Hollywood is no stranger to celebrity romances, marriages, and breakups. Yet, Oprah Winfrey and Stedman Graham’s unconventional relationship has intrigued fans for nearly four decades. Are they still together?
The queen of all media, once the richest African-American of the 20th century, and the world’s only black billionaire at a time, Oprah Winfrey has lived a life defined by breaking the mold. After first revolutionizing media by popularizing the tabloid talk show genre through her intimate and confessional talk show, The Oprah Winfrey Show, Winfrey incorporated her revolutionary ideas into her personal life, too.
While Winfrey expertly navigated Hollywood love lives on her talk show, her own love life garnered just as much media attention. Flashback to 1986, Winfrey’s life changed in two ways that shaped her career and personal life forever. One, she launched The Oprah Winfrey Show, and second, she met the American author, speaker, and businessman Stedman Graham for the first time.
While the show went on to make Winfrey one of the most influential women in the world and brought her fame, Stedman Graham brought much-needed love to her. But even after dating for years and getting engaged at one point, Winfrey and Graham decided to forgo marriage.
Winfrey and Graham say they’re in a “spiritual partnership,” and remain each other’s love
Winfrey and Graham began dating towards the end of 1986 and made their red carpet debut in December of the same year. Six years later, in Oct. 1992, Graham popped the question to Winfrey, and the two got officially engaged. However, in her 2020 essay, Winfrey revealed that she started having doubts right after she accepted Graham’s proposal that she “didn’t actually want a marriage.”
So, in 1993, the couple called off the engagement and decided to remain together differently. The two then made several appearances together, including at the 2002 Primetime Emmy Awards. Since then, the couple have been an important part of each other’s lives, making appearances or mentioning each other now and then.
Winfrey opened up to Vogue in Aug. 2017, revealing how a marriage wouldn’t have worked for the couple and they’re happily together to this date despite not being husband and wife. To put a label to her relationship, Winfrey wrote in a 2020 issue of her O The Oprah Magazine that she and her longtime partner Stedman Graham are in a “spiritual partnership,” which means a “partnership between equals for the purpose of spiritual growth.”