April 11, 2010

"He said one night he looked down and saw his white body next to her black body and couldn't take it anymore."

He was John Tesh. She was Oprah Winfrey. According to the new Kitty Kelley book about Oprah, this happened in the mid-1970s in Tennessee. The quote is (obviously) hearsay. Some other woman who dated Tesh served that up to Kelley. Really untrustworthy, because who is she, and what does she have against Tesh, who didn't stay with her? And even if she was utterly accurate about what Tesh said to her, Tesh could have been lying to her, perhaps bullshitting about how her body was better than Oprah's or some such lover's nonsense.

But let's assume Tesh and Oprah were lovers. Oprah has said they went on a date together, so there is probably some connection. What connection? In the years since the 1970s, both Tesh and Oprah have led the "New Age" movement — Oprah by seducing millions of TV-watchers into believing all manner of pseudo-scientific notions and Tesh by composing that innocuous music. Perhaps the music is not so innocuous. Perhaps Tesh has been softening the very brains into which Oprah has planted her noxious seeds. Conspiracy theory anybody? (Crack?)

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Bonus: a slideshow of unlikely celebrities match-ups.

41 comments:

vet66 said...

Tennessee is the "Volunteer State" so the two were probably experimenting with the Peace, Love, Dove sentiment of the time to see if it fit.

The subtle charge of racism that underlies the story belies the context within which the encounter occurred. Barbara Walters enjoyed some experimentation back then as did many others. New Age became old age and the difference between black and white is in the same category as the difference between male and female.

Oft times a cigar is just a cigar!

AllenS said...

How about this observation: without Oprah, there'd be no Obama.

AllenS said...

Without Oprah, there's be no New Age actor jumping up and down on a couch on tv.

WV: ulater

Me now, ulater.

Expat(ish) said...

Unfortunately I have a highly visual imagination so you've just put something horrible into my head. And then the WV for this comment was "puggy" which my brain is trying to turn into a sexual verb. Truly, the day just gets worse and worse. I may have to go watch a Dolph Lundgren movie just to purge.

I know I've accidentally heard more Tesch than I've seen Oprah, but as to which bored me more, I am not sure. At least I know nothing about Tesch's weight, love life (well, until now), politics, wealth and weight. (Did I say weight twice? heh) So there he was up on Oprah.

-XC

Charlie Martin said...

I find it difficult to imagine John Tesh's music having any lasting effect whatsoever.

Unknown said...

.....yawn....

bagoh20 said...

"Conspiracy theory anybody? (Crack?)"

Dual addictions often inhabiting the same people. (Emcee?)

Chip Ahoy said...

I too have managed to avoid both Tesh and Winfrey except by accident, but also Kelly. That her book is being openly black-listed by the media fills me with both glee and despair simultaneously. Where fill means registering on my interest meter all the way to -15.

jvermeer51 said...

Several years ago Kelly wrote a book about the Bushes and was queen on all the MSM talk shows. Now she writes one about Oprah and, I read elsewhere, can't get anything. What could the difference be?

Carol_Herman said...

And, on the other hand ... Elizabeth Taylor is taking husband #9. He's black. She's white. And, Liz loves to be married to men who give her physical comfort.

Why not John Tesh and Oprah? Career-wise, of course, Oprah became much more famous. Now, I think Kitty Kelley claims "she's coming out." I guess some people like everybody. It makes for a bigger marketplace.

Oh, yeah. John Tesh could'a been bragging. So, why not suppose he dished?

KCFleming said...

TESH: "C'mon baby, you and I could make unbeautiful music together.

Ann Althouse said...

"Elizabeth Taylor is taking husband #9. He's black. She's white. And, Liz loves to be married to men who give her physical comfort."

Somewhere Michael Jackson is crying/smiling.

Susan said...

Completely off-topic, but isn't this a picture of you?

http://www.businessinsider.com/5-tips-for-running-more-productive-meetings-2010-4#prepare-ahead-of-time-2

dbp said...

"He said one night he looked down and saw his white body next to her black body and couldn't take it anymore,"

Maybe what he couldn't take was how pasty his body looked when contrasted with Oprah's.

If it was the likely controversy related to cross-racial dating he was concerned with, it seems like he would have phrased it differently. (And yes, all this with the huge grain of salt that he actually lived with her and said what is claimed.) Wouldn't he phrase it more like, "I didn't want to deal with the controversy of dating a black woman, nor did I want to be the kind of jerk who is ashamed to take his lover out in public".

dbp said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

One would hope Ms. Winfrey had better taste, but then I remember, back in the Dim Time at the Dawn of Disco, when I heard my first disco tune and couldn't believe anything that bland had been done by a black group.

Ann Althouse said...

"Elizabeth Taylor is taking husband #9. He's black. She's white. And, Liz loves to be married to men who give her physical comfort."

Somewhere Michael Jackson is crying/smiling.


And Montgomery Clift is sooo glad he's dead.

AllenS said...

Reverse jungle fever.

Fred4Pres said...

I thought the music of Wyld Stallions changed the universe?

Automatic_Wing said...

That's not the way it went down. Tesh left Oprah after finding out that she was seeing Yanni and Zamfir, Master of the Pan Flute, on the side.

Believe me, he was heartbroken.

Fred4Pres said...

As for Kitty Kelly, I thought her suggestion that Frank Sinatra had a priest living in a small chapel behind his home in Palm Springs hired to constantly pray for his soul as one of my favorite false Kelly revelations. Rather Angel Heart that one.

Then there was Frank throwing his dirty underwear at his staff (but knowing Sinatra, that one I actually believe to be true).

As for Tesh, not taking it anymore, it might have to do with Oprah having bigger guns than he had. Llllllllloooola!

William said...

I thought Oprah's dark secret was lesbianism. I find it significant that there are no stories about Elizabeth Taylor and Oprah. This is evidence of how complete the cover up was. Do you suppose that Kitty Kelley was paid for her silence?.....Actually this story reflects well on Oprah. Tesh, in the picture provided anyway, is a very good looking guy. Differences in looks are more important than racial differences. He was a hunk, but she was not a babe. If he was lying next to Halle Berry, I don't think the skin color would have caught his attention so much.....Anyway, the story establishes Oprah's hetero bonafides and makes her a sympathetic victim of racial injustice. Something fishy about this.

From Inwood said...

Ah, but did Tesch vote for The One?

And, BTW, who cares about these people's unthoughts?

Deborah M. said...
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Deborah M. said...
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SteveR said...

Yeah Kelly goes from credible source admired by the MSM for a hearsay filled book about the Bushes to heretic for casting doubt on the Church of Oprah.

Michael Haz said...

"He said one night he looked down and saw his white body next to her black body and couldn't take it anymore,..."

Maybe she just wouldn't shut up.

As for John Tesh, he's become a favorite tar4get for all kind of vitriol since he became an evangelical Christian. His conversion was a form of penance for the music he records.

Anonymous said...

Tesh is a born-again Christian, it's highly doubtful that he considers himself a leader of the "New Age" movement. In fact, if I'm not mistaken, devout Christians reject that movement.

Peter

Andrea said...

Since he was having sex with her (allegedly), I doubt he suddenly became revolted by her skin color. It was probably more likely all the social pressure -- or even more likely, maybe she had already started gaining weight? Men get turned off when the skinny girls they were dating start putting on the pounds.

Trooper York said...

I think a young voluptuous sexually confused Oprah would be damn hot.

Plus you know if he suggested a three way with Gayle she would be totally into it.

Just sayn'

Trooper York said...

Andrea a real man loves a woman with some curves. A little junk in the trunk. Not someone who looks like a ten year old boy.

Trooper York said...

It has long been my experiance that husbands who are obessed with their woman's weight are mo's. Latent or otherwise.

Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Anonymous said...

John Tesh and his wife, Connie Sellecca, are Christians. Maybe he has a New Age reputation from his concert at Red Rocks that was played on PBS a lot.

Didn't the NYT put an excerpt from Kelley's book about Nancy Reagan on its first page?

Peano said...

Inquiring "minds" want to know.

Irene said...

Missing from the slideshow: Keith Olbermann and Laura Ingraham.

save_the_rustbelt said...

Oh no, now I will have a horrible picture in my head forever.

Chase said...

Kitty Kelly is a piece of human refuse -
And how timely - the sermon this morning was on this text:

Here are six things God hates,
and one more that he loathes with a passion:
eyes that are arrogant,
a tongue that lies,
hands that murder the innocent,
a heart that hatches evil plots,
feet that race down a wicked track,
a mouth that lies under oath,
a troublemaker in the family.

Proverbs 6:16 (The Message)

Issob Morocco said...

Just wait until Stedman writes his book, "Gail Force Wins-How I Didn't Realize". He must know some things we don't.

Andrea said...

"Andrea a real man loves a woman with some curves. A little junk in the trunk. Not someone who looks like a ten year old boy."

That's sweet, Trooper York, but not all men are like that, and telling yourself "they aren't real men" only goes so far -- they still have the equipment, you know. In any case, I don't know when Oprah started reaching whale-like proportions -- I don't really follow her career -- but she has many times left "a little junk in the trunk" a long way down the Little Debbie Cake binge highway.

Charlie Martin said...

I think you all are getting confused between New Age music -- characterized by woowoo synthesizers, simple melody, and mind-bruising overproduction -- and New Age spirituality, characterized by woowoo semi-understood Hinduism and half-digested magical thinking.

michaele said...

I remember watching Oprah back in her Baltimore morning show days. She was probably in her mid 20's. She was a bit plump back then and always showed great animated interest when the topic had anything to do with weight loss. So her battle with weight has been going on for a long time.

Maxine Weiss said...

If you never believe a word that I say, I beseech you....BELIEVE THIS:

Everything Kitty Kelley says is above reproach, and whatever she comes up with....you can take to the bank.

Nobody does more research, more fact-checking and more lawyers throughout the processes.

Love,