Iyanla Vanzant Returns to The Oprah Show
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Iyanla eventually received a million-dollar TV contract with Barbara Walters and Buena Vista Television to host The Iyanla Show. But Iyanla says she soon realized the show's producers didn't share her vision. Oprah knew all along what Iyanla needed.
Oprah: "You have a specialty that needed to be nurtured and respected and honored in its space for what you do and how you offer that. So what I feared was that you would go to whoever the big person was, that they wouldn't understand that. Then what happens is that everybody tries to model whatever after what they think I am doing."
Iyanla: "That part of it wasn't about you. Their goal was to get me away from you. That was the goal. I'm sorry."
Oprah: "That's what you believe."
Iyanla: "That's what I believe. That's what I lived. That's what I experienced. I don't even think it was conscious. It wasn't even personal. It wasn't to get me from you so you wouldn't have me. It was to get me from you so they could have me for what they wanted me for. My pattern. People didn't want me for me. They wanted me for what I could offer."
Oprah: "You have a specialty that needed to be nurtured and respected and honored in its space for what you do and how you offer that. So what I feared was that you would go to whoever the big person was, that they wouldn't understand that. Then what happens is that everybody tries to model whatever after what they think I am doing."
Iyanla: "That part of it wasn't about you. Their goal was to get me away from you. That was the goal. I'm sorry."
Oprah: "That's what you believe."
Iyanla: "That's what I believe. That's what I lived. That's what I experienced. I don't even think it was conscious. It wasn't even personal. It wasn't to get me from you so you wouldn't have me. It was to get me from you so they could have me for what they wanted me for. My pattern. People didn't want me for me. They wanted me for what I could offer."
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