“I Did Not Marry Paul McCartney” - All Of Oprah Winfrey’s Dreams Have Come True Except One

Is the one, the only, is the magnificent Oprah Winfrey. Now this looks like fun. Here you are. This is the Stella McCartney show, right? Okay, with none other than... Paul McCartney. Paul McCartney himself. It's Paul McCartney again. Like a ton of fun. Did I ever tell you that I always thought I was the only dream... I've had every dream in my life come true, I have to say. I mean, I grew up reading Maya Angelou and then she became a friend. So everything that I've ever wanted or dreamed came true, except I did not marry Paul McCartney. Well, that was your dream? Oh my, was that my dream? I was the only girl in my neighborhood who collected Beatle cards. I love the Beatles. Of course, Paul was my favorite Beatle. And I used to try to make him think of me. I used to like wake in the morning and I'd stand on the stairs and I'd say, think of me, think of me, think of me. And then when I first interviewed Paul McCartney years later, I said, my first question to him was, all those years I was 14 and I was thinking of you, did you ever once think of me? And he said, every day, babe, every day. Isn't that the sweetest? Now you're making physical contact. Look at that, Paul with that gentle hand on your arm. Listen to this. I used to dream I was going to marry him. I didn't marry him, but we got our Kennedy Center Awards together. I am seated next to Paul McCartney on the night that he got his award and I got my award. When they played Hey Jude on the stage, he took my hand. You held hands for Hey Jude? And that was the dream I'd had all those years. So happy for you. Thank you. Kennedy Center, Schmanity Center. I know I said Stedman, look, he's holding my hand. So at this event, I was wearing a ponytail and Paul actually said to me, I was looking at the models going down the runway and Paul said to me, Oprah, you're thrashing my head. Every time I turned the ponytail, I was thrashing his head. How are you feeling about the whole thing, though? How are you feeling about? Don't go Oprah on me now. I know you're Oprah. Do you want to switch? You actually would. OK. Oh, wow. Oh, I love it. Oh, my God, I love it so much. So fantastic. OK. Thank you. It's a what an honor to be here. Thank you, Oprah. OK. This is so exciting. So I'm wondering, so as you're standing here at the threshold. Yes. Of what's about to be done and what you're stepping into, what do you feel like in this moment you most want to to release? What do I want to release? Yes. Let go of. I don't want to let anything go yet. You don't. Because I still have a white knuckle grip on all these people who I love, who I've worked with all these years. Including those people right over there. Yeah. And all the cameramen out here. Yeah. OK, because it's not just the band. It's the crew. It's sound. We're nowhere without sound. Yeah. So. And the audience, obviously. And especially the audience. Especially the audience. Try not to take. I never try. Especially the audience. I'm sure you felt the same way, is that you have great good luck in your career. You work very hard, but there's also great good luck not just to be with these people here. This is a part of the show. And here's the thing. When I say, you know, all these years. It's been like 15 years for me now since the show was over. Yeah. And I miss most of the audience. People think that you mean the applause, but that's not what you mean. No. What do you mean? Whoa. What I mean is that. OK, I like interviewing. I mean, interviewing people like in the field. Meaning like I go to your house and get your house or something like that. I might go like to see Spielberg or Barbra Streisand and interview them. That's great. Great interview. Longer. You get to edit it down. But when you and I are talking to each other. Yeah. There's a third person in the conversation and it's the audience right there. That's right. And they are actually doing their job better than you and I can. Because they know what their job is and they're very committed to their job, which is to listen to what's going on and having a reaction to it. Whereas you and I, if I'm asking you questions, I want to make sure I'm hitting all the questions I want to ask. Yeah, yeah. You might be saying, oh, I want to hit all the things I want to answer. So there's something else going on besides what we're doing. The audience is very pure in their engagement in our conversation. And if you stay tuned to them, you know where the conversation is going. Exactly. That's why you are so important. I can honestly say, and I'm sure you can too, that you wouldn't have been who you are without the audience. I certainly wouldn't have been who I was without you. No, not at all. The very first Oprah show I did, it was called A.M. Chicago. First one I did, I had accepted the job, but I didn't know they didn't have an audience. And so the next day, we went out on the street and we asked people to come in and get coffee and to watch the show. We only had 12 chairs, but I needed... You tricked them. I just needed... You tricked them. Yeah, because the audience is such a big part of the connection and they are the mirror. I need an audience so much that if there's somebody I need to talk to, like on a corporate level, let's say, and perhaps I need to say something to someone at the head office that the conversation is not going to go that well, I will ask my assistant and like someone else who works there to come and sit in the desk across from me so I have an audience to hear me have the phone call so that I will say what I actually feel and actually deliver on what I want to say into the phone call because the audience makes me do it more than I will make me do it. I understand that. Well, I just want to say to you, thank you so much. Thank you so much. Thank you so much for holding the space for laughter. Has he not held the space for laughter for us in our lives? Oh, it's very kind of you. Thank you very much. Thank you for this. Thank you for this interview. And I just want to say, before we go... No, thank you very much. Steven! No, thank you very much. Very kind. I just want to say, before you go, new episodes of the Oprah podcast are available every Tuesday. It's Oprah Winfrey, everybody. We'll be right back with Brandi Paula.