Sherri Shepherd's career was inspired by Oprah Winfrey.
Sherri Shepherd landed her own talk show in 2022
The 56-year-old star landed her own self-titled talk show when she took over Wendy Williams' afternoon slot in 2022 and has now revealed that she always felt she could emulate the work of media mogul Oprah - who fronted 'The Oprah Winfrey Show' from 1986 until 2011 - when she was growing up.
She told US TV show 'Extra': "I looked at her and I was like, ‘That’s me. She’s me, like, we look alike. She’s got the same kind of hair'!
The former 'View' panellist got the chance to make an appearance on 'Oprah' - which is still the highest-rated chat show in US television history - some years ago and recalled being overwhelmed that someone had believed in her at last.
She said: " I just was like, ‘Wow, I wonder if I could do that.’ When she came over to me to talk to me, it just was a dream that I always had. I got so many nos… The fact that somebody, one, believed in me was all I needed!"
Sherri added that she found a "great training ground" in working on 'The View' alongside industry legends but even when she became frustrated that her own dreams weren't coming true, she just "held onto" them until they did.
"I knew that I had something to offer, so I did 'The View' for seven years and that was such a good training ground between Barbara Walters and Whoopi Goldberg. I didn't know what to do, so many people were just saying no. No matter what, I just held onto that dream. I had to put it on a shelf with fine china for a minute but it came back around again. Every day I feel so grateful, I feel like a little girl living her dream."
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Tagged in Oprah Winfrey Wendy Williams Sherri Shepherd