Oprah Winfrey reflects on her aging process and has recently shared her views on aging after turning 70.
Speaking on Al Roker’s Today show on August 20, the media mogul said, “I was excited to make the number. I’m excited to make every number.”
“I remember many, many years ago as a young girl, I always thought I would never make it to the 60s or 70s. I had this number in my head that I thought, ‘Okay, I’m going to be out by then,’” recalled the former talk show host.
Oprah mentioned, “I don’t know why… I think I had a vision of it when I was a kid and I think it is because under the circumstances that I was living [in] when I was a little girl in Milwaukee on welfare with my mother.”
“What I now know is if I had stayed in those circumstances, I probably wouldn’t be here, healthy and strong and vibrant,” added The Color Purple star.
When Al questioned Oprah, “If she felt the concept of gratitude had deepened with age,” she replied, “I would not say that it’s deeper Al, because I’ve been doing it for so long.”
“I would say that there’s a sense of knowing that there isn’t as much time life and I am at peace with that knowing,” noted The Butler actress.
Oprah stated, “And there’s a sense of urgency, for me, about living well,” she added. “And so that’s all about health.”
In 2019, she told PEOPLE that she never thought she would live beyond 56, saying, “When I got to 57, it was like, ‘Why did all my life I think it was going to be 56?’”
Oprah said, “At the time I started having this vision of 56, it was when I was in Milwaukee and I was trapped in a world where I could see how dire it was.”
“I’d never been through surgery, was intimidated by it. The best thing I’ve ever done,” she admitted. “I felt like I’ve had a new opportunity to live inside my body in a way that I hadn’t been able to for years because being overweight, and being overweight causes the knees to be even worse.”
Winfrey said living in the present has been one of the greatest gifts, telling AI Roker, “Don’t be scared” about getting older.
AI then shared that a therapist once told him that as people get older, the edges of people’s personalities sand off. “But that in fact, it’s just the opposite,” he said. “That age brings whoever you are into sharper relief.”
“I think that is true,” Winfrey agreed. “I think I have just aged into a form of myself that is wiser, that is certainly stronger, that is more vibrant and aware and conscious than I’ve ever been. I don’t feel that my edges are softening.”
