Oprah and Stedman’s big news
HOW THE TV QUEEN AND LONG-TIME PARTNER SHOCKED THEIR FRIENDS
She may have famously given away 276 cars in one go and brought an entire audience to Australia, but Oprah Winfrey has managed to pull off her biggest surprise yet by marrying long-time love Stedman Graham.
Surprising family and friends who gathered at their Santa Barbara home for what they believed was one of Oprah’s famous get-togethers, Oprah and Stedman stood in front of
their nearest and dearest and made their love official.
‘Absolutely no-one saw it coming,’ reveals an insider. ‘Stedman and Oprah really value their love and life together and they wanted to be able to share this moment in a really simple, private way that honoured that.’
Despite the couple’s enormous wealth – they are believed to be worth over US$3 billion – they decided to keep the occasion as intimate and low-key as possible, with only their inner circle present at the romantic home ceremony.
Sporting a simple white frock that showed off her latest weight-loss efforts, Oprah, 64, proved to be a beaming bride as she said ‘I do’ to Stedman, 67, her ‘rock’ of 31 years.
‘Stedman, you’re the sweetest man, with the greatest integrity,’ says Oprah of her true love.
‘Thank you for helping me to be everything that I am, and all that is to come.’
Having long maintained that they simply weren’t interested in complicating their relationship by getting married, with Oprah saying that ‘marriage requires a different way of being in this world’, insiders reveal the TV star’s potential run for president played a part in the couple’s decision to formalise their love.
‘If Oprah decided to run for president, she will be going up against Donald Trump, whose winning campaign was based on traditional American values,’ says an insider.
‘Having Stedman by her side as her husband instead of her boyfriend would strengthen her chances with the conservative American voters.’
And should Oprah decide to take the plunge and go for the top job, she can feel secure knowing that she has Stedman there by her side.
‘I want her to succeed and be as successful as she possibly can, so I encourage that,’ says Stedman of his bride. ‘That’s not always an easy thing to do when you’re a man in a relationship with a very powerful woman, and so, I’m not threatened by her fame or her success or her money or all of that – that’s who she is. ‘It has nothing to do with how I define myself.’ However, more than just a political move, pals of the famous couple say that the wedding was also motivated by love and feelings of commitment, with everyone in the room bursting with happiness for the couple.
‘There was not a dry eye in the house,’ says an insider.
‘Everyone had given up on seeing these two tie the knot, and to see them standing there together declaring their undying love after all these years was really special for everyone who was there to witness it.’
Like any bride-to-be, Oprah was determined to look her best on her special day, and had upped her Weight Watchers and exercise commitments in preparation for her big moment.
‘[Stedman] cares about me and has been very supportive of me, fat and thin. I did not do this for Stedman,’ Oprah has said in the past of her weight loss.
‘You know you cannot do it [lose weight] for anybody but yourself.’
And while it may have taken the groom over three decades to finally call Oprah his wife, Stedman says has never had any doubt that the media mogul was the one for him.
‘I’m with a very special person who is – she’s just so unbelievable,’ he says.
‘I just support her in her life. And she supports me in my life.’
‘EVERYONE HAD GIVEN UP ON SEEING THESE TWO TIE THE KNOT… IT WAS REALLY SPECIAL’