Journalists Speak Out

Oprah: Why do you think it was a betrayal of his readers?

Richard Cohen: Because they were told this actually happened. They were told this is true. I know nothing about addiction. Very little about addiction. I'm only addicted to bagels and that's it. But you talked to people about this, people who know about addiction, and they said the first step is truth. The first step is self-accountability. Coming to terms.

Oprah: Yeah.

Richard Cohen: I was sitting in the audience watching what was happening before and I was thinking to myself about James, "Why are you doing this?" Why is he doing this? Because he could have said—and I think a PR guy would have said—"Walk away. Just say you've talked and you said all you have to say and that's it." Why go back and confront and confess? But if this is the first step towards truth, towards actually owning what happened to him and going on, then it's a healthy thing he did.

Oprah: Yeah. Thank you.