Oprah Winfrey has revealed that she had two knee surgeries in 2021. The topic of gratitude came up during a conversation as part of her The Life You Want Class for Oprah Daily.
Winfrey decided to share her story after one of the guests mentioned having an appreciation for every limb and organ.
“I had double knee surgery last year,” she explained. “I had knee surgery in August, and then I had another knee surgery in November. When I came home the first time, I literally could not lift my leg. I couldn’t lift my heel off of the bed, and I vowed if I was ever able to get up, walk around, and move again — that I would take advantage of movement, exercise, and of being able to be fully in my body.”
The 68-year-old media magnate revealed that she began hiking as part of her healing process.
“As I was rehabilitating, I started hiking,” she shared. “Every day, I tried to hike more and do more. My appreciation for every organ and every limb has expanded exponentially. So, you mentioning that really brought that home to me.”
Winfrey’s love of hiking was recently highlighted in a viral TikTok video. It was discovered in a video taken by her social media director, Joseph Zambrano, that she deceived the group, which included Gayle King and Ava DuVernay, on their precise itinerary.
“What is the term for being catfished, but on an event?” Zambrano said at the beginning of the video. “You know, I think people should be honest when they say, ‘Let’s go on a hike.’ [Winfrey] said it was five to seven minutes. It’s been five to seven miles.”
Zambrano pans the camera to his outfit, and then jokes, “We’ve been on this hike for hours.” In another portion of the video, he shows King’s sundress which is drenched in sweat.
Winfrey appears in the video and reveals that they did a 50-minute hike, with only “five to seven minutes up this hill.”
Zambrano ends the video with Winfrey telling the group, “You have no more than, I promise, seven minutes of steady incline,” proving to her guests, that she did not lie about the hike.