Oprah Winfrey took 5,000 audience members, including her best friend Gayle King, for a wild ride recently when she announced she suffered a breast cancer scare, reports The New York Times.
The queen of media took to the stage of O magazine’s annual conference to discuss a number of business-related topics but revealed the shocking health news without warning.
Winfrey, 58, calmed fears when she said it was ultimately a false alarm. King reportedly became visibly upset by the announcement. A woman in the audience “chided” Winfrey and demanded she apologize to King and the audience for the unnerving moment. Winfrey reportedly withheld the information from King until she got confirmation from her doctors.
The OWN creator then went on to share that she may have to close the doors of her popular magazine. Winfrey said she’s not interested in “bleeding money” and that if the magazine would begin to lose profit she would stop publishing it.
The publication has lost a fifth of sales since The Oprah Winfrey Show went off air in May 2011. She also shared that she hopes to reach a younger audience with her magazine, saying she’d like to reach women “in their 30s or perhaps their 20s, to be able to reach people when they are looking to fulfill their destiny.” The median age of an O magazine reader is 49.