Oprah Calls Rihanna Most 'Surprising' Interview

Oprah Winfrey has interviewed thousands of high-profile celebrities, but it’s her recent sit-down with Rihanna that left her the most surprised.

In a cover interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Winfrey said she was amazed by the 24-year-old singer during their Next Chapter interview. “Interestingly enough, the person who surprised me the most was Rihanna,” she said. 

The media mogul revealed she doesn’t do interviews if someone tells her she can’t ask a certain question. “My policy is, I can ask any question, you can tell me you won’t answer it, but you have to tell me that on camera.” She said Rihanna “brought one thousand percent of her. You could tell that she came ready. She was open to anything.”

“What’s really happening is that people see that when they give me an opportunity to sit down with them, I really just want them to be fully themselves,” Winfrey said. “The way I approach every interview is to use my own sort of Super Soul training: You allow the presence in you to speak to the presence in the other person. You drop the facade, and you really see soul to soul with somebody.”

Prior to their interview, Oprah said she only knew Rihanna from her music, but she found her to be “so thoughtful and so smart.