Oprah Winfrey told “CBS This Morning” on Tuesday that Lance Armstrong, on Monday, did confess to her that he used performance-enhancing drugs in what Winfrey said was perhaps her biggest interview she has ever done.
She called the interview “no-holds barred,” “exhausting,” “emotional” and “difficult.” Winfrey said her interview with Armstrong was “the biggest interview I’ve ever done in terms of its exposure” since her 1993 live interview with Michael Jackson.
Winfrey said she was surprised Armstrong “did not come clean in the manner that I expected,” but felt Armstrong “answered the questions in a way that he was ready.”
“I can only say I was satisfied by the answers,” Winfrey said.
When asked if she thought Armstrong had been “contrite,” Winfrey said she will “choose not to characterize,” and people should “make their own decisions about whether he was contrite or not.”
Winfrey said she thought Armstrong was “thoughtful” and “serious.”
Winfrey e-mailed Armstrong about a potential interview, and the two met in Hawaii over the holidays, where they were both vacationing. Armstrong agreed to appear on her show shortly after.
“I stayed over [in Hawaii] an extra two days in order to accommodate his schedule and he came to visit me in Maui,” Winfrey said.
Winfrey’s team has decided to turn the interview into a two-part series. The first part will air on Thursday.
Armstrong had repeatedly denied in the past that he had used performance-enhancing drugs. Armstrong testified, under oath, that he had never doped.
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