Oprah Winfrey

Oprah Winfrey covers The Hollywood Reporter’s annual “Rule Breakers” issue – which is dedicated to stars who played by their own rules, and succeeded.

Here’s what the 58-yr-old media mogul had to share about the recent surge in “ratings of her OWN cable network, which debuted two years earlier to a deluge of headlines about weak programming, management shake-ups and its honcho’s dwindling influence.”

“I’m not doing the hula yet …but compared to a year ago, it feels like a sigh of relief… “Part of my own expectation was, ‘You’ve had 25 years of success; people will leverage that,’ ” But we didn’t account for people not having the channel, and not knowing how to find it, and the cable audience being different from broadcast.” More >

Oprah rocks a white Escada pants suit and a red Jil Sander coat for a feature in the November 2012 issue of Harper’s Bazaar. Check out the highlights from the interview below.

On her decision to start OWN: ”"This is the deal, when you have reached the peak of a mountaintop, which is where I was with the Oprah show, you have absolutely no worries. I’d been in the right space at the right time, and I’d done that in the best way possible for 25 years. But you have two choices: You can come down from the mountain and spend the rest of your days thinking it was so beautiful there, or you can create a vision, look upward, see the next mountain, and start the climb all over again.”

On the mistake of assuming that old viewers would automatically jump to watching OWN: “Now I wish that I’d come down just a little bit. I ask myself, ‘Why couldn’t you just take three months off?’”But she didn’t. Why? “Because I was already in it,” she answers bluntly.

On the initial problem with OWN: “What was missing from OWN was me. It required my full-on energy. You know, this past year has been challenging, but it’s also been one of the greatest experiences for me getting to know me. What do you do when you don’t have the wind at your back?”

On her personal mission the empowerment of others: “I come from a history of people who had no opportunities at all, and I carry that with me.” For her, daring means “coming to the edge. Seeing the space between where I am and where I want to go. It’s pretty wide! But having the faith to take the leap anyway and knowing that no matter where you land, it’s going to be okay. And I feel really good that I did.”

Of if it’s possible to separate the two her heart from her brand: “No, I’ve never been divorced from it. Every decision that I ever made came from the heart of me, and that’s what created the brand, you know? I used to resist this whole idea of being a brand. Because I was like, I’m not a brand, I’m just a person. But now I accept that. It’s everything that I value.”

On trying to live up to her motto, “Live your best life:” ”I’m a work in progress when it comes to practicing my most famous motto. Like this morning, I had the intention to meditate for 20 minutes, but I really only made it about 12. And then I said, ‘Okay, don’t beat yourself up; you did the 12.’ I had the intention to work out for an hour, but I only did a half. And even with that I was still a half hour later getting here, so…”

On working with with Nicole Kidman’s acting coach, Susan Batson for Lee Daniels’s upcoming film The Butler: ”[it is] the best therapy ever. I was literally in a coaching session with her and just crying my heart out. Thinking about, you know, a boyfriend from when I was in my 20s. That bastard!”

On her guilty pleasures: Oh, I’ve got all the Shades, for the time I can take some guilty pleasure and just read. But I’m thinking, Stop with the story, get to the juicy part!”

On her greatest indulgence: “Bathing is my hobby. I love creating bathing experiences—bath gels, bubbles, crystals, salts, lavender milks…” Does she go prune? “Oh, yeah! I go prune. I go waaaay prune. I’ve gone to sleep.”

[Harper's Bazaar]