Oprah & John Tesh?
Can you imagine Oprah and John Tesh together? I can't. Apparently though they were quite the item way way back in the day. In her new book, Kitty Kelley says that back in the 1970's when Oprah was just barely out of her teens, she and John Tesh not only were a couple but they lived together in Nashville. Lived together? Really? Yep. Kitty says the couple didn't exactly break up. Instead she has a source who also had sex with John Tesh and what John told her happened was, one night he looked down and saw his white body next to her black body and couldn't take it anymore. He walked out in the middle of the night. ... He told me he later felt very guilty about it."
The source goes on to say that John just could not handle the social pressures of being an interracial couple. In the past Oprah says they had gone on one dinner date as friends. There is a big difference between living together and just having dinner. John Tesh huh?
Uh... the way I understand it, John Tesh is an alien.
ReplyDeleteSo maybe it was the pressure of the being a human/extraterrestrial couple that was getting to him.
I've never heard that they dated until now but apparently it was true. So on that note I'm going to read the entire book. Who knows what I'll find out about Oprah that is true but never spoken about before the tell all.
ReplyDeleteIf this is true...I can't imagine being in a interracial relationship in the south like Tennessee.
ReplyDeleteQuick question is Tennessee considered to be deep south is that just Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and Louisiana.
I don't count Tx, Virgina, or the Coralina's as the deep south...I don't know why.
What is stranger: Oprah and John Tesh or Oprah and Roger Ebert?
ReplyDeleteOprah and Tesh is weirder. Roger Eberts wife now is black. That's prolly just has Roger rolls.
ReplyDeleteDowngrade.
ReplyDeleteShivers.
@ Vanessa - Yep, TN is the deep South, at least IMO, and that's my home state. Also, being an interracial couple in TN isn't so bad....depending on where you are. Of course, that's now, not then.
ReplyDeleteHonestly, I'm surprised I didn't turn out completely brainwashed when I think about my hometown. It's all hellfire and brimstone if you aren't baptist or methodist and you have to drive 30 minutes to get any sort of alcohol besides beer because the county is dry. BTW, can anyone explain how a 'dry' county can sell beer but not wine or liquor? It's always seemed so strange to me.
Anyway, thanks, Mom, for moving me around when I was small so I didn't become indoctrinated. ;-)
@ valerie, I agree, SC is way, way Southern!
It's okay Oprah. I wouldn't admit to hitting that marshmallow, either.
ReplyDeleteIs it April Fools' Day again already? 'Cuz I'm having a REALLY hard time believing this one.
ReplyDeleteEven in the deep south, interracial relationships are not so unusual and hardly anyone calls for the KKK to show up or anything any more. Possibly the Tesh/Winfrey thing was long enough ago that it raised more red flags than it would now.
ReplyDeleteTara, I've never understood that booze thing either. For years I lived in Kansas where you could legally drink beer at 18 but nothing else until you were 21, so there were "18 bars" and "21 bars" and the 18 year olds could come to the 21 bars but had to wear a bracelet so they wouldn't be served anything other than beer. Isn't booze booze? You can get drunk and murderous on either one.
@Tara - wine and liquor are only for fancy people with their fancy (and godless) ways. Beer, however, is god's way. *sarcasm* I never understood that either.
ReplyDeleteisn't it about alcoholic content?
ReplyDeleteabout this item.....i don't buy it.
LOL valerie - my mom was up this weekend (she is wonderful, country as can be and sweet as pie, but VERY set in her ways) and she was talking about she could never own a bar and make money from *gasp* ALCOHOL. For some reason, I got a big kick out of that. She's always talking about how its the end of days too, God love her. ;-)
ReplyDeleteIt's funny because that 'dry' county is full of beer (and moonshine) alcoholics, but I can't think of too many people who plan to drive 25-30 minutes to go buy a bottle of Jack. Oooh, but I do know some people who buy large quantities of Jack, Jim, etc, and sell it for more money to people in the county who don't wanna drive. Hmm...does that mean they are like the guys in prohibition? LMAO
@Syko - It IS weird that you can drink beer at 18, but not liquor. Either one can make you get in the car and crash, killing another person. Lame.
Lol! I had no idea there were states with liquor laws that differentiated between beer and everything else!
ReplyDeleteI have just learned my something new of the day.
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ReplyDeleteTN native here. TN is deep south. Liquor laws have to do with the big shots that make the rules and their righteous indignation.
ReplyDeleteI am in an interracial marriage, and I don't think that I would want to live in my hometown at least. Out and out racism isn't THAT prevalent anymore, but many many people are still racist. Funny enough, the new race to pick on are the "Mexicans" (my husband) and when we went down last time, a guy that runs the Hispanic grocery store said that there are actually almost no Mexicans in the town, they are all from other Latin countries. Fortunate for them because there was a sign on a bar in town that said "no Mexicans allowed."
I think the time that it happened (70s) is more brow-raising than the fact that they were in TN. I kind of admire them for it.
ReplyDelete@Tara: LOL about the dry counties. I became very good at sniffing out the places that would bootleg on Sunday when I traveled through Arkansas and TN.
@ Syd - Yeah, it's a little strange living smack dab in the middle of the Bible Belt. No alcohol sales at stores on Sundays, yet you can purchase beer and mixed drinks in restaurants. I guess they would rather you drink, then drive home on Sundays rather than drink at home where your bible is kept? ;-)
ReplyDeleteBTW...the mixed drinks at restaurants is in the town I live in now. The 'dry' county only served and sold beer.
ReplyDeleteJohn Tesh was behind me in line for fro-yo one day about 10 years ago. That man is freakishly large...with larger hands!
ReplyDelete@chihuahuaense - Wow! You just blew my mind about the sign about Mexicans...that is current?? How is that allowed by law??
ReplyDeleteI grew up in a dry county in TN, too. We could get beer six days a week. Of course one good thing about a tiny country town is that if you know the right people (i.e. the girl working the register at the convenience store) you could buy it when you were 16. Let those big city girls wait til 21!! Good times.
ReplyDeleteI also consider TN the deep south. I was exposed to lots of fire and brimstone, too, but luckily none of it stuck, and I'm a proud heathen nowadays. Interracial couples aren't that big a deal now, but back in the 70s, it would have been pretty tough. I also agree that Mexicans bear the brunt of most of the overt racism around here both from whites and even more so from blacks. The toughest interracial couple where I live would be a black female with a male Mexican. Lots of bad feelings between those two groups.
I don't know who this guy is. But he doesn't look like Oprah's type *L*
ReplyDeleteHave to admit, always had a thing for John Tesh - and even today, I'd hit it and hit it hard.
ReplyDeleteAnd if he were to play the piano for me in a private concert? Oh Gods above, you couldn't hold me back...I'd break chains to get at him.
Is John Tesh still with/married to Connie Sellecca?
ReplyDeleteRyan, that was pretty funny!
ReplyDeleteyep, TN & the Carolinas are Deep South. I live in GA, but have family in NC that are way more "country" than I am. One of my younger cousins was shocked that I had so many black people in my school. I was shocked that she was shocked. It was normal for me.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I grew up in the 70's/80's and I can still remember a lot of prejudice against inter-racial couples. It's much more accepted now, but I know a lot of people that are against it.
ok - this entire post is a learning experience
ReplyDeleteand i dont buy the tesh thing either!
yeah@RQ, but I think word got around and someone made them take it down. Funny story, my brother took me and my husband, his wife, and my other brother and his wife to this back woods country ass bar (don't even BEGIN to ask me why) and there was a guy sitting on the poarch that said "ain't no Mexicans allowed in here" and me and my husband laughed because we thought it was some weird joke. Especially because my husband has been a bartender for damn near 20 years and we were planning on spending some money that night. Anyway, my little brother started lacing up his boots real tight (apparently that's country-boy speak for I am about to fight) and my older brother just stood there stone faced in front of the guy (btw, both of my brothers are over 6'3" and my little one is a former Marine/now a police officer and the little guy was about 142 years old and like a little leprechaun) and then the guy said "okay, just this time" needless to say, when we realized it wasn't a joke, we weren't impressed.
ReplyDeleteI went to school in NE Tennessee and, yes, it is definitely "deep south". As is West Virginia (at least the southern part) which no one mentioned. And the Carolinas, though SC is definitely more "deep south" than NC.
ReplyDeleteAnd I grew up in TX. It isn't a "deep south" state. TX is, and always will be, it's own thing.