Ah, Oprah. Despite officially hanging up her Queen of Daytime Talk sash last year, the gal just can’t seem to bring herself to step aside and allow someone else to shine in her former spotlight. (And no, Ellen “I think cracking juvenile jokes and dancing like I have a pogo stick protruding from my bottom is hilarious” DeGeneres doesn’t count.)
Yup, the mother of mass manipulation is at it again: following her earlier announcement that she has scored herself an exclusive interview with Bobbi Kristina Brown, Oprah has subsequently posted pictures of herself hugging a teary Bobbi on set (all under the guise of genuine concern, naturally) in a pre-publicity bid to secure as many viewers for this weekend’s screening of the interview.
Meanwhile, in all her blissful (or drug hazed) naivety, Brown – aka, darling daughter of the late Whitney Houston – really believes ol’ Winfrey gives a continental: the 19-year-old has been gushing on about how “Oprah was always loyal to my mom and never did my mother wrong, or made her look bad. She always looked out for my mom.”
Ah-huh. So much so, that Oprah was quite happy to simply stand by and watch her supposed beloved friend spiral into a life of career-destroying substance addiction for the better part of a decade; she only saw fit to show her concern (cough, cough, sputter) when Whitney finally agreed to take a seat on the Queen’s cream-coloured couch to discuss “never before revealed” details about her tumultuous marriage to Bobbi Brown in particular, and her life in general.
Aforementioned “revelations” entailed such riveting tidbits amounting to how Whitney “wanted to go to live on an island and run a fruit stand” and “the make-up, the gowns, the hair – that was all a creation for the media, wasn’t it?” (er, hence why it’s called show business, Oprah), leaves you wondering with frustration-calming whiskey in hand as to what award-winning questions Winfrey will come up with during her tête-a-tête with Bobbi.
Assuming, of course, that she actually asks any.
As we witnessed during her closing years on her free-to-air programme, Miss O had clearly become more concerned with voicing her own views (especially when it came to her personal experiences as a victim of woman abuse, or – yaaaawwwn – her one. singular. film role in The Color Purple back in 19-voetsek), than in truly engaging with her guests.
Thus, whether her supposed heart-to-heart with Bobbi will, in fact, disclose anything we don’t already know, or simply serve as yet another “Oprah self-promotion project” remains to be seen.
Personally, my money’s on the latter…