Oprah Winfreys Lifeclass tour draws thousands to Toronto shows
Media maven Oprah Winfrey walked the red carpet ahead of her first live Canadian broadcast at Metro Toronto Convetion Centre. Winfrey attacted thousands, mostly women, to her Lifeclass, which featured inspirational speakers Iyania Vanzant, Deepak Chopra, Bishop T.D. Jakes and Tony Robbins.
Keith Beaty/Toronto StarLiam Casey Staff Reporter
Women came. Women sobbed. Women conquered.
Thousands of women came to worship at the pulpit of Oprah as her Lifeclass tour came to Toronto on Monday. More than 8,500 came to see the former talk-show goddess, most of them women. They wore their brightly coloured Sunday best, on advice from Oprah herself.
Oprah makes me feel empowered, said Leslie Booker, who had a quiet drive in from Brampton to be first in line at 3 a.m. Her friend Terri Helesic said the same thing, as did scores of others.
Many women said they felt stronger, more! sure of themselves, because of Oprah. They reflected more. They bettered themselves. They wrote in their gratitude journals. Most had trouble explaining exactly how they improved their lives or those of others around them, but were sure they had.
But Cathy Heffernan, who drove in from Sudbury, turned an aha moment into action. Eight years ago, she recalled, Oprah had a show detailing the plight of African children. Heffernan doesnt remember the details, but it inspired her to volunteer for World Vision. Now shes rebuilding a school in Kenya.
She taught me to do something positive for humankind, Heffernan said And we also do a lot of work with pet rescues.
Cindy Sandel used what she learned from Oprah to stand up to the media magnate. She paid $300 for her seat, but by the time she got down to the basement of the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, with most of the room first come, first served, the expensive seats were taken. So she was shunted to the back of the room with the rest of the plebeians.
Oprah told us to stand up for what we believe in, Sandel said. So my sister stood for two hours to get this fixed and we ended up in the seats we paid for.
Oprah was joined by Lifeclass teachers Deepak Chopra, Tony Robbins, Bishop T.D. Jakes and Iyanla Vanzant, who spoke before the main event. All discussed variations of self improvement.
Some thoughts were straightforward.
Angry people have tight sphincters and constipation, Chopra said to the crowd.
Others were more abstract.
Chickens cant fly because they eat the worst stuff, said T.D. Jakes. You think they eat corn, but they dont . . . they eat rocks and, um, their feces. Its gross.
Dont be a chicken, be an eagle, T.D. Jakes.
The crowd cheered and hollered. By the t! ime Robb ins was on stage, the ageless motivational speaker had people clapping their hands, jumping up and down and yelling Yes!
After Robbins put the motion in emotion, Karen Sutton tried to make sense of the scene.
I dont really understand what hes saying, she said between speakers. But I really like his energy.
Near the end of the first show, Oprah greeted her followers throughout the cavernous conference room. But the crowd swarmed her, as security had difficulty fighting off the throng.
One woman yelled This is my dream! as she reached out and touched Oprah, who became agitated as she tried to make her way back to the stage, a procession that took about 20 minutes.
But most left charged, empowered and confident.
And an hour later, another 8,500 would churn through the turnstiles to worship at the Church of Oprah.