Oprah Winfrey speaks to grads
Oprah Winfrey advised graduates at Skidmore College to follow their “inner truth” and live a spiritual life during a commencement speech Saturday in upstate New York.
The author, actress and former talk show host spoke at the graduation in Saratoga Springs, where one of the more than 600 members of the Class of 2017 included a student who had attended her Leadership Academy.
The media mogul opened the academy in 2007 for poor girls in South Africa.
After receiving an honorary doctorate of letters in the arts from the private liberal arts college, Winfrey lectured graduates on some of the secrets to her success.
“I have been so blessed to live inside the dream of God,” she said, noting that she has learned to follow her “inner truth” in career decisions going back more than three decades.
“It’s a big, bad world out there,” she advised, but encouraged the graduates by adding: “There is nothing more powerful than you using your personality to serve the calling of yourself.”
Vanessa Bayer leaving ‘SNL’
Saturday Night Live is losing cast member Vanessa Bayer following this weekend’s season finale.
Bayer is finishing her seventh season with NBC’s comedy institution, and her memorable impressions include Miley Cyrus, Rachel from Friends and Jonah the Bar Mitzvah Boy. She’s been with the show longer than any other female cast member.
Another veteran cast member, Bobby Moynihan, is also leaving.
Lena Dunham cancels tour
Lena Dunham is canceling her feminist newsletter’s “America IRL” tour this summer to tend to her health.
Dunham said Friday in a post on LennyLetter.com that recent surgery and physical therapy to treat endometriosis has caused “the greatest amount of physical pain I’ve ever experienced” and that she isn’t up for the cross-country tour.