Oprah Winfrey & Maria Shriver on Four Decades of Friendship (October 2021)

Making Space with Hoda Kotb

NBC News

Make Space, Nbc, Motivation, Spirituality, Inspiration, Education, Nbc News, The Today Show, Society & Culture, Self-improvement, Health & Fitness, Today Show, Feel Good, Self Help, Making Space With Hoda Kotb, Making Space, Self Improvement, Hoda, Hoda Kotb, Mental Health, Daily Boost, Today

4.9 • 10.2K Ratings

🗓️ 4 March 2026

⏱️ 45 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Oprah Winfrey and Maria Shriver have shared more than 40 years of friendship, built on loyalty, honesty, and showing up for one another. In this conversation from October 2021, they join Hoda to talk about navigating births, deaths, marriage, divorce, and evolving as people while staying connected through it all. Plus, Winfrey reflects on one of the darkest periods of her life and why learning to cherish the people who stand beside you matters most.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	So have you ever wondered what it would be like to be best friends with Oprah Winfrey?
0:09.5	Now, we all know that Oprah has Gail, but Oprah also has Maria Shriver.
0:16.1	They go back more than 40 years.
0:18.9	Their friendship has endured so many of life's big moments. Love, loss,
0:24.4	birth, death, divorce, even growing older. I'm about to invite you into a conversation so
0:32.4	intimate and reflective, it's kind of like you're out to dinner with the two of them as they look back on their friendship and look ahead too.
0:40.7	Maria and Oprah both spent their lives listening to others share their stories.
0:45.9	And today, kids, we're going to listen to theirs.
0:50.0	I'm Hoda Kati.
0:51.8	Welcome to my podcast, Making Space.
1:13.4	Are this starting now? I think so.
1:15.0	The first of all of me.
1:17.3	Okay.
1:18.1	I just want to say that we both love you.
1:22.1	Yeah, because we've never done this before.
1:24.2	No, I just had to do it because Hoda asked.
1:26.9	Both of us just said yes because it was
1:28.5	you. Well, you. I'm honored. Look, here's my favorite thing right now. I feel like there's like a lot
1:34.8	of friendship in this room. And I'm looking at Maria, I'm looking at Oprah. And I'm just thinking
1:40.8	about like, how would you, Maria, how would you describe your friendship with Oprah?
1:44.9	Oh my God.
1:46.9	Long.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from NBC News, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of NBC News and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.