most insecure about? What were you also
confident about?
I was most confident speaking in front of other
people. I knew I could talk...because I’d been
doing it since I was 3 years old in the church.
I was most terrified of...not being enough.
Not being good enough, pretty enough, skinny
enough...The thing that made mefeel enough
was being able to stand up in front of people and
speak....I was really confident that my ability
to use my voice and project my voice in front of
people was inspirational enough, was impactful
enough, to make a difference. I could see it.
Fill in the blanks: Only I know that I am...
Only I know that I am at probably the most peace-
ful space I’ve ever been in in my life... because
I honestly feel that I no longer have anything to
prove... .I no longer feel that I’m in a position
that I have to top anything anymore. I really feel
like if I don’t do another thing, it’s okay.
I think I’m really bad at...
I think I’m really bad at confrontational discus-
sions...because I still have that part of me
that doesn’t want to hurt the other person, and
I’m really bad at expressing anger and disap-
pointment....I’m really not good at it.
The thing about myself I’ve learned to love is. ..
This is like therapy! I’ve learned to love the
whole of me....I’ve learned to turn off that
negative voice in my head that complains about
everything....You just are not going to find a
person who has more peace or more joy than I
do. I know everybody’s going, “Well, Oprah, if
I were you, I’d have it too.” I know a lot of rich
people who are not [happy]. I’ve really found
this space within myself where everything is all
right....When I figure out how to write it or ar-
ticulate it in such a way that it doesn’t sound like
I’m trying to be somebody’s guru, I will. Because
I really do wish that for people....The
word is not even joy or peace. This is
the word: contentment....I will tell you
this, when I ended the show, it took
me probably a couple of years before
I could reach this space....For about
two years I was completely off-balance.
Were you depressed?
I was never depressed....I was just like,
“Oh, okay. It’s 7:30, and I woke up when
I heard the birds.”...I just had to figure
out...how do I now kind of create
a life based on what I want?...I didn’t
know what I wanted, so it took me
a while to figure that out.
And now?
I’m good. I’mgood.•and have been used
in gene mapping
and AIDS and
cancer research.
Scientists kept
Lacks’s identity a
secret for decades,
only revealing her
medical contri-
bution to her family
in the 1970s.
Author Rebecca
Skloot set out to
tell Lacks’s tale and
eventually
broadened her
focus to tell the
story of her
children. Her book
became a surprise
bestseller. “To me,
it was not only
about the womanbut what that does
to a family,”
says Skloot, who
bonded with
Lacks’s late
daughter Deborah
while researching
the story. In 2001
Skloot, Deborah
and her brother
Zakariyya visited a
lab to see the HeLa
cells in action.
“That was the
closest thing they’d
ever seen to their
mother being
alive,” Skloot says.
“It was like getting
closure in a really
beautiful way.”Deborah Lacks (left)
withImmortal
Lifeauthor Rebecca
Skloot in ’00.Henrietta Lacks’s
cells are responsible
for decades of medical
advancements.Watch the full
episode ofThe Jess
Cagle Interview:
Oprah Winfrey,
available now on
the newPeople/
Entertainment
Weekly Network
(PEN).Go to
people.com/PEN,
or download the
PEN app on your
favorite device.Henrietta Lacks
was just 30 years
old when doctors
at the Johns
Hopkins Hospital
in Baltimore
diagnosed her with
cervical cancer
in January 1951.
The wife of a
steelworker and
mother of five died
nine months later,
but she left the
world a surprising
gift. Without
her knowledge
or permission,
doctors harvested
samples of Lacks’s
cervical tissue and
discovered her
cells were unique
in that they
reproduced rapidly
and could be kept
alive long enough
for study. The
cells, named HeLa,
helped lead to
advances such as
the polio vaccineHenrietta
Lacks
The Legacy of
52 April 24, 2017 PEOPLE
FROM TOP: COURTESY OF THE LACKS FAMILY; PETER ZAMBOUROS; COURTESY REBECCA SKLOOT