Oprah Winfrey Talks About ‘The Butler’, Says She Was Scared Of Embarrassing Herself By Returning To Acting

Oprah Winfrey, who was recently honored with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and whose latest movie “The Butler” releases on Aug. 16, was reportedly anxious about returning to the big screen thinking she would embarrass herself.

“It did scare me very much,” Winfrey told the Daily News, regarding her return to acting. “I said to [director Lee Daniels], ‘I just don’t want to embarrass myself.’ Lee said, ‘You won’t, trust me!’"

"I said it was me I have to trust,” Winfrey said.

According to the New York Daily News report, Winfrey doubted herself after her previous film “Beloved”, which released in 1998, failed at the box office and was considered a flop. Reportedly, she was depressed for a long time after the movie bombed, earning $22 million.

“I remember sitting at home the Saturday after it opened, and being told, ‘We’ve lost,’” Winfrey told the Daily News. “I said, ‘Is it over?’ ‘Yeah, it’s basically over.’”

“I mourned that for a looong time. I went into — I wouldn’t say severe depression, but I could tell that this sadness I was feeling had sort of taken me over. I felt like I was behind a veil. I had literally said to myself, ‘If I am depressed, who am I going to talk to?’”

Winfrey's disappointment stemmed from the fact that her performance did not enjoy the same success she experienced in the 1985 flick, “The Color Purple,” for which she won an Academy Award nomination.

In “The Butler”, where Winfrey acts as the on-screen wife of Forest Whitaker’s character -- a butler in the White House who has served eight Presidents -- the talk show host is once again set to enjoy success, as nearly every movie critic has praised her acting skills.

Katey Rich of Cinema Blend reviewed the movie and praised Winfrey saying “Oprah brings some much-needed levity-- and eventually high drama-- to the film.”

As of Monday, Rotten Tomatoes, the movie review aggregator, rated the film, which is set in the backdrop of the civil rights movement, an 86 percent based on 14 reviews.