An always-on-the-move Oprah Winfrey attended the premiere of OWN’s new romantic drama, Love Is ___,” a new show by power couple Mara Brock Akil and Salim Akil. While hitting the red carpet, Winfrey stopped to talk to Extra about show, saying, “I hope the world gains that there are multiple ways of loving, ultimately intimacy, and trust.” As the conversation evolved, the Academy Award winner took a moment to address suicide after the recent deaths of Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain.
“Every death, not just Anthony Bourdain, not just Kate Spade, not just people that who are famous and names that we know… every death is here to teach us how to live better. Every death is here to remind us of our own life and the value of it,” said Winfrey.
“So what will come of these deaths in sequence like this, the suicides, is a more open desire to talk about it. There are lots and lots of people who have not been forthcoming because they are ashamed still of talking about mental illness in their family and mental illness in people around them, but it is serious and it is real.”
Oprah then honed in on the effects of mental illness, saying, “I actually think social media and society in general have made it worse for people, because everybody is trying to maintain a standard that cannot be held… so I think it’s an open door for conversation for all of us to get better.”
Watch a preview of OWN’s new show, Love Is ___, below.
