With his grandmother behind the camera,
our next guest has gone from breaking news
in Toledo, Ohio, to interviewing Elizabeth Warren, Brad
Pitt, and now one of the biggest icons in the world.
Take a look.
How you feeling, bud?
Good.
This is a the three-camera setup,
so this must be a really good interview.
Yeah, yeah.
You're looking good.
This is, er, grandma's last looks.
Just making sure, you know, no ashy elbows, knees.
A ton of Vaseline.
Jaden!
Hi!
Keep your seat, keep your seat.
It's too hard to get down.
Good to see you.
Nice to meet you.
I'm looking forward to this opportunity for the--
Oh, I've been looking forward to it all day.
All day.
This is the highlight of my day.
This is the highlight of your day?
Yes.
OK.
All right.
Let's go.
3, 2, 1.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
I'm Jaden Jefferson.
I am here with the legend, the only Oprah Winfrey.
Oprah, thanks for joining us.
Well Jaden, I'm happy to be here.
Thank you.
So you just got off stage.
So what was it like being on Ellen today?
Being on Ellen, as you know, is like sitting in the middle
of a great, big, fun party--
Exactly.
--with all of the people you don't know,
but you feel like you know all those people.
Right?
Oh yeah.
It's like family here.
It's like family here, yes.
What is one thing that you would do differently
if you had the chance?
One thing I would do differently--
I would probably have ended my show
and then tried to start a network.
Because what I did was try to do both at the same time.
So if I had it to do over, I would end that show,
take a break, figure out what the next move is,
and then move on to the next move.
That's what I would do differently.
And aside from Gale and Stedman, you know I have to ask this--
Yes.
--what is one famous person you do--
you text the most that will surprise people?
Oh, Ellen.
I mean, it would be Ellen.
Oh yeah, let's make it Ellen.
Of course it's Ellen.
So my grandmother is with me on every assignment.
Every assignment.
Yes.
What's the best advice your grandmother ever gave you?
Well, I think-- I don't know if it was advice
that I recall from my grandmother,
as much as I recall her teaching me how to read.
So the best thing my grandmother ever
did for me was to give me the gift of being
excited about learning how to read.
Oh yeah.
Education's very important.
No, not just very important.
It's essential.
I mean, you nor I would be here without it.
Exactly.
OK, exactly.
Who is one person you still want to interview, but haven't?
Hm.
Queen of England.
How's that?
I think that'd be a good one.
Honestly, I'd love to--
I want to see that.
I want to see all of her crowns.
I'd like to go over a few things, see if she watches
The Crown, how she likes all of that.
Oh yeah.
We could talk dogs.
She's had a lot of dogs.
I've had a lot of dogs.
I've had 21 dogs.
I don't know how many she's had, but--
Wow.
I thought 3 was a lot, but 21?
21.
Not all at the same time.
So over the years, I've had 21 dogs.
OK.
That's good you're a dog lover because, I
have two dogs at home.
And that's a great thing, by the way.
They make you happier.
Yes, absolutely.
You being a former TV reporter, what advice would
you have for me and other aspiring journalists?
Well, I really am just so excited that you
are content being authentically yourself.
I can see from watching you that you are 100% fully
always just yourself.
You are curious, you are inquisitive,
you are intelligent, you are thoughtful.
You listen to people's answers.
And you are 100% yourself.
And viewers will take note of when you're not being yourself.
They will know.
Oh, everybody knows it.
You know what?
The thing is, people know when you're not being yourself.
Even if they can't articulate for themselves what it is,
they just know something's off.
Exactly.
Yeah.
That doesn't even apply to TV.
That applies to just everyday life.
You are right about that.
How old are you?
11.
You're 11.
How did you get to be so smart?
Honestly, I don't know.
You don't?
I don't even know.
No?
This is the thing.
What's going to happen is, you're going
to start getting some haters.
You know that, right?
Oh yeah.
You're going to start--
I already have plenty of them.
Oh, you've got plenty haters.
So you've just got to know how to put that in balance,
know what you want, and keep striving for that,
and not letting all those haters affect you.
It's going to happen really quickly.
Oh yeah.
It's already happened.
I can believe it.
Thank you.
And how are you handling that?
I mean, I really handle it because the positive
outweighs the negative.
Doesn't it?
And I-- honestly, it's really what I believe about myself
that really counts.
Yes, absolutely.
And I think if you stay on a positive vibe,
you can accomplish so much.
That means so much coming from Oprah Winfrey.
Well, thank you.
Well Oprah, thank you so much for joining us.
Well, thank you for coming all this way to do this for me.
Oh, no problem at all.
Trust me.
No problem at all.
I can't wait to see what the future holds for you.
Thank you so much.
Congratulations.
Reporting in Los Angeles, Jaden Jefferson,
Jaden Reports Eye Witness News.