Oprah Winfrey publicly distanced herself from two MAGA-world fixtures whom she played a major part in making famous.
The media mogul gave Dr. Phil McGraw a national platform back in 1988, long before he had his own show. Mehmet Oz followed in 2004. Both men rode Winfrey's audience to fame and fortune, launching their own spinoff programs — "Dr. Phil" in 2002 and "The Dr. Oz Show" in 2009 — that outlasted "The Oprah Winfrey Show" itself, which wrapped in 2011.
Now both men are deep in Trump's orbit and Oprah — a famed supporter of Kamala Harris as she took on Trump for the presidency — is scrambling to lose links to her protégés.
In an interview with Emmy Magazine, she said, “People criticize me for Dr. Phil and Dr. Oz, because of their politics or their views,” Winfrey said.
“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 I thought they had valuable information to share that had been meaningful to me.”
McGraw tagged along with ICE agents during a Chicago raid last year and later landed a spot on Trump's Religious Liberty Commission — despite not being a licensed therapist. Oz, meanwhile, is running the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and has become a reliable sidekick to vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
She reserved her warmest words for McGraw, crediting him with being a steady presence when Texas cattle ranchers sued her in 1998 over comments about beef safety, and praised his grounded, relatable style as the reason she thought he'd resonate with viewers.
Her introduction to Oz, she said, came through best friend Gayle King — who, notably, was a guest at Jeff Bezos' wedding last year alongside a roster of Trump-adjacent power players — and Oprah herself.
Since going full MAGA, Oz has flip-flopped hard. He once said health insurance should be mandatory and government-subsidized for those who can't pay. Now, as a Trump official, he's helped gut a subsidy that kept Medicare drug premiums in check. He's also claimed Medicaid recipients are lounging around watching TV instead of working, and reversed his earlier support for transgender youth, now calling the movement rooted in "false science."
McGraw caught heat for downplaying COVID-era social distancing, comparing pandemic deaths to car crashes and pool drownings. His show's history includes multiple lawsuits — one from a woman who says she was sexually assaulted at a facility he recommended on air, another alleging she was held against her will during a taping. Former staffers have also described a toxic workplace that leaned on racist stereotypes for ratings.
