It's not easy, Darius says. "I'm lucky my wife is a strong woman. She's one of the stronger people I've ever met," he says. "It's hard for me to be away, but I know my home life is fine because my wife is there."

When he is at home, Darius says his time with his family can't be interrupted...with one major exception. "We have this calendar—everybody's got a place, your dates are listed, and so we wanted time off because I had been working so much," he says. "On every day of December we put 'Darius off—unless Oprah calls.'"

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