Oprah Winfrey Says Kamala Harris ‘Had Been Hiding in Plain Sight’

One week after backing Kamala Harris with an electrifying speech during the Democratic National Convention, Oprah Winfrey was in Venice on Thursday. Winfrey was there to present her friend fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg’s DVF Awards, which celebrate the work of extraordinary women.

At the event, held on the sidelines of the Venice Film Festival, Oprah spoke to Variety about Harris whom, she said, has gone from “hiding in plain sight” until recently to now, as presidential candidate, “stepping into the true vision of herself.”

This year’s DVF Awards honorees are Jacinda Ardern, the former prime minister of New Zealand; Yael Admi, a co-founder and leader of Israeli movement Women Wage Peace; Reem Al-Hajajreh co-founder and director of Palestinian organization Women of the Sun; climate justice activist Xiye Bastida who is cofounder of Re-Earth Initiative; Italian reproductive rights advocate Alessandra Kustermann; and children’s rights advocate Graça Machel.

Oprah called them women who have been “Giving, giving, giving,” and noted that for many of them “it’s a lonely venture trying to empower others in a world that doesn’t wish to see you empowered.”

Then she spoke about Kamala Harris and how she has been empowered.

Asked about what could happen to America if Trump were re-elected president, Oprah said she preferred to accentuate the positive and talk about what would happen if Harris becomes president.

Asked about what she considers to be Harris’ most positive aspect, Oprah launched into a passionate description of her transformation from the moment Joe Biden stepped down from the presidency.

“It’s like she shed the shadow,” Oprah said. “It’s like she literally had been hiding in plain sight and she was in this prison where it feels like to me she did what millions of women all over the world do: You make yourself a little smaller; a little narrower; a little dimmer; just to fit into the world, so that you don’t make other people look any less than they are,” she added.

But now, Harris has “dropped that thing,” Oprah explained. “And she has literally stepped into the true vision of herself. I think finally for the first time she stepped into the calling that has been there and that she’s just now heard.” 

“And that’s the most positive thing,” Oprah noted. “Because what you see is her authentic self, and there is nothing more powerful than when your personality is reflecting what your soul actually came to do.”

“I think this is a moment in history,” she went on to add.

“Something that comes becomes a moment for the world, and not just for her, at this time. What I see now is a level of authenticity that feels sincere, feels welcoming, and that feels like hope,” Oprah concluded.