In perhaps one of the most stunning moments involving a child in tv history since a 3-year-old Tiger Woods sank a putt on the “Mike Douglas show” with an amazed Bob Hope watching, a 7-year-old schizophrenic interviewed Oprah on Oprah Winfrey’s “Oprah” show and got the host (Oprah) to admit that she has as many as seven million imaginary friends.
“Actually, the seven million is down 7% from last year, and I’ve had fewer and fewer friends watching me in recent years,” said a sad Oprah to Jani Schofield, one of the few children who has been diagnosed with a severe case of schizophrenia. Only one in 40,000 children under the age of 13 is diagnosed with schizophrenia, and it’s even rarer to diagnose a child as young as Jani with the disease. Jani lives in an imaginary world called “Calalini” and hallucinates that she sees numerous friends, enemies and animals. Her story and her parents’ struggle to deal with it made for compelling and heart-rending viewing on the “Oprah” show Tuesday.
But startling in its own way was Oprah’s revelation during intense questioning by Jani that Oprah actually believes the millions of people who watch her are her “friends.” With fewer and fewer watching, Oprah says she’s beginning to think she is not as loved as she thought she was.
“What do I have to do? Have my own ‘cash for clunkers’ program and give everyone in America a Pontiac?” said the host of the show that is now in its 24th season.
Oprah took the occasion to point out that sometimes she believes her so-called “friends” are like “Jay Gatsby’s entourage in ‘The Great Gatsby.’ They’re just there for the entertainment. Like when I bring on a one in 40,000-plus guest. Like a Republican precinct captain in Chicago.”
Oprah said she is so troubled now by her dwindling base of friends that sometimes she believes she has only one person she can trust, and that is either zaftig Oprah or svelte Oprah, depending on which one she isn’t at any particular moment.
She added that she plans to talk to Dr. Phil when he appears on the show for the first time in seven years to help boost Oprah’s sagging morale. For his part, Dr. Phil said he would much rather speak to Oprah in private and then abuse the doctor-patient privilege of confidentiality as he did when he visited an overexposed Britney Spears in the hospital and then went public with what he learned from the visit.
“It’s better if I divulge something. It’s more cathartic for the public than if Oprah and I have an open discussion on the air,” said Phil, who added that his primary duty as a therapist is his relationship to his public.
Meanwhile, veteran tv analysts said that the interview of Oprah by the 7-year-old girl will rank as one of the most memorable moments involving children on television. “It’s got to be right up there with the time the 5-year-old boy said to Bozo ‘cram it clown’ during the Grand Prize game,” said the late tv analyst Paul Molloy. “And that didn’t even happen.”
