LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Cindy Crawford recently recalled an interview with talk show queen Oprah Winfrey from 1986, and which the supermodel now deems “was so not okay really.”
Adding to Winfrey’s woes following the Maui charity debacle, the old interview of the 69-year-old talk show host asking the young Crawford to show off her body is gaining traction.
In the interview, Winfrey can be seen wondering whether the then-20-year-old Crawford always had the perfect figure for modeling, per Daily Mail.
Crawford shared her views about the interview in the newly launched Apple TV+ show ‘The Super Models’ where she along with her peers Naomi Campbell, Linda Evangelista, and Christy Turlington mull over their grueling struggles and glorious career.
What did Oprah Winfrey say to Cindy Crawford?
Though Crawford started her career by working for photographer Victor Skrebneski in Chicago, she later moved to New York in 1986 and signed up with Elite New York Modeling Agency.
In 1986, Crawford was formally introduced to the nation by Elite Modeling Agency representative John Casablancas on ‘The Oprah Winfrey Show’.
The clip from the show has been included in the documentary and it shows Winfrey hearing about a gorgeous new model.
The 69-year-old talk show host then could be seen referring to her young guest, “Did she always have this body?”
She moves on to direct her comment toward Crawford and said, “Stand up just a moment, now this is what I call a BODY.”
The supermodel then nervously complied to her host’s request and stood up to give the world a view of her envious figure.
However, the incident got etched in the memory of the young model as Crawford now recalls feeling like a “chattel or a child,” as she said, “I was like the chattel or a child, be seen and not heard.”
She reminisced at the memory and said, “When you look at it through today's eyes, Oprah's like, 'Stand up and show me your body. Show us why you're worthy of being here.'''
While initially she didn’t realize it, a retrospective look at the video made her understand the problem with the interaction.
She can seen saying in the interview, “In the moment I didn't recognize it and watching it back I was like, 'Oh my gosh, that was so not okay really.' Especially from Oprah!”
Oprah Winfrey’s ‘People Fund of Maui’
Of late, Winfrey has been at the receiving end of internet criticism for setting up the ‘People Fund of Maui’ with Hollywood behemoth Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson.
Through the charity, the duo planned to donate cash directly to the victims of the Maui wildfire.
While they started with an initial joint contribution of $10 million, they came under scathing criticism for not donating the entire amount themselves, per The Hollywood Reporter.
During a recent CBS Mornings appearance, Winfrey defended their decision to create the fund while commenting that the furor was simply taking away the focus from the main issue.
She said, “All the online [conversations] — being slammed, lies, conspiracy theories — really took the focus off of what was the most important thing and that was the people of Maui.”
She added that starting with a joint $10 million felt safe as that would get the ball rolling.
She explained, “I was so excited about it. Then, I got up the next morning, and I saw all of this vitriol, and I was like, ‘Whoa, what happened here?’ So, this is what I want to say.”
Winfrey continued, “I think, in the beginning, so many people were calling asking, ‘Where do we give our money to?’ So, I thought, ‘I’m gonna give people a place to… We’re gonna create something.'”
'Oprah needs to apologize'
One of the netizens castigated the talk show host, saying, "Oprah Winfrey @Oprah is a master of sexualizing women. She was friends with predators Harvey Weinstein, Peter Nygard, and João Teixeira de Faria aka John of God Cindy Crawford calls out Oprah Winfrey. Demanding she show off her body on camera at age 20."
Someone else stood in support for Crawford, "I had countless older women treat me like Oprah treated you and you're right - it was unacceptable objectification - the implicit understanding being that we had to be generous due to being genetically advantaged."
"Oprah needs to apologize," railed someone else.
"Sometimes the stories that get the least amount of press add to the untold and tell more than what is not said," said someone else.
Simultaneously, there were a handful of dissenters who criticized Crawford for her outcry almost after four decades.
One said, "Not making a joke here…some “people” really have validity coming after someone that did them wrong many years ago. But Cindy Crawford being upset with Oprah because she had to stand up and show how stunning she is? She walked runways people! Maybe we should have a day at the."
"Cindy was doing her best to make it as a clothes horse. Why is she complaining now about the exposure she craved?" said someone else.
