Trump calling her “insecure.” Oprah responded, “It's no different than when anybody else who is attacked on Twitter, or people say things about you that are unkind or untrue on social media... I think lots of people have experienced that. And then some people try to fix it by going head-on and saying something back and then it just escalates. But the truth is, there is a law that says what you put out comes back. I just don't operate my life that way. I wouldn't respond to anybody saying something that was necessarily negative.”
Oprah spoke of having a critique in her early career that actually helped her to be a better listener. “When somebody criticizes, especially if it's coming from the President of the United States, you want to say, 'Is there anything valid there?' So I went back and looked at the ['60 Minutes'] tape and I didn't feel that there was. But I did, it put me in check, I went back and that's the first thing I did — I looked at the tape.”
Reese and Oprah are also inspired by the activism of the high school students in Parkland, Florida. “I am more hopeful," Oprah said, adding that what happened with these children in Parkland says, "Wow, they are not going to sit it out.' They've said, 'Enough is enough.'"
Reese added, “Having teenage kids, the sense and the feeling of activism in this country right now is incredible, and I think it's sort of part of this movie as well. There's nothing more powerful than your belief in something. We have so much to learn from these kids, and they have a voice and they are powerful, and standing up for what you know is right in this world.”
“A Wrinkle in Time” is in theaters March 9.