Oprah Talks to Julia Roberts

Oprah: Duly noted. And the people involved know the reason, is what you're saying.

Julia: Yeah. When people do bad things intentionally, they know they've done them. But it's not to be cared about. That's the problem with the tabloid press; they dramatize these things until there's a state of frenzy. People see frenzy and they go, "What?" Then they clamor toward the frenzy. We all do it. It's a primal, natural response.

Oprah: You're right. When I was in South Africa, there was this big tabloid headline: WORLD EXCLUSIVE: OPRAH DUMPED BY STEDMAN. It said that I went home crying to my father and that we'd had a big fight and there were witnesses, blah blah. It said I care more for the dogs than I do for him and he'd had it. Then it says my best friend, Gayle, is the reason for the split! I thought, "God, this is really something." Oprah dumped. Gayle said, "Don't pay any attention to that. You need to let that just roll off your back." But when I told her she was the reason for the breakup, she goes, "Well, you need to sue those people!"

Julia: You can't even look at those papers, because the brain is a sponge. That information penetrates.

Oprah: Yes. The perception I think a lot of people have of you is that you're fickle about men. You went from Kiefer Sutherland to Lyle to Benjamin. I've heard some people say that you just kind of, you know, always fall in love with these leading men.

Julia: Mmm-hmm.

Oprah: What's your response to that?

Julia: How nice for me. And in some lands, we call that one's 20s.

Oprah: That's exactly my theory. Because the truth of the matter is, if you're any normal person who's allowed, let's say, seven men in your whole life—you go out with somebody for four months, that doesn't work out—it's not broadcast all over the world.

Julia: Mmm-hmm.

Oprah: Then you go out with somebody, it works out for two years, and then you move on. And that's not broadcast all over the world. And it's sort of ingrained in people's minds that, well, she was with him and now she's with somebody else—I've said, you know, if I hadn't been with Stedman all these years, I would be labeled a total slut.

Julia: Yeah. I just have a great life. I know great people. I've had great relationships—all different kinds of relationships. I am so lucky to be on the little golden path that led me to all this.

Oprah: How lucky that you can fall in love more than once in your life. But now this is it.

Julia: The shop is closed!