{
  "id": 8179204,
  "title": "Oprah Winfrey says people-pleasing led her to make a career decision she knew was wrong",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/18/oprah-winfrey-says-people-pleasing-led-her-to-make-a-career-decision",
  "topic": "culture",
  "section": "Culture",
  "published": "2026-09-18T05:23:53.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Business Insider",
    "slug": "business-insider",
    "url": "https://www.businessinsider.com/oprah-winfrey-people-pleasing-career-lesson-own-2026-9"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Oprah Winfrey revealed during an appearance on The Mel Robbins Podcast that 2012 was one of the worst years of her life because she made a career decision she knew was wrong out of fear of disappointing others. She ignored her intuition and let people-pleasing get in the way, resulting in low ratings and staff cuts at OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network, which she launched earlier that year. Winfrey said she woke up in the middle of the night unable to breathe due to her anger at not trusting her inner voice. She reflected on the regret of not following her instincts and realizing later that she had been driven by the fear of disappointing others rather than her own desires.",
  "summary": "Oprah Winfrey said the fallout made 2012 \"one of the worst years\" of her life.",
  "key_points": [
    "Winfrey made wrong career decision in 2012 to please others",
    "Ignored intuition, led to OWN's low ratings and staff cuts",
    "Woke up in night, unable to breathe from anger at not trusting self"
  ],
  "editors_take": "Oprah Winfrey's admission that people-pleasing drove a flawed career decision underscores the perils of prioritizing others' expectations over one's own instincts, a lesson she learned at great personal and professional cost.",
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}