Oprah_ A Biography - Kitty Kelley [70]
Having been sold out to the tabloids by money-hungry relatives and friends in the past, she now decided to take control. Meeting with her staff at the end of 1994, she discussed presenting a show on drug abuse so that she could allude (generally, with no specifics) to her own drug experience. The show would feature mothers, because women look more sympathetic than men do talking about dealing with their addictions. The hour would be taped—not live—so the show could be edited, if necessary. By then Oprah’s ratings had fallen off by 13 percent in the last two seasons, but she remained high in public esteem, and some on her staff worried about the possible backlash from such an admission. But she felt she had no choice.
The show, taped on January 11, 1995, was heavily promoted. During the taping, Oprah broke down and made her tearful admission: “I did your drug,” she told a mother who was talking about her addiction to crack cocaine. “It’s my life’s great big secret that has always been held over my head.” Beyond that she offered no specifics as to where, when, or with whom she had done drugs, but her public admission now insulated her from anyone from her past stepping forward.
Oprah’s revelation made national news, and her spokeswoman, Deborah Johns, told reporters that it was “totally spontaneous.” Tim Bennett, president of Harpo Productions, concurred. “[P]urely spontaneous,” he said. “From her heart, from Oprah.” But Chicago columnists Bill Zwecker and Robert Feder, with sources deep inside Harpo, knew better; they reported that Oprah’s admission was a premeditated ploy to boost her ratings and came about because unnamed others had threatened to reveal her secret themselves.
“Nothing is spontaneous with Oprah,” said a former employee in 2007. “It may seem spontaneous, but it’s all as carefully choreographed as Kabuki. She’s fabulous on television—no one’s better—but nothing is left to chance.… She’s like Ronald Reagan. In Hollywood he was considered a B actor, not one of the greats. Not even close. But he was a magnificent communicator on television, with just enough acting ability to appear sincere. Oprah is the same way. She knows how to cry on cue. She once told me that every tear is worth half a ratings point, and she can cry on a dime.” The former employee noted that Oprah’s biggest revelations came during or right before sweeps weeks (February, May, July, and November). “Ratings are everything to Oprah.”
Whether her drug-use admission was designed to fuel her ratings or to defuse the tabloids, Oprah had been able to reveal her secret in a soft and sympathetic setting, and felt a great weight lifted. “I no longer have to worry about that now,” she said. “I understand the shame. I understand the guilt. I understand the secrecy.”
Following Oprah’s public drug admission, Randy Cook filed a $20 million lawsuit against her for slander and emotional distress, but she was racked and ready. “I will fight this suit until I am bankrupt before I give even a penny to this liar,” she was quoted as saying. In court documents, she later denied making the “liar” statement. By then Cook, with no visible means of employment, looked like a desperate man trying to feed off a former relationship with a famous woman who was now worth millions. His lawsuit was dismissed by the U.S. District Court of Illinois, but he appealed, and the U.S. Seventh Circuit reinstated several counts of his complaint. After two years of legal skirmishes, Oprah was forced to respond to his interrogatories. In her answers, she finally admitted what she had so long denied: that she and Cook had had sexual relations, and that she and Cook had used cocaine on a regular and consistent basis.
Cook won the right to a jury trial, but before a date could be set, he dismissed his suit “at the behest of [my] dying mother.” He said his family and friends begged him not to go to court against Oprah Winfrey, but as late as 2007 he was still looking