Oprah Winfrey on Tuesday opened up about her highly anticipated interview with disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong, calling it the “biggest interview” in her career.
During an appearance on “CBS This Morning,” Winfrey said Armstrong, who admitted to doping throughout his career in the interview, “did not come clean in the manner” she was expecting.
“We were mesmerized and riveted by some of his answers,” Winfrey said.
But when asked if the seven-time Tour de France champion was contrite, Winfrey said she’d prefer “not to characterize.”
Winfrey also said she prepared for the interview by poring over the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency’s damning report on Armstrong, as well as author David Walsh’s book, Seven Deadly Sins: My Pursuit of Lance Armstrong. She said she prepared 112 questions, most of which were answered over the course of two-and-a-half hours. Winfrey said arrangements for the interview were made over the holidays while she and Armstrong were both vacationing in Hawaii.
Winfrey told the hosts on CBS that she did not transmit the tapes of the interview over satellite, instead packing them in her bags on her flight back from Austin, Texas out of fear that the content could leak. The interview will air over the course of two nights, beginning this Thursday at 9 p.m. EST on OWN and Oprah.com.
