Oprah’s secret for dealing with stress: meditation, tequila

Oprah will take tequila over wine. Photo via Harpo

Former queen of talk Oprah Winfrey sat down at Facebook for a web chat to discuss the struggles of her new network and how she deals with stress.

Winfrey was interviewed by Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg at the company’s Palo Alto headquarters, as part of a series that has previously included interviews with singer Katy Perry, Microsoft founder Bill Gates, and President Barack Obama.

According to the Daily Mail, Winfrey confessed that getting her new television network, OWN, off the ground, is presenting some challenges, saying, “It’s a lot harder than I ever imagined. If anybody asks you if you want a network, think about that.”

OWN has been called a “ratings disaster” by some critics, and the viewership numbers are down double digits year-over-year compared to the network it took over, Discovery Health. OWN continues to air some of the same shows that DH did, using them as filler between the network’s original programming.

Winfrey is banking on Rosie O’Donnell’s return to talk on the network in October, and said that O’Donnell is making herself right at home in Oprah’s previous digs at Harpo Studios in Chicago, adding that O’Donnell has even added “a candy bar and a cookie bar.”

She also said there’s a fear that she is “ahead of her time,” but that the audience has a “yearning for something more” that her network hopes to provide.

Winfrey also said she has put out a mandate for all employees at the network to engage in meditation at least twice a day to cope with stress.

Another way to wind down is with an alcoholic beverage, and if you pictured Oprah sipping on a glass of chardonnay, forget it — in a round of “quick fire” questions, Oprah emphatically professed her preference for tequila over wine. She also expressed a love of thin crust pizza over deep dish, crunchy peanut butter instead of bacon, and as far as music, it’s Jay-Z on Tuesdays, and Paul Simon on Sundays.

She also said her “retirement” is a “little more frantic” without the rigid structure of her former daytime show, adding, “I feel a little out of body some days.”