Oprah Winfrey has been scoring big interviews for her OWN network lately, and by the looks of things, her momentum isn’t slowing down.
The ‘Queen of Talk’ is set to interview Rihanna for an episode of Oprah’s Next Chapter that will air sometime in August.
The news was revealed last night when a Rihanna fan tweeted to Oprah asking her to interview the “We Found Love” singer on Oprah’s Next Chapter. Oprah replied “@rihanna she’s coming soon,” and later revealed in another tweet that the interview is set to air August.
Last night Oprah featured part one of her exclusive interview with Kim Kardashian and her highly-televised family. Oprah addressed Kim’s 72-day marriage to Kris Humphries, the depression she went through after filing for divorce, and how she became famous after a sex tape of her and Ray J was released.
“Would you be where you are had there not been a sex tape?” Oprah asked Kim.
“You know, I think that’s how I was definitely introduced to the world,” Kim replied. “It was a negative way, so I felt like I really had to work 10 times harder to get people to see the real me.”
Many people have come out to say that Oprah’s interview with the Kardashian clan was a shameless attempt to draw ratings for her struggling OWN Network. She recently took to her Facebook Page to explain why she wanted to interview the reality show family.
“I genuinely wanted to know why they have become a cultural phenomenon? Why do so many people love to watch their every move and why do so many others love to hate them,” Oprah wrote. “Are they completely ego centered? Are they really ‘famous for being famous’ or is there something more?”
Due to Rihanna’s current image as a good girl gone bad, as well as recent headlines reporting that she has reconciled with Brown, her appearance on Oprah’s Next Chapter is sure to generate significant buzz.
In January 2010, Rihanna appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show and performed “Redemption Song” to benefit victims of the earthquake in Haiti.
And in 2009, Oprah dedicated an entire episode of her show to domestic violence, which many assumed was inspired by the assault on Rihanna by her then ex-boyfriend Chris Brown.
“If you go back with a man who hits you, it’s because you don’t think you’re worthy of being with a man who won’t,” Winfrey said during the episode. “I’ve said before, ‘Love doesn’t hurt, and if a man hits you once, he will hit you again.'”
Follow Chris Witherspoon on Twitter at @WitherspoonC