When former South African president Nelson Mandela died in 2013 at
age 95, his longtime friend Oprah Winfrey used social media to post a statement
about his passing.
"One of the great honors of my life was to be invited to
Nelson Mandela's home, spend private time and get to know him," the OWN
founder shared on
Instagram. "He was everything you've ever heard and more -- humble and
unscathed by bitterness. And he always loved to tell a good joke. Being in his
presence was like sitting with grace and majesty at the same time. He will
always be my hero. His life was a gift to us all."
Oprah's tribute was accompanied by a smiling photo of the two, and
over the weekend her network featured a repeat airing of the 2000 talk show
interview she did with the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize winner. The media mogul took
to Twitter to write, "This Mandela Interview makes me so proud… I
couldn't see it at the time, was too anxious and nervous."
The historic interview (Oprah didn't seem nervous to us) featured the talk-show queen
asking the anti-apartheid leader about his long fight against oppression, and
how he forgave his jailers after a 27-year imprisonment. But first, she pointed
out that her humble guest showed up at her studio and asked producers,
"What is the subject of today's show?"
During the interview, Oprah asked Mandela: "How does a man
spend 27 years in prison, put there by an oppressor, and come out of that
experience, with not a heart of stone, not a cold heart, but a heart that is
willing to forgive and embrace?"
Mandela's response: "If I had not been to prison, I would not
have been able to achieve the most difficult of tasks in life. And that is
changing yourself. The opportunity to sit down and pick, I was in the company
of great men in there. Some of them, more qualified, more talented than I am.
And to sit down with them, to have changed views, was one of the most revealing
experiences I have had."
Oprah later said the entire Harpo staff lined the hallway to shake
hands with Mandela, and they dubbed the space the Nelson Mandela Hallway.
"This has not happened before or after," she said.
See a clip from Oprah's interview with Nelson Mandela here:
A year later Mandela did another interview with Oprah, this time
for O Magazine. In that interview he talked about how prison made him a changed -- and wiser -- man.
"Before I went to jail … I never had time to sit and
think," he said. "As I worked, physical and mental fatigue set in and
I was unable to operate to the maximum of my intellectual ability. But in a
single cell in prison, I had time to think. I had a clear view of my past and
present, and I found that my past left much to be desired, both in regard to my
relations with other humans and in developing personal worth."
Mandela also vowed that if he ever got out of prison he would make
it up to the family and friends he'd disappointed in the past, and added that
his mission was to build schools and educate people.
"No country can really develop unless its citizens are
educated," he said. "Any nation that is progressive is led by people
who have had the privilege of studying. I knew we could improve our lives even
in jail. We could come out as different men, and we could even come out with
two degrees. Educating ourselves was a way to give ourselves the most powerful
weapon for freedom."
It was Mandela who inspired Oprah to found her Leadership Academy
for Girls, just outside Johannesburg in his native country.
The 60-year-old OWN CEO told Forbes that when she was invited to Mandela's home in the Western Cape
for a 10-day stay in 2000, talk turned to poverty and the sad state of
schooling in his country. She promptly pledged $10 million to South African schools
and broke ground on her own school two years later.
"When you go to Nelson Mandela's house, what do you
take?" she said. "You can't bring a candle. I wanted to leave
something that would be of value."
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