Oprah Winfrey's staff surprised her with balloons on her 40th birthday.
Los Angeles:
There are not many things thatscare Oprah Winfrey but the talk show queen has an irrationalfear of balloons.
The media mogul, however, decided to confront her fearafter her entire staff surprised her with balloons on her 40thbirthday.
"I really don't like balloons, and for my 40th birthday myentire staff decided to surprise me. I come downstairs and theentire audience is filled with balloons. Literally, I'mstepping over balloons, having to walk through balloons andI'm so, like, 'Oh! When is one going to pop?'
"It was an anxiety-filled day. I don't like them becauseit reminds me of gunfire which really freaks me out," Winfreysaid while narrating the story in a promotional video for theOctober issue of O Magazine.
Now 59, Winfrey said she had to turn her weakness intosomething she and her fans could learn from, which is thetheme of the magazine's October issue.
Winfrey said the balloon incident, she said, "became ametaphor for facing all my fears: No way around it, just walkright through it."
"There are a few things that in life, if you allow themto, can really keep you from moving forward. I don't have alot of fears because I understand that you have to really walkthrough it."
The OWN mogul also recalled another instance when she hadto push herself. She was afraid to give a speech in front of aHarvard audience but decided that facing the fear "head-on,walking through it, actually getting up and doing that speech,would be more meaningful to me than staying at home andthinking what would have happened had I done it," she said.
The media mogul, however, decided to confront her fearafter her entire staff surprised her with balloons on her 40thbirthday.
"I really don't like balloons, and for my 40th birthday myentire staff decided to surprise me. I come downstairs and theentire audience is filled with balloons. Literally, I'mstepping over balloons, having to walk through balloons andI'm so, like, 'Oh! When is one going to pop?'
"It was an anxiety-filled day. I don't like them becauseit reminds me of gunfire which really freaks me out," Winfreysaid while narrating the story in a promotional video for theOctober issue of O Magazine.
Now 59, Winfrey said she had to turn her weakness intosomething she and her fans could learn from, which is thetheme of the magazine's October issue.
Winfrey said the balloon incident, she said, "became ametaphor for facing all my fears: No way around it, just walkright through it."
"There are a few things that in life, if you allow themto, can really keep you from moving forward. I don't have alot of fears because I understand that you have to really walkthrough it."
The OWN mogul also recalled another instance when she hadto push herself. She was afraid to give a speech in front of aHarvard audience but decided that facing the fear "head-on,walking through it, actually getting up and doing that speech,would be more meaningful to me than staying at home andthinking what would have happened had I done it," she said.
