Oprah Winfrey says she's been devoted to Ralph Lauren's style long before she could afford it.
The media mogul made the admission on Wednesday at the Ralph Lauren show during New York Fashion Week, recalling how even her first-ever splurge from the same brand.
“I love him because he’s the standard,” Winfrey told Extra. “Not just for dressing but for home life. And for what it meant to have to be surrounded by beauty and excellence.”
“I’ve been wearing him long before I could afford it,” she further confessed.
The media icon recalled her first real splurge after finally earning more than just rent money: Ralph Lauren towels.
“I have so many wonderful Ralph Lauren story memories,” Winfrey noted. “When I first started making enough money to actually be able to pay my rent and have some money left over, my first big splurge was Ralph Lauren towels."
“When Barbara Walters came to my house for the very first Barbara Walters interview, at the end of it, I said, ‘Do you want to see my Ralph Lauren towels?’ and she said, ‘Sure.’”
During this time, a termination from her job led Winfrey to pursue her dreams. On the HBO documentary Seen & Heard, Winfrey shared a pivotal memory in her career.
“I started working in TV when I was 19 years old,” Winfrey recalled. “I was a general assignment reporter, so that means whatever is happening, you’re out there, in general, covering it. And I was not happy being a news reporter. Because I felt that it was exploiting people every day, telling the worst of what was happening, and it didn’t feel good for me.”
“After I was fired from the evening news, they didn’t want to pay out my contract, so they put me on the talk show to get rid of me,” she recalled.
In 1986, The Oprah Winfrey Show debuted nationally after the show relocated from Baltimore to Chicago.