In addition to apologizing, Oprah says another reason she reached out to James, a former addict, after his 2006 appearance was because she was worried that he might relapse.

"There were a lot of times I wanted to [use]," James says. "I became an addict because I felt things I didn't like, and I wasn't comfortable with that. The way to get rid of those feelings was to use. And there were a lot of those feelings then.

"In a way, I think there were people who hoped I would relapse. Aside from knowing for my own self that nothing good would come of it, I wasn't going to give anybody the satisfaction of it. I wasn't going to let that newspaper article be written."

So, instead of reaching for drugs or a drink, James says he reached out to friends for strength and support. "One thing I know [from] having gone through this experience is I'm really blessed to have a really great family and some really great friends who were there," he says.