Oprah Winfrey has publicly addressed her relationship with Dr. Phil McGraw and Dr. Mehmet Oz. She played a key role in their rise to media stardom, but both have since become linked with conservative politics.

In an interview with Emmy Magazine, Winfrey discussed her career and her thoughts on McGraw and Oz. She mentioned that she receives criticism for her association with them due to their political stances.

“People criticize me for Dr. Phil and Dr. Oz because of their politics or their views,” she stated. Winfrey reminisced about her legal battle in the late 1990s, saying, “Dr. Phil was so practical, so down-to-earth, so real. He would ride with me every morning on the way to trial.”

Both McGraw and Oz have ventured into politics. Dr. Oz, supported by Donald Trump, ran for the U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania in 2022 but lost to Sen. John Fetterman. Although McGraw has not officially endorsed a political party, he appeared at a Trump rally in 2024 and joined ICE operations with Trump’s border official Tom Homan.

Winfrey reflected on the reasons she initially promoted them. “I felt he was so instrumental in helping me. I thought, ‘Oh, you could help a lot of people. You should come on my show,’” she recalled about McGraw.

On Dr. Oz, she stated, “He explained practical things like colon cancer in a way that was helpful to me and, I thought, to many others. That was why I brought them on the show.”

Winfrey emphasized that everyone follows their own path and that she no longer plays a role in McGraw and Oz’s journeys. “At the time, the intention behind giving them their breaks was that they had valuable information,” she concluded.

Dr. Phil, while not revealing his 2024 presidential vote, remains a notable conservative commentator. Curtis Houck, managing editor of NewsBusters, commented to Fox News Digital that Winfrey engages openly in politics.

“Oprah has no problem being friends with progressives or others willing to oppose Trump,” Houck noted.

Houck further remarked on Winfrey’s political leanings, referencing her ties with high-profile figures like Gayle King and the Obamas. He argued that Dr. Phil and Dr. Oz should not be pigeonholed as partisans due to Winfrey’s influence.

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