Oprah Breaks Down in Tears Reflecting Upon the March on Washington

Oprah Winfrey is having an emotional month.
Following the huge opening of her new movie "The Butler," and a powerful interview with troubled actress Lindsay Lohan, this week she participated in the historic 50th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech.

! Insider" co-anchor Kevin Frazier was backstage on Thursday at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas, at Oprah’s Life Class with Bishop T.D. Jakes, where the two inspirational superstars spoke in front of a sold-out American Airlines arena.

Frazier sat down with Oprah and Bishop Jakes to talk about everything from the Life Class to the speech Winfrey gave on Wednesday to commemorate the anniversary of the March on Washington. When Kevin asked her about standing at the Lincoln Memorial, Oprah became emotional, tearing up and saying, "When I was 9, everybody on TV and on church everyone was talking about going to that march. And I wanted to go to that march … it was impossible because we were living on welfare at the time, but I was excited … What I wish I said yesterday is that everything I am and everything I have is because of that march. I would not be able to be who I am and stand in this space without that march."


Oprah also told Kevin that standing next to John Lewis and Andrew Young  — who both played a part in ushering President Barack Obama into the Oval Office — was especially important to her. She referred to the day as a moment of "amazing grace."



"It is a full circle moment because it was one of those things as a kid, Dr. King and the legacy of all those people who have come before me, I carry that energy and spirit with me," she continued. "There is not one thing I have ever done that I didn't realize that, 'Oh, I'm able to do this because they had the courage they did.' That's why 'The Butler' movie means so much to me. That is why I said 'yes' to that. 'Cause that freedom, the Freedom Riders, their sacrifices — all that is real to me. And I understand that the opportunities that I've had — I mean the year that I first started television, there was not even another black person on television — but that happened as a result of those marches. So, as I stood there yesterday, that line that Gloria says in the movie, 'Everything you have is because of that Butler,' I was thinking, 'Everything I am and everything I have is because of them, Dr. King, and all those people whose name never made a history book.'"

As for Thursday's event, both Bishop Jakes and Oprah were thrilled to have been able to help so many. "We were able to provide solutions for people out there, which is why everybody was so elated, because they had solutions to life," Bishop Jakes shared.

"Yeah, I got some solutions myself," Winfrey added. "There was a moment where I thought I was going to go into an ugly cry and I was just standing there thinking, 'I'm supposed to be managing this thing.' And he could see that I was going over, so he kept talking."

Oprah continued, "The thing that excites me most, when I first said 'yes' to doing a network and all of the trials of building the network, my vision was to be able to do exactly this. To use the television platform to enlighten … to bring meaningful opportunities for people to see themselves in a way that everybody in that audience did — that everybody who will watch the show will do. To me, it harkens back to one of my favorite sermons of his, which is: Live on purpose. Literally, today fulfilled the purpose of why I'm in television — it's to reach people like this."