People believe that getting married is one of the steps to make a relationship legal and formal. However, Oprah Winfrey is not one of those people, and marriage is not something she will take.

Out of all famous people in the U.S, Oprah and her long-time partner, Stedman Graham, remained unmarried since 68-year-old educator and podcaster proposed to her in 1993.

However, despite kneeling down, the two never walked down the aisle together and tied knots. They never talked about the reason why in public, but this year, Oprah finally shed some light on this decision she made with Graham.

Marriage Not an Option?

In the February 2020 issue of "O, The Oprah Magazine," Oprah finally unveiled the long-awaited revelation of the reason why she chose to be "low-key" about her relationship with Graham.

The American media executive revealed that when she said "yes" to his proposal in 1993, she immediately faced doubts since she realized she only wanted to be asked, not to be married.

"I wanted to know he felt I was worthy of being his missus, but I didn't want the sacrifices, the compromises, the day-in-day-out commitment required to make a marriage work," the 65-year-old talk show host said. "My life with the show was my priority, and we both knew it."

In addition, she also shared that they both agreed with the set-up, and it is the best decision they ever made so far.

According to Oprah, Graham, who became beyond "Oprah's Man," shared the same values with each other and even manifested their own purpose, helping them to make their relationship stronger even without marriage.

Though they started to practice living together even without formal ties, they knew that they were never required to let people know why they remained unmarried throughout their 40 years of being together. Moreover, the fact that they lasted for almost four decades now only proved that marriage is not necessary all the time.

In the end, she defined their relationship as "spiritual partnership" based on what Gary Zukav stated before about that kind of connection - "partnership between equals for the purpose of spiritual growth."

What Oprah Thought of Graham

Oprah disclosed that even her producers did not like their perception about her now-partner Graham before since he looked like a "player."

She shared that her producers warned her "not to get involve with that Stedman guy" but, aside from his appearance, her colleagues still did not know anything about him. Oprah also recalled how good-looking he appeared as he drove a vintage Mercedes.

Because of that first impression, she approached him with caution even when they started as friends. Months after they took a step up and became friends, she learned that Graham broke up with his girlfriend before he became consistent in asking for her relationship status.

After Graham tried so hard to earn her trust and love, he won her when she finally opened her heart to him. Fortunately, he proved them all wrong by loving Oprah unconditionally for 40 years now.

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Oprah winfrey, Marriage