Oprah Winfrey adores her 'Wrinkle in Time' Barbie because she was too poor for the real doll as a kid
Oprah Winfrey hosted the highest-rated daytime talk show for more 25 years, earned two Oscar nominations and won an honorary statuette, lays claim to a Presidential Medal of Freedom, and launched her own television network (called, well, OWN).
Getting a Barbie doll modeled after her character, Mrs. Which, in Disney’s upcoming fantasy A Wrinkle in Time, however, is easily a life highlight.
“To now have a doll made in the image of your character is a pretty phenomenal moment,” she told Yahoo Entertainment while joined by co-stars and fellow Barbie recipients Reese Witherspoon (Mrs. Whatsit) and Mindy Kaling (Mrs. Who) while promoting Wrinkle. “It is not lost on me that that has happened. … It’s a pretty phenomenal thing.”
The honor not only represents how far the media icon has come since her formative years in Mississippi but also reflects a clear sign of the times.
“I grew up a poor Negro child,” Winfrey said, in what may have been a reference to Steve Martin’s oft-quoted opening line from his 1979 comedy The Jerk. “I had, literally, a corncob doll … where you take the corn, shuck it, and then you try to make a little doll and you use the silk for the hair.”
Winfrey interrupted herself: “I know you’re looking at me like I’m from Little House on the Prairie.”
She continued, “The idea of a Barbie doll — Barbies were always too expensive. You’re not going to get a Barbie. You’re certainly not going to find a brown one.”
Witherspoon and Kaling are equally as thrilled.
“I ordered seven of mine off of Amazon,” Witherspoon said, laughing. “And they’re all over. I’m giving them out to basically anyone who comes to the house.”
Or to paraphrase the immortal words of her co star, “YOU GET A DOLL! YOU GET A DOLL!”
A Wrinkle in Time opens March 9.
Watch the cast talk about their colorful costuming:
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