From Rags To Riches: The Life And Times Of Oprah

Finding A Lifelong Partner

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Oprah began dating her longtime boyfriend, Stedman Graham, in 1986. Oprah was initially skeptical of the tall and handsome Graham, a public relations expert and activist. But she took and chance and the two began a slow but meaningful relationship that continues on to this day.

The two never married, but they were engaged in 1992. When asked why, Oprah said, “Nobody believes it, but it’s true. The only time I brought it up was when I said to Stedman, ‘What would have happened if we had actually gotten married?’ And the answer is: ‘We wouldn’t be together,’” she says. “We would not have stayed together, because marriage requires a different way of being in this world.”