Oprah Opens Up About Robin Roberts' Return

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Robin Roberts made her triumphant return to Good Morning America this week after a six-month medical leave of absence and Oprah Winfrey is the latest celebrity to share her admiration for her courageous comeback.

Speaking to ET's Rocsi Diaz at Thursday's ESSENCE Black Women In Hollywood Awards luncheon in Beverly Hills, Oprah -- who was honored with the magazine's Power Award -- said she never had any doubts that Robin would resume her co-anchoring duties on the ABC morning show and knows that Robin drew tremendous strength from her mother, who passed away at age 88 last August.

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"I took my bracelet off two days ago," Oprah said, referring to the "Prayer for Protection" wristband she wore as part of campaign launched by Robin's friends to rally her recovery. "I didn't have any worries about Robin coming back, because her mother's working it from the other side," Oprah said. (Her mother) came back sooner than we all thought -- but you know you can't mess with mama on the other side."

The longtime talk show host and media mogul also commented on Michael Jackson's son Prince Michael's debut this week as a special correspondent on Entertainment Tonight and gave her tips for conducting an entertaining interview. "The secret is to be yourself and to ask your questions that come from what you really mostly want to know, instead of what other people want to know," she said.

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Oprah said she personally found the news about Prince "shocking" and joked about how Michael Jackson himself would react. "Is Michael doing the Moonwalk in his grave over that? He tried so hard to keep (his kids) private, and to keep them protected, and now Prince is on Entertainment Tonight!"

Watch the video for more of Rocsi's interviews -- including chats with fellow ESSENCE honorees Alfre Woodard and Naomie Harris -- as well as Kelly Rowland, who talks about the exciting release of Beyonce's new documentary!

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