Posted by: Fenton Bailey contact

Oprah and all that Chaz

It was a real privilege to attend one of the very last tapings of The Oprah Winfrey Show last week, with the whole hour devoted to Chaz.  

After taping the six segments, Oprah chatted with the audience. As she was leaving, an audience member asked why she chose Becoming Chaz to kick off her Documentary Club tomorrow on OWN.

Oprah basically said – excuse the paraphrasing – that Life is about finding out who we are and living that life, which is what Chaz has done. Trans or not, all of us face that exact same challenge. 

She felt that Chaz choosing to share his story in the film was the true purpose of celebrity: to use the platform it gives you to get the message out about things you believe to be important. It is what she has done for the last 25 years, and is something all of us can do.

She said that she we all had the exact same amount of power to do this, the only difference being that she has a bigger platform than most.  

I wish I had the power of total recall to write down everything she said because it was truly amazing and inspiring. But hopefully you get the gist. 

Chaz on Oprah airs today. Becoming Chaz and the Documentary Club special with Rosie O'Donnell airs tomorrow on OWN.

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