Oprah and Stedman Are Reunited After His 14 Day Quarantine at the Guest House

From Oprah Magazine

• After kicking off a new Apple TV+ series about the coronavirus called "Oprah Talks," last week, Oprah joined Oprah Magazine's digital director Arianna Davis.

• In the interview on Instagram Live, the media mogul shared how she's been holding up while social distancing—including what she's been reading, watching, and eating.

• During the chat, Oprah also revealed that Stedman is quarantining in their guest house—for an important reason. Now, two weeks later she's sharing he's finally done quaranting; watch their reunion below.

The entire world is in various stages of adjusting to the new normal of social distancing to help stop the spread of the coronavirus pandemic. And yes, that includes Oprah Winfrey.

Last week, Oprah joined me for an Instagram live over at @oprahmagazine so we could check in on what social distancing looks like for her—and just like the rest of us, it's made up of lots of reading, binge-watching, and pancakes. As she chatted from her kitchen in Santa Barbara, it was the picture of domestic bliss: While Thando and Sadé—two of her "daughters" and graduates from her school in South Africa—heated up leftovers for lunch (pasta primavera, in case you were wondering), her dog Sadie barked cheerfully in the background.

But there was one person missing: Oprah's longtime partner, Stedman. And that's on purpose, according to our O of O. After several recent flights and some business travel, the couple decided that Stedman should quarantine separately.

"He's at the guesthouse, because you all know I had pneumonia late last year...I had just gotten off of antibiotics last week, because I had a bronchial infection," Oprah explained, adding that Stedman was "one of those" who was "late to the party" about understanding just how serious this global pandemic had become. "'I don't see what everybody's getting so upset about!' That's what Stedman was saying...and that's why Stedman's at the guest house!"

Now, to clarify, Stedman does not have the virus, but Lady O said she would rather be as cautious as possible. "Stedman did not arrive from Chicago until Thursday, he had been speaking in St. Louis...he'd been on planes, so Stedman is like 'What's the procedure for coming home?' The procedure is...you ain't coming and sleeping in my bed! And literally, he goes, 'I'm not?' And I go, 'Have you not been paying attention to the news? Social distancing does not mean you go and sleep in the same bed with the person! When you just got off American Airlines!'"

Watch the full Instagram Live interview below:

But there's no need to worry about Mr. Graham; Oprah says the author and entrepreneur was more than happy to keep the distance between them to protect her health, and she and her girls have been bringing him breakfast and dinner daily, in addition to "love chats" that she has with him from outside the window. "My friends say 'Oh, isn't Stedman upset?' He's really not. He's happy to keep me safe."

Later, Oprah sent us some video updates. The first was from her window at her "honey" walked by the window, calling up cheerfully that he's "locked down," adding with a laugh that he's walking and talking to himself as Oprah called down "nice to see ya!" She then added that later that day, she and her girls would come pick Stedman up for a walk. "We can walk behind or in front!" And the next day, she even dropped by the guest house with some homemade banana bread, which she dropped off at the doorstep, to her love's excitement.

Now, over a week later, we've got some good news: As Thando and Sadé hilariously sing "Prepare for your freedom, today!" Stedman leaves the guest house to reunite with Oprah for a big hug. After, they took a "short walk to freedom" to have their first dinner together—in two weeks! A clearly thrilled Stedman joked, "Free at last...thank God almighty...free at last."

In our interview, Oprah also made it clear that if there is one thing she is not feeling during this social distancing period, it's bored. "I'm never bored, because I always have myself. I never feel alone, have never felt alone, because I just love being with myself," she told me. "So this is more time to be with myself without the guilt. Usually it's like, you're with yourself but everybody wants to be someplace else. But there's nowhere to be!"

But she does think everyone, herself included, should be making more time for loved ones during this period, which she's been doing by watching shows with her "girls"—including season 3 of The Crown and Netflix's new series Self-Made about Madame C.J. Walker—plus reading potential selections for Oprah's Book Club and FaceTiming with friends and family.

She's even taken to having "cocktails on the porch" with her friend and journalist Maria Shriver. And on Saturday night she went to a party...sort of. After her friend and former The Oprah Winfrey Show producer Dianne Hudson texted her about a virtual "Club Quarantine" dance party hosted by DJ D-Nice, Oprah joined the jam session with some other big names.

"Right after Michelle Obama came in, I had gone in. And then Joe Biden came in! And then Rihanna came in! And somebody said, 'We need tequila shots!' So I went and made some tequila shots!" Oprah told me, adding that she plans to interview the DJ for one of her upcoming "Oprah Talks" episodes on Apple TV. "I just thought that was one of the great ways of getting all of us together."

Of course, social distancing isn't all about binge-watching and virtual dance parties. Oprah says that, in addition to gathering together as many voices as she can to keep people informed throughout the coronavirus pandemic on Apple TV+, she's also looking for ways to use her "access and advantage to help other people." For now, she's started with researching food banks that will deliver to people's homes. "I'm trying to figure out for myself where's the best place I can be of service and useful to everyone else," she said.

She also had some wisdom for anyone wondering what this moment means for our humanity right now.

"You will come out stronger if you choose to come out stronger," she told me. "You will come out stronger if you actually get the lessons from it. If you think it's just about a virus...it's not. It's about the forces of life trying to tell us about ourselves. Whatever it is you're feeling, it's because you're supposed to be feeling it. Whatever this is putting you through, you needed this moment, and it was the only moment that could bring us to this realization. I'm looking at it from the bigger picture."

And with that, our virtual check in was over. After a goodbye bark from Sadie, Oprah signed off to get back to her primavera pasta leftovers. And hopefully, she dropped off a plate for Stedman, too.

Check in daily over at @OprahMagazine on Instagram for more of our "check-ins" with faces you might recognize.

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