"I didn't leave home for 322 days": Oprah Winfrey opens up about COVID-19, mask mandate, and health scare

As per an interview with the Los Angeles Times (published on Friday, April 27), billionaire celebrity host Oprah Winfrey spoke about her experience during the pandemic. In the interview, Winfrey talked about how she did not leave her house for almost a year.

The television producer and author also expressed how easily the isolation came to her. Furthermore, Winfrey disclosed that her own friends had poked fun at her for being okay with the isolation amid the worldwide lockdowns due to the pandemic.

Winfrey brought up the issue of racism in healthcare while she promoted her new documentary, The Color Of Care, which deals with the same subject.

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What did Oprah Winfrey say about spending 322 days in the isolation of her home?

In the interview, the 68-year-old disclosed how easy it was for her to isolate at her residence, The Promised Land. As she reminisced on how she spent nearly a year without leaving her house, Oprah Winfrey said:

“I’ve been so careful with myself that my own friends make fun of me. I didn’t leave home for 322 days — literally did not leave the house.”

However, Winfrey was not alone, as she had her longtime partner Stedman Graham in their abode. Towards the end of last year, Winfrey showcased herself in the presence of other guests at her Christmas party. However, she mandated that everyone was “vaccinated, boosted, tested, and quarantined.” It is expected that the celebrity talk show host also had similar rules for Gayle King’s CBS interview crew.

The talk show host further added that she was surprised by how easy isolation and “not being around people” came to her. Winfrey further recalled that her friend and CBS Mornings’ host Gayle King had asked her whether she missed being around people, to which the Kosciusko, Mississippi native replied, “Eh, not really.”

According to Oprah Winfrey, her aversion towards missing people amid the pandemic might have been due to being in the presence of a “350 people audience” twice a day for her show, The Oprah Winfrey Show. She added:

“I was able to be with myself in a way that I haven't been able to for years because usually, even if I take time off for myself, I'm thinking about what is the next thing to come.”

Later, she also criticized the lifting of the mask mandates on planes. Oprah Winfrey mentioned that she still wears masks most of the time, despite several states like California having relaxed the mask mandates. Winfrey said:

“I would be one of the people still wearing my masks in an enclosed building with people who I didn't know if they were or were not vaccinated. But that is just me. And I certainly accept that there are other people who disagree. I'm OK with that as long as I can wear mine.”

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Oprah Winfrey talks about her documentary on racial biases in healthcare

Oprah Winfrey revealed that her upcoming documentary production, The Color Of Care, was inspired by late COVID-19 victim Gary Fowler, who was declined admission to three hospitals in Detroit.

Winfrey revealed that she previously assumed that healthcare inaccessibility could be explained by an individual's lack of money or health insurance. However, the producer disclosed that “inequities in so many other areas of your life also contribute to the major disparity when it comes to healthcare."