At 70, the beloved icon and cultural trailblazer is driven by gratitude and a lifelong purpose to uplift others

When Oprah Winfrey appeared on the cover of PEOPLE for the first time, in January 1987, the milestone was not lost on her. “It was nothing I had ever imagined could happen to me,” recalls Winfrey, whose hit talk show had just surpassed Phil Donahue’s atop the national TV ratings. “I was bedazzled.” By any measure, the now 70-year-old icon has been bedazzling the world herself ever since. A cultural trailblazer, movie star, media mogul and global philanthropist, Winfrey is flush with gratitude for her remarkable journey. Most of all, she embraces a lifelong purpose to inspire and uplift others. In an interview for PEOPLE’s 50th anniversary special issue, Winfrey says: “Gratitude really is my religion.”

What did you buy with your first big paycheck?

I was going to furnish my first apartment in Chicago, and I walked into Crate & Barrel. There was a flatware set for $49.95. I did not get it because I still didn’t think I was making enough money to afford a six-piece set. Many years later, I was in a store and somebody was debating whether to get the flatware, and I went to the counter and paid for it because I remember that feeling of not being able to afford it. I love doing that.

You’ve always given back. I very much remember where I come from.

What would you tell your younger self starting out?

“Hold on, girl. Hold on to yourself.” The most important thing is to remain centered so whether you’re on the cover of PEOPLE or not, your identity isn’t tied to what the rest of the world says it is. Being able to not get confused by what the external says about your internal self is the most important thing for anybody who’s going to take the fame ride.

One of the reasons I have remained so centered over the years is because when it happened to me, I’d already been working for a very long time. I’d been in TV since I was 19, and so by 1987 I was already, what, 33? And I had grown up centered in the church and had a really firm foundation of who I was. So I was excited to share myself, my talent, that show with the audience, but I wasn’t really trying to figure out who I was.

At 70, does your outlook change?

No. When you’re grateful for what you have, you end up seeing you have more than you imagine. Start with your breath, and recognize what an absolute miracle it is that your heart’s still pumping. That is a revelation to me every day. I’m grateful for it all.

In those early years, it was Maya Angelou who kept me grounded, the person who kept me absolutely centered. [And] I’ve never been to a therapist because I had so many on the show, but my real therapy came from downloading whatever was happening in the day with Gayle [King] every night. There wasn’t a day that we missed being on some kind of phone call talking about what had happened in our days. I realized years later, talking to an expert about something else, that that was my therapy, that was my release. It was the way I regulated myself every day. I’ve had one of the best friendships anybody could have. So having Maya, having Gayle, having Sidney Poitier before he passed… Those were the people who kept me grounded.

You’ve enjoyed many career milestones, but does the 2007 opening of the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls in South Africa hold a special place for you?

Yes. It’s incredible that these young girls whom I saw something in, that they themselves did not see or feel or know at the time, are now making their way out in the world. It is just one of the greatest rewards of my life.

You have an amazing ability to distill complicated thoughts and feelings so that people can digest them and learn. Where does that gift come from?

Well, when I was a little kid living on a dirt road in Mississippi, I was the one that was always playing the teacher. And if we were playing house, I was the mother. Even if I was the younger girl, I would have to be the mother over everybody else. Some people call that bossy — I just call it, well, I know better, so I should be the one. I would have to say that teaching is my first love.

And the thing that still brings me the greatest level of satisfaction is having a conversation, and in the middle of the conversation, someone discovers something or hears something and says, “Oh, I never thought of it that way before.” I have to tell you, on the Oprah Show, when people actually said that out loud, I would just [cry] because that’s the best thing that could happen. That is what enlightenment is.

What are your hopes and fears for your 70s?

For everybody who’s approaching this stage in your life, your number one concern is your health. I don’t live with a fear of death, but I live with a conscious acknowledgement that it’s possible at any time… I would say that one of the reasons why I can sit in wisdom now, and I literally sit in the wisdom and I make no apologies for it, is because I have paid attention and I am really fully conscious. I’ve been paying attention for a very long time.

When I turned 50, Maya Angelou wrote a poem for me. She says, “I have nothing to give you, but my heart and my words” and she wrote a poem called Continue. One of the most important lines from that poem is, “My wish for you is that you continue to astonish a mean world with your acts of kindness.” And that is what I intend to do. She also says, “I hope that you let gratitude be the pillow upon which you kneel” and that is the way I rule my life. I sound like a broken record, but gratitude really is my religion.