Dr. Phil doesn’t forget kindness.
This week, the TV personality appeared on “The Kelly Clarkson Show”, and the host asked him about a story she’d heard involving Oprah and thank-you letters.
“You know, Oprah and I met in the late ’90s, when she was in trial and I was on the trial team. Then I started doing the show, and then started doing the show a lot, and then we launched the show,” he recalled. “It really changed my life.”
Dr. Phil continued, “I had a great life when I met her, and I’ve got a great life now, but she changed a lot of things and it’s just been really important to me every year to stop, sit down and write her a letter and say, ‘Thank you for the impact you’ve had on me and my family.'”
He added, “I’ve done it every year for 25 or 26 years.”
The daytime mainstay then shared something that Oprah had once told him, which was very meaningful to him.
“The first time I launched a book on her show, I sent her a huge flower arrangement and a thank-you note and stuff,” Dr. Phil said. “I think she had been on the air 17 years at that point, and she called me and said, ‘All the things I’ve done, all the books and stuff, this is the first time anybody’s said thank you.'”
“What?” a shocked Clarkson replied.
“The first time anybody’s ever said thank you,” he repeated. “And I though, Wow, that’s hard to believe. Now I’ve had my show for 20 years, I understand what she means.”
Dr. Phil then added, “I’ve got this value: Don’t forget who brung you to the dance, and I’ve never let her think I forgot who brung me to the dance.”