Oprah Winfrey has a deep—and personal—connection to The Color Purple. She credits the Alice Walker novel for giving her hope, and Steven Spielberg’s subsequent film for launching her career. Now, Winfrey has produced a new musical adaptation of Broadway's The Color Purple into a movie, calling it a "full circle moment."

"The Color Purple changed my life forever," Winfrey told Vanity Fair at the film's lavish premiere in Los Angeles on Wednesday. "From the moment I read the book—that was my story. Celie's story was my story. When Celie is writing the letter—‘Dear God, I'm 14 years old, please explain what's happening to me?’—that was my story.” (Like Walker’s protagonist, Winfrey was sexually abused as a child, and she lost a premature baby at age 14.) “I couldn't believe that Alice Walker had actually penned a story about a girl who was going through the same thing that I was going through in my life. Somebody else knew how I felt. I related so much to Celie's story and found hope. The fact that I got to be a part of it, and now a part of ushering it into the world for a new generation, I could not be more proud. This is a full circle moment."

Published in 1982, the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel tells the story of Celie, a poor, black girl in the early 1900s in rural Georgia who is sexually abused by a family member and forced to leave behind her sister to marry a man who beats her. Celie overcomes oppression to find fulfillment and independence. When Winfrey found out the book was being made into a movie directed by Spielberg and produced by Quincy Jones, she was determined to join the production. "I often say that I've wanted nothing in my life more than I wanted to be a part of The Color Purple," the media mogul told guests at the premiere, with Spielberg and producer Scott Sanders by her side.

The opportunity came in 1985, when Jones happened to catch Winfrey on a television show called AM Chicago. Even though Winfrey had no prior acting experience, he and Spielberg cast her as Sofia, Celie's bold and headstrong daughter-in-law. "My life changed forever after that for so many reasons," she said from the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures stage. "Seeing Steven Spielberg had his own studio called Amblin put the idea in my head that one day I could have a studio called Harpo. So I'm telling you, it just grounded me in incredible ways."

Winfrey earned an Oscar nomination for her performance as Sofia, and in 2005, a musical version of The Color Purple debuted on Broadway. The show would be revived in an acclaimed 2015 staging, with Winfrey producing along with Sanders. And in 2018, both Winfrey and Sanders got permission from Spielberg to retell the classic story in a new way for the big screen—after asking him for several years.

“I didn’t really know if The Color Purple had another movie in it until you, and the songwriter, and that cast proved that another iteration could stand on its own, with The Color Purple ’85 version being its context, but not defining it,” explained Spielberg from the stage after Winfrey asked why he finally gave the greenlight. “This had its own definition, and this was relevant for our time for now, for audiences today.”

Spielberg revealed that he was reluctant to direct the original film. "You need a black director for this. That was in 1985, when I said that to Quincy," said the director. "But he said, 'Did you have to be an alien to direct E.T.?' Quincy was very persuasive." Throughout filming the original, Spielberg realized he had made the right decision. "Alice was on the set everyday, and Alice was very quiet on the set. And after every take, I turned to look at her, and her deeply quiet confidence and those warm eyes told me—‘cause this was my first grown-up movie—told me after every take, ‘you did a good job. Keep going,’" he said. "She gave me all the confidence, the assurance."

The 2023 film, which arrives in theaters on Dec. 25, diverges from other adaptations mainly by allowing audiences to delve into Celie's imagination so they can begin to understand her thoughts and point of view. The new movie stars Fantasia Barrino as Celie, Taraji P. Henson as vivacious blues singer Shug Avery, and Danielle Brooks as Sofia, the role that earned her a Tony nomination in 2015. "Watching Danielle Brooks on set as Sofia, making it her own, was deep joy for me," said Winfrey. "There's so much satisfaction to pass it on to her."

Brooks, best known from Netflix's Orange is the New Black, said playing Sofia was a "dream come true that I could've never imagined." She also thanked Winfrey for guiding her and helping her portray the fan-favorite character.

"Oprah's given me so much advice, and she's just poured into me every step of the way. From the minute that she Zoomed me [to tell her she had won the part], she's been holding my hand through this process and I'm very, very, very grateful for that," said Brooks on the arrivals carpet. "And Whoopi [Goldberg, who played Celie in the 1985 film], even when I was on Broadway, she signed something for me that said, 'It's yours now.' I still have it, and that's what I have stood by and lived with too."

When moviegoers watch the new film, Winfrey hopes its message of forgiveness and joy comes across. "Redemption is possible. That joy is forever," she said. "This movie is so joyful, and it will uplift you."