Dr. Oz, a celebrity doctor, demanded something big from Oprah Winfrey, the same person who helped him achieve celebrity status in Hollywood.

The 61-year-old is running for Senate as a Republican in Pennsylvania, and he just made some embarrassing remarks regarding his political campaign in a private lunch in New York on Thursday.

One of the things brought up was his stance on transgender rights, with the recent controversy over swimmer Lia Thomas being mentioned. She came out as trans in 2019.

According to a leaked audio obtained by Radar Online, Oz responded, "The transgender issue is kind of diluted a little bit."

"The suicide rate amongst transgender adults has grown [inaudible]. This is critical to understand. We have to have compassion for this problem. It is a devastating one."

He went on to say, "And transgender folks who are adults, when they are processing this, have to figure out if they wanna keep living the lie - they don't think they're who they are - or be who they truly are and are [inaudible] because of it. So that's like the baseline."

Turning away from his compassion, the former cardiothoracic surgeon stated that he believes it is improper to provide protection to a group of individuals who may be perceived as endangering the safety of others.

"But then you layer on top of that changes to our society that hurt other people to protect one group of people, and that's not fair. That's not fair."

Dr. Oz also lauded JK Rowling, the author of "Harry Potter," whose contentious remarks concerning the LGBT community have been widely criticized as transphobic.

He then used the point to comment on his relationship with Oprah Winfrey, who helped him become a celebrity for appearing on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" for five seasons.

Then in 2009, Oprah helped him launch his show which won nine Daytime Emmy Awards.

Dr. Oz claimed he recently spoke to his "longtime friend" and asked her not to get involved in his political endeavors.

"I talked to Oprah, she's a friend. And we have friends with different perspectives. And we should! You don't wanna just be in a bubble with people who think exactly like you. That's pretty boring."

He went on to reveal, "I asked her to stay out. 'Don't support me because, if you get involved in any way, you'll get hurt. And I don't want my friends hurt.'"

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Dr.oz, Oprah winfrey