There are a few women that seem utterly infallible, robust and lively. They seem to have an ardent love of life itself and an enthusiasm that seems unfailing. It feels in many ways, happily, that Doris Day will never die, nor will Maggie Thatcher (for very different reasons) and nor will Oprah Winfrey. It is perhaps this larger than life trait that meant both the crowd and her best friend were shocked and upset by the news that she'd had a breast cancer scare not long ago, according to the New York Times.

The media and business mogul took to the stage at her conference filled with 5000 fans and colleagues, primarily to speak about her OWN empire and to address the criticism she's been receiving for the depleting rates and sales since she quit her daily talk show 18 months ago, but also to take the opportunity to share her cancer scare that she'd been through the previous week. Gayle King it seemed, as she welled up, was as unaware of the scare as the rest of the audience, despite being Oprah's best friend. 

The conference moved swiftly on to Oprah defending her empire and talking about the future. However, Janice Peck, author of "The Age of Oprah" said, "I think she's scared, even though she's very, very rich and she's always going to be very, very rich. The possibility of failure, it's quite scary." 

Oprah was very open about her concerns, stating "I worry about the message. I am always, always, always about holding true to the vision and the message, and when you are true to that, then people respond." She also spoke about her desire for a younger audience for her O magazine, given that the current mean reading age is 49. But as she said, staying true to the message, "what we have to say in this magazine about fulfilling your destiny, who you're meant to be, living your best life."