Ariel
(The Little Mermaid)
OPRAH: So when you struck the deal with Ursula to go to land, were you silent or were you silenced?
ARIEL: … the latter.
OPRAH: Wow.
ARIEL: My knowledge of sea witches was minimal at that time, I didn’t know what I was getting into and I hadn’t done any research until it was too late. And my biggest regret is believing that Ursula had my best interests in mind. I thought I’d have protection, but that wasn’t the case.
Cinderella
(Cinderella)
OPRAH: There were these stories that you made Drizella clean your house. Is that true?
CINDERELLA: No, actually, it was the reverse.
OPRAH: It was the reverse? So she made you clean her house?
CINDERELLA: Yes.
Rapunzel
(Tangled)
OPRAH: I think a lot of people have this false perception of royalty. Can’t a princess do whatever a princess wants to do?
RAPUNZEL: You have to understand, I couldn’t just get up and go. They took my passport and driver’s license, and when I would ask to do something like get lunch with my friends, Mother Gothel would say that it wasn’t a good idea, that I was too oversaturated in the press. And I would say, how could I be oversaturated? I haven’t left this tower in 18 years.
OPRAH: What?
RAPUNZEL: Exactly. And for all that time, I was being stunted by her, so it feels good to finally find my voice, especially because it’s Mandy Moore’s.
Snow White
(Snow White)
OPRAH: Do you think the Daily Mirror played a role in your expulsion from the royal family?
SNOW WHITE: Absolutely. The Mirror was the one telling the Evil Queen that I was the fairest in the land every day, which was why I had to leave.
OPRAH: Did you blindside the Queen?
SNOW WHITE: I don’t think so, being that she was the one who banished me and tried to have me killed twice. I do think she was blindsided by the fact that I evaded those attempts both times, though.
OPRAH: Wow. And did you have anywhere to turn to in the palace about this mistreatment that you were facing?
SNOW WHITE: Honestly, no. In my old job, we had a union, it was me and seven other workers, and off to work they’d go. But there wasn’t any kind of structure like that within the palace to take grievances to.
Jasmine
(Aladdin)
OPRAH: What was your family’s reaction to you wanting to marry a peasant like Aladdin?
JASMINE: I was cut off financially. We had no security, no protection. Luckily, we were able to use the genie’s powers to wish for a Netflix production deal.
OPRAH: Why do you think your father drew such a hard line?
JASMINE: There’s a structure of royal advisors within the firm, and what really saddens me is that the Sultan was getting a lot of advice, and a lot of that advice was really, really bad. Particularly the advice he was taking from Jafar, as well as a talking bird, which was very confusing to me.
Aurora
(Sleeping Beauty)
OPRAH: Why you? Why were you the one condemned to this potentially eternal slumber?
AURORA: Well, that’s a great question, Oprah, and I wish I knew. It was a curse that was put on me as a baby before I could have even understood what or why it was happening—
OPRAH: What? Who is casting that enchantment?
AURORA: I don’t want to reveal who specifically did it, as I think it would be very, very damaging to them.
OPRAH: Was it Maleficent? It was Maleficent, right?
Tiana
(The Princess and the Frog)
OPRAH: What was your experience like being the first Black Disney princess?
TIANA: Well, I had hoped that it would be a good representation for women of color, but it turned out that that was only true if the color was green. They turned me into a frog for the whole movie.
OPRAH: What?
Elsa
(Frozen)
OPRAH: Explain to people how you, someone raised in a palace and born to enormous privilege — literally a princess — how you were trapped?
ELSA: Well, quite literally after our parents found out about my powers, I was confined to a closed palace and remained in my room. And while I recognize the privilege of my upbringing, I have sought other kinds of experiences as well. For a brief time, I worked at a frozen yogurt shop called Humphrey Yogart. It was just a regular yogurt shop when I started, but you know…
OPRAH: Do you think there was a double standard for you instead of Anna because of the magical powers you possessed?
ELSA: I think that the people of Arendelle really wanted a narrative of a hero and a villain. And when my powers were revealed, I was the one branded as a monster and forced to flee my homeland.
OPRAH: Where did you go?
ELSA: Fortunately, I was able to stay at Tyler Perry’s house.