Oprah Winfrey Addresses Stanford Grads

Oprah Winfrey was greeted by cheers and high-fives today as she prepared to address Stanford University’s Commencement.

Winfrey — the media mogul who has five times been ranked by Forbes as the world’s most powerful celebrity — told the whooping crowd that she wanted to give them all cars, but instead decided to give two inspirational books.

Winfrey used her speech to talk about dealing with failure, and told the 4,666 graduates that it is important to persevere through bad situations and learn from them.

Winfrey told the story of her Leadership Academy for Girls, a $40 million school she had built in South Africa that was rocked by controversy after opening when 1 of its employees was charged with sexually abusing students.

Winfrey said she was devastated, but that investigating the incident and providing counseling to the students helped her learn from the situation.