Super Soul Special: Tracy Morgan: What His Near-Death Experience Taught Him About How to Live
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My dad works in B2B marketing. He came by my school for career day and said he was a big ROAS man. Then he told everyone how much he loved calculating his return on ad spend.

I'm Oprah Winfrey. Welcome to Super Soul Conversations, the podcast.

I believe that one of the most valuable gifts you can give yourself is time. Taking time to be more fully present. Your journey to become more inspired and connected to the deeper world around us starts right now.

There's an old saying that laughter is good for the soul. For Tracy Morgan, laughter literally saved him. It was a gift, he believes, was given to him by God. Being funny was the key that freed him from a home life wracked by addiction and the loss of his father. He says it was his gift for comedy that took him out of the housing projects all the way to the height of fame and success. And then that gift, that light, was almost snuffed out.

On June 7, 2014, Tracy, along with six others, was traveling home from a stand-up performance. At 1 a.m., their van was struck from behind on the New Jersey Turnpike by a Walmart tractor trailer and overturned. Tracy's friend and fellow comedian, Jimmy Mack, was killed. Tracy was rushed to the hospital in critical condition, where he would remain in a drug-induced coma for nearly two weeks.

So you have the greatest story to tell because you're one of the, I think, one of the blessed ones. Anybody who's been able to live and go to the other side and come back, you have the greatest story to tell. When you're in a coma for eight to 10 days, you're basically knocking on the door. Yeah, you're knocking on the door. I can remember. I don't know if I was in the coma or in and out of the coma. I just came. But I remember just having like-- just I was talking to my dad.

He had this green -- this green thing on. I just remember him saying, "I'm not ready for you, son." -Really? -And I started crying so hard. I was crying hard, probably harder than I cried at his funeral. And I just kept saying, "Dad," 'cause he was my best friend in life. -Mm-hmm. -And I just kept saying, "Dad." Then I remember my wife and my daughter just being alive. -Mm-hmm. -And I just -- It always confused me about what was that. -Yeah. -I just -- No, I wasn't ready. My dad was like, "I'm not ready for you, son."

You could see him clearly? You could hear him clearly? I see his face and I was crying so hard. I was just talking to him. So did you have what-- you know, I've talked to lots of people, Tracey, who say that they were out of body, they saw the light, they went through the tunnel. I mean, everybody's experience that I've talked to is different. Well, I don't know about no light. Don't know about no light. I might have been the police or something. But I just-- I remember that vision with my dad. My wife, like, when I first came out to rehab,

My wife said I stayed upstairs in the bed for two weeks. But I don't remember none of that stuff. Don't remember it. I don't remember the accident. I don't remember none of that stuff. I basically just started remembering stuff like five months ago. You know what is interesting? A friend of mine just lost a cherished family member. And it was a surprise.

in the middle of the day, and he said, "You know, today just started out like an ordinary day." So when you all were in that van, it was just an ordinary day, right? It was an ordinary day. I remember two days before that, I called Jimmy Mack. I said, "Yo, Jim, I got a show in Delaware. I want you to be there." He had a brand-new joke for me, and he said, "I'll be there. I love you. Peace." So he came over to the house,

We got in the SUV and we left. And as we were leaving down the block, Megan was coming down the block with the baby and the trainer. We both waved goodbye to them. And we went to Delaware. Yeah. But the trauma is that if you know Tracy Morgan, I take my wife, my daughter everywhere I go. But that particular day, Maven, my baby, was 11 months old. And she's teething.

So I told Megan the night before, I said, "Stay home with the baby. She's teething. I'm gonna go to Delaware. I'm gonna be funny. I'm gonna come back. I'm gonna come right back and look what happened." So when I first came home, I was like this with them. And we would have arguments 'cause I was like this. I was so scared something was gonna happen to them.

I was so scared because I didn't know. Even though they were not in the car. Trauma. That's what it did to me. Yeah. You don't even want to go there. She wouldn't have survived, and the baby probably wouldn't have survived. And I just couldn't get over it. And she had to keep saying, Tracy, we're here. We're here. We're fine. We're here. Yes.

When you came out of the coma, did you immediately know, did they tell you immediately that Jimmy was gone? -No. -Did you understand what had happened? No. He was gone three weeks, and then my wife leaned over the bed one day and said, "We laid Jimmy to rest." And I live with that to this day 'cause I asked them to be there. It was my tour. And I asked them all to be there, and I just thank God that Walmart stepped up and took full responsibility.

So Walmart, I read where you said Walmart did right by you. Not just by me, but for everyone that was in that car, even Jimmy Mack's family. And I know my friend, my buddy, could rest in peace now. I know it. Did right by me, by you, meaning that you don't have to worry about working or taking care of your family. I don't have to ever worry about that. Don't have to worry about that. But for me, I'd give it all back if Jimmy Mack could come back. Because I love him and I miss him.

I miss him a lot, and the rest of my career is dedicated to him.

How does something like this, something like this, Tracy, can either break you or fortify you? And 18 months out, I mean, when we all saw you, all of your colleagues in that room stood and rose. Our community. Your community stood and rose to embrace you. What did that feel like? And you said, I miss you all. To see Uncle Jay and Jon Hamm and Tina Fey...

and Jon Stewart and Kimmel, just to see them, Lorne Michaels, just to see them, just happy to see me alive. Forget about the comedy. We're just happy you're here. We're just happy you're here. It's something, it's like some, it's humanity. It's like meeting someone or crossing paths with someone or knowing someone. Did you know? And then they're not here no more. I got that. But did you know before this happened how loved and supported you were

Could you feel that love before this happened? I felt it. I just felt that people loved the comedy. But now I feel the goodwill and the love, like people generally happy for me that I survived. They were really, really people.

It's just like, thank God you're alive. People that you never know is just incredible. Yeah, and isn't that interesting because I know so many comedians who feel like they've got to be funny to be valued, that it's all about the joke and it's all about how funny can you be and you're always thinking about the next joke. So was this a revelation to realize that you could be so loved? I feel like I tapped into something.

I feel like I tapped into humanity and love. I really feel like I tapped into it. It's like you tapped into it. And now people just love you. I mean, when I first came out the hospital, the first time I ever left my house, it was just people crying, hugging me. And it was weird to me, but it felt good. Felt good. People really care. People care. And it just made me have this new belief in people again.

That's profound. One thing, I'm never going to take that for granted again. I'm here. And when you look at it, the wreckage, you go, no way in the world I was supposed to walk away from that. It's like a second chance. When you saw the wreckage for the first time? For a whole year, I sat on my chair like this in my house, and my wife would tell you, every day he'd look at the wreckage. That was a part of my therapy, just looking at it. I would look at it for hours.

Because someone took a video, right? There were people passing by just crying, screaming. And how have you reconciled with the driver of that tractor trailer? There are many layers of forgiveness. The first thing I had to do was learn to forgive myself. I couldn't do comedy anymore if I didn't.

And that's when I knew I was ready to go back to work. What were you actually forgiving yourself for? Asking everyone to be there to help me. Jimmy Mack, for Artie, for Jeff, for the two drivers, Tyrone, for all of them. And like I said, there are many different layers to forgiveness. You're not there to forgive the driver yet, or are you? I'm working towards it. I pray. I just ask for the strength.

An investigation determined the driver of the tractor trailer, Kevin Roper, was driving more than 20 miles over the speed limit and had been awake for over 24 hours straight. Walmart settled with each passenger for an undisclosed amount. Kevin Roper was charged with first-degree aggravated manslaughter, vehicular homicide, and eight counts of aggravated assault in varying degrees. Why do you need to forgive him?

Because he was sleeping. Because my thing is, you don't think it was intentional. You don't think it was intentional that he hit your car. I don't think anyone gets in a car and says, I'm going to kill someone this morning. Right, right, right. He didn't mean to do that, I guess. But nonetheless, it was bad judgment. Yeah.

So your friend, comedian Sherrod Small, wrote an essay about your resilience despite the, he called it the deck of cards. I love Sherrod. Yeah. Sherrod said this, life deals each of us a different hand to play. Tracy's deck included being raised on the tough and dangerous streets of the Bronx and Bed-Stuy.

Having a sibling born with cerebral palsy, watching a parent struggle through drug addiction and post-traumatic stress disorder, having his parents separate, losing one parent to AIDS, becoming a drug dealer himself in a desperate attempt to overcome poverty.

developing a drinking problem, undergoing a kidney transplant, one failed marriage and being critically injured in a car accident. Sherrod then asked, "What kind of poker face would you put on through all of that?" If you're Tracy Morgan, you don't. You open your soul genuinely to the world and embrace everything that comes with it. He know me. - Mm-hmm. - Sherrod know me. - Have you done that? - Yeah. - Have you done that? - Yeah.

I share. I share. I share. I've been through it. And he says that it was your authentic spirit that helped you overcome this sorrowful childhood. Is that how you see it? That's how my dad was. That's how he overcame Vietnam. He's a good man. And he came back traumatized. Yeah. From Vietnam. But he always took care of his responsibility, which was his kids. I mean, he had-- he picked up some bad habits.

And I guess my mom did what she had to do. But he was always in our lives. And I remember just listening-- You ran away from home at 11, right? At 11. I didn't want to be a statistic like the rest of my friends. Yeah. Are your ulcerative colitis symptoms proving difficult to manage?

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Before treatment, your doctor should check you for infections and TB. Tell your doctor if you have an infection, flu-like symptoms, or if you need a vaccine. Ask your doctor if Tramfiya can help you manage the cycle of UC symptoms. Call 1-800-526-7736 to learn more or visit tramfiyradio.com.

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LinkedIn, the place to be, to be. So at 11 years old, tell me what kind of boy you were. 11 years old. I knew at that age, I knew right from wrong. I knew where I was. I knew I was in a tough situation at 11. I knew I didn't want to end up a statistic because at that age, people around me were dying my age. I was scared of that. I had fear, but I knew when I ran away from home,

I knew, and I slept on the A train for two nights. At 11? I knew when to sit next to an older black woman to make like she was my mom. So nobody would mess with me. I knew when to sit across from the conductor. And I knew where to go to sleep in the alley. Only reason why I went to my dad's house is because kids kept making fun of me of wearing the same clothes. So I knocked on his door one day. This is after he was separated, obviously, from your mom. Knocked on his door and said, Dad, it's me.

Yeah. He had to deal with having an 11-year-old son now. Because he was just beginning to get clean off of that stuff. So-- What drug was he on? Was he on heroin? - Heroin. - Heroin. He went to Vietnam. He didn't go to Vietnam that way. Yeah.

-He came back that way. -Yeah. When did you know that comedy was a way out? -My dad was funny. -Yeah, your dad was funny. He was Richard Pryor funny. -He was Richard Pryor. -He did it in Vietnam. -Wow. -He was funny, so... I was-- I didn't really stay under my friends. I stood-- I, like, hung out with my dad and his friends.

The conversation between his friends and him were more stimulating. I couldn't learn nothing from my friends. They knew what I knew. But I could learn from my father and his friends. And he was funny. He was funny. I remember when he came to the projects, everybody came out, because Jimmy's here. Jimmy's here. And he would start snapping on people and ranking on people. And I remember him sitting me on his lap at four. He said, say to Boo Boo, he said, say your mother this and that. And I said, I said, yeah, I'm

And everybody started laughing. And I liked that. And that's how far back it went. It was my dad. So... Who led you to that stream of comedy. No, after the running away and all of that, I got to high school. And that's when I started to hone in on my comedy. Me and my friends on the football team joking on each other. And I learned then that if you made the girls laugh, you get the girls. Ha ha ha!

And then when I got out of high school, it turned into a business. So tell me, I read that-- I learned a business from Martin Lawrence. Martin Lawrence. But is it true that a drug dealer took you to your first comedy club? Yes. Yeah. Yes. So how did you-- There was Mike. How did you get into drug dealing?

-Uh, in the '80s was rough. -Yeah. In the '80s was rough. I'm a part of the lost generation. And my generation, crack and AIDS took a whole generation out. -Yeah, absolutely. -So if-- If you was either using it or you was selling it, either way, you got swept up in it. And I got swept up in it. How old were you when you were selling it? -15, 16. -15, 16. -15, 16. -So how did you get out of it? Family. Uh, my first wife got-- Sabina and my sons, and she was the one that was my first fan.

Because of that responsibility. Yeah, she took me out of that. She took me out of that I had sons and that my sons and my wife I said, you know, I can't do this I can't do this So I'm in one day she found it and she said if you don't get this out of my house I'm gonna call the police on you and that was end of it. Really? That was in that's all it. That's all the video That's just like I stopped drinking. I stopped its willpower. That was it. I

I was getting in trouble. I had a bad relationship with alcohol. Two DUIs and Tina Fey one day and Alec Baldwin, it was the second year of 30 Rock, they said, "Dude, you gotta straighten up. You on 30 Rock, you gotta straighten up." And that was it. That was it. I know what it got me. I know what drinking and all that stuff got me. 'Cause you were drinking in the first couple of years of 30 Rock. You were still drinking. I became Tracy Morgan. I became this star. Yeah.

And I started hanging out. And I started leaving my first wife at home. And when I looked up emotionally, she was gone. It was over. So I know what it got me. I know what I lost because of it. And that's not going to never happen again. God has blessed me with the opportunity to love again. And I'm new. My wife, Megan, and Maven, and I got a new family. And that's it. I'm never going backwards. Just like when my dad was dying of AIDS on his bed, he looked at me. He said, it will end with you.

It will end with you. He literally said poverty. It will end with you. You will break the generational curse. I said, yes, daddy. And he closed his eyes. Wow. So I remember reading where you said that comedy was not just a turning point for you, but that it was your way of asking forgiveness. Was it? I think so. Yeah. Tell me about what that means. I always believe in that.

I always believe in that. You know, the things that I've done that I never wanted to do, like selling drugs. I never wanted to cross that boundary, but I had to eat. But nonetheless, I asked God to forgive me, and I was given this talent, this gift to just make his children laugh. And I feel like you can't cut no deals with God, but if... I always felt like if I'm...

if I make enough people laugh. Maybe he will forgive me. So I just try hard. It's always been important to me to make those laugh, to conspire to make those laugh. So this is interesting. I read something the other day that perfectly, I thought, captured the heartache felt by so many people when they heard that you were in that accident. This was written in GQ.

They say, "Last year, Tracy Morgan was in an automobile accident so devastating, so spirit-breaking, spirit-breaking, it was difficult to imagine ever laughing at him again."

So the idea that you might never recover the ability to make us laugh was devastating to people. What does that mean to you? Because then, you know, I thought it was funny when you first came out on Saturday Night Live and you made a joke about, you know, your speech, you know, because people weren't sure. Could you talk? Would you, you know, it's traumatic brain injury. Would you be able to function? My sense of humor was my gift. Yeah. That he gave me to survive all the hardships of my life. Yes. And I...

I just feel like this. If I could make you laugh and forget about the things that you're going through for a minute, then I'm, you know, I love that. That is your spiritual calling. That is your spiritual calling. If I couldn't do that anymore, I don't know if I would want to live. Really? I love my wife and my daughter and my kids and all that, but that gift was given to me, like Sherrod said, all those hardships in my life. That was given to me to get past that. Yes. So...

How am I going to live without that? I hear that there, you know, obviously you are here, you're standing, you're strong, but there were times when your struggle caused you to question God. And I hear there was a friend who set you straight. Bro, I was in the hospital and my aunt, my aunt, older woman,

And I never did it again. I asked her, I said, "Why God let this happen to me?" And she gave me that Morgan scowl. Like she was gonna punch me in my face. And she said something, I never did it again. - What? - She said, "Don't question God." She turned her back to me. I saw the client, I said, "I'm sorry, Auntie." And she opened the window, she said, "It's okay, baby. It's okay. Everything for a reason. Everything for a reason." It's a reason why my daughter had a two-fate.

Absolutely. I don't think there's any such word as coincidence in the Bible. Everything for a reason. We look at our lives, man. Look at the -- Listen. I remember this line in "Raisin' in the Sun." You know, God gave us dreams, but he gave us kids to make all those dreams worthwhile. And I remember one night, I was with Megan, and Maven was sleeping between us, and I just started crying. She said, "What's wrong, baby?" I said, "If I ain't have y'all, I don't know if I'd have strength to come out that coma."

I just don't know. I don't know if I oughta... I had to... I'm a fighter. I had to get back to her, that little girl, and my wife. I had to get back. I still gotta finish the job, man. Yeah. But that's what your father said to you, isn't that what your father said? "Go back and finish the job." Finish the job. It's my granddaughter. Finish the job. And I'm here. What were the exact words that he said? "I'm not ready for you, son. I'm not ready for you yet."

"I'm not ready for you yet." And I kept saying, "Dad, Dad." Tell me this. Once you've been to the other side, can you ever be, quote, "normal" again? No. No. Okay. I told my wife that the other day. Something's different. The way I am with people, something's just different. I find myself saying, "I love you," 200 times a day to strangers I don't care. I don't got to know you to love you. I love you.

That's how we supposed to be as human beings. We supposed to take care of each other. What we see sometimes down here on Earth, ain't no room for that up in Heaven. Ain't no room for it. Do you think that's where you were? Heaven? When you spoke to your father? Yeah. You do? My father was a good man. Yeah, yeah. People say, you don't know how God looks. No, I know how he looked. He looked like Jimmy Morgan to me. Because he made it possible when he was here. He was my God.

So why would it be anything different? That makes sense to me. That makes sense to me.

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So

Did you think in the beginning that, I know you just said that if you couldn't come back and tell jokes, that you wouldn't know if it would truly be worth, your life would have purpose and meaning. Did you think in the beginning, though, that you might have lost that? Or did you know you still had the funny? I didn't know. You didn't know. I was worried about it and I was really concerned. Because although I had my family with me, I knew that was the gift he gave me. So I was concerned about it. I was concerned about it.

So when you got up on the Emmy stage, did you know, is that the first time you'd actually been on a big stage and told a joke? Well, so much trauma happened in my life that when I wrote it and all of these things made me laugh. And I remember that. If it makes me laugh, then it's funny. Funny. It's funny, yeah.

So it made me laugh. It made me laugh. And so I was really happy. I said, okay, the gift is intact. And now I'm on tour. Standing ovations, 5,000 people, 6,000 people. Now when I come out on stage all the time, I get to stand an ovation. That's just people who will, being happy. But then you got a 20-second grace period. You got to go to work after that. You can't forget people pay for these tickets. So I go to work.

You go to work. I go to work. I go to work. And I put it down, and I know I've tapped into something that no other comedian could really talk about. I've been to the other side, and I came back bearing gifts. These jokes I'm giving y'all, they're gifts.

That's great. These are the gifts. That's great. You know, I would say to my producers that I think comedy, you know, because we all use whatever is our purpose in life. What is our calling? What is our gift? Connecting the dots. Connecting the dots. Absolutely. So I was saying that's your spiritual practice. And they said, no, you say belief is. Belief is. Tell me how that is. You gotta believe.

I knew when I was 11 years old, anything could have happened to me. On that train, anything. Somebody was with me. So I believed. I believed since then. I believed since then. If you don't have no... Belief is a powerful, powerful thing. Mm-hmm. Belief is a powerful thing. If you believe in the wrong things, you're going to do wrong. Right. So you've also said that you don't get nervous. I don't get nervous either. As someone who gets nervous very often. I get excited. You get excited? On the way here, I was very excited.

I was very excited to sit down and talk with you and tell my-- where I'm going through. I know where I'm from. I know how I got there. I know, most importantly, where I'm headed. I'm good. I know I could have died in that accident. I would have been all right, because I know where I'm going after this. I got that. I know where I'm going after this, because I'm good to people. I'm good to myself. I believe. Yeah. I'm staying righteous with it. Got to go to the next level. You got to continue.

♪ Keep, keep, keep, keep rising to the top ♪ While my mind said, give it all you got, give it all you got. - Absolutely. - Ain't no half stepping. You got to keep on trucking, baby. - And I read that your mission now is just to spread the love. - That's all it is, and I do that through my comedy. That's the gift he gave me. If I made you-- - 'Cause God came to you in the form of comedy, yeah. - Well, that's what it is. - Yeah. - That's what it is.

- Your expression, yeah. - Yeah, I mean, they're comedy gods. Richard, Lucille Ball, Jackie Gleason. As long as I'm doing it in the spirit of those people, I'm protected. I'm protected. As long as I'm doing it in the spirit of those comedy gods before me. We all know Richard Pryor was the messiah. - Yep. - I'm getting ready to play Redd Foxx in the Richard Pryor story.

and I'm playing Richard Pryor's grandmother! - We're getting ready to do our-- - Me, you, Eddie Murphy, hopefully Mike Epps, and it's gonna be an incredible story because like Jamie Foxx did in "Ray," he didn't do an impression. He channeled Ray on "Heron," which is a dark-- we all know Richard had a pretty dark life. So I just pray to God to ask me to give me the strength that I can do Mr. Foxx justice 'cause he was an icon. - Yeah.

Yeah. So everything for a reason. Everything for a reason. The doctors say that your recovery is miraculous. Was there a point where you thought you would not be able to walk again? Yeah. Yeah.

Tell me about that. When you woke up-- when you woke up from the coma, what condition were you actually in? I don't remember. OK. My wife said my femur was crushed into pieces. I should have brought the x-ray. Uh-huh. It was at my house of a week later. And my femur's in the biggest bone in your body. Yeah, yeah. It was in pieces. It was pulverized. Wow. And they put it back together, those doctors, Dr. Savian and-- Whoa. I have a rod in my leg that's going to be there forever. And I have nails in my leg and my kneecap and my hip.

And there are times where I'm on stage and I have to sit down because it might hurt a little bit, and I just sit down. Yeah. I do my comedy from my seat sometimes. But there was a time where you weren't sure if you were going to walk again, if you would ever have the full brain function again. It was frustrating sometimes when you don't know what your name is. Or you put a remote control right here and you don't know where it's at, and you're looking right at it.

It can get frustrating. It was frustrating. My wife didn't have an easy time. She's a strong woman. There were times I'd lash out at her out of frustration because I'm-- there was times. Yeah. Because your mind wasn't clicking? It wasn't-- Sometimes. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And you know you were fast before. Yeah. And then you're frustrated by that, and then you get angry with yourself, and then you lash out. Because you don't remember your life before.

When you take a bump on the head like that, you can see the scars. It was really bad. It was really bad. On this side, you could see some of my brain. I broke every bone in my face. And it was difficult. So the hardest part was what? Tell me. In the beginning was just knowing my name. I had to learn how to sit and stand again.

Wow. So you couldn't even stand some days, and you couldn't remember your own name. You would put the remote down. So your brain is trying to literally come back. Yeah. Come back. Reboot. Yeah, reboot. That's the word. I was trying to reboot, and that was frustrating. And my wife would have to put up with a lot of stuff sometimes.

It was degrading at times when I first came home and making on yourself. And, you know, you come from this really confident -- You know, to do comedy, you have to have confidence. -Yes. -And then you're, like, in an almost vegetative state, man. And it was difficult. I flipped out one time in the mall. My wife took me to the mall, and I flipped out 'cause people were just surrounding me. Like, even now, sometimes when people see me, it's like looking at a ghost.

Because it was so-- everybody knew about that tragedy. Yeah, everybody thought-- You ain't supposed to be here. Yeah. You ain't supposed to be doing no tour. And you ain't supposed to be hosting no Saturday Night Live. Yeah. Not 18 months later. No.

Miracle, miracle. Well, when we did Saturday Night Live, you was either going to see a wreck or you was going to see a miracle. Yeah. We gave him the miracle. You gave him the miracle. Oh! We gave him the miracle. This is it. Voila. Voila. You did. You got to learn that word, voila. Voila. Here we are. Here we are. So I got to believe.

I got it. It's really literally like starting over. When I went back to Saturday Night Live, I was there for seven years. So it was like the first day, I was so nervous, I was so crazy. And there's like two shows. You do the dress show, you do the air show. And in between, but the dress show, I got it in my own head.

I wasn't fully recovered. I got in my own head. There's this wardrobe person named Donna. She has to grab you from set to set 'cause you got a commercial to change to live TV. And I started to think the audience is looking at me and they pitying me and they feel sorry for me and they think I'm in an invalid, something wrong with me. So in between dressing A, I went to Lorne Michaels. I said, "Lorne, man, I don't know." In between commercial breaks? No. Between the dress and the dress in the real one, yeah. I said, "I don't know, man. It's like..."

I think they feel sorry for me. And Lorne Michaels said, "Tracy, they don't care about the funny. They just happy you here." And at that moment, I let go. And I let God. And I gave them everything. I'm leaving everything out there. They giving me-- they were-- and when I came out to do that monologue for the dress-- I seen the people who have bite name-- they were just happy. Yeah. And I was so happy. So let me ask you this. What are you most grateful for now? Life. Just life. Just sitting here, picking up a rod.

Just life. Just life. Seeing him sitting there, seeing her sitting there. Seeing them. Just life. Every day. Every day. Taking my daughter to dance class. Being with my lady, my wife, who loves me. Just chilling. I'm not mad at nobody. I'm not mad at nobody. I'm leaving stuff in God's hands. Would you say you're...

at peace, not-- just not mad, but there's a peace. When you are in a coma for eight to ten days and you survive, trust me. -Yeah. -You're at peace. Trust me, Oprah, people could judge it, look at it. Unless you face death, you can't tell me nothing. I got closer to God than mostly everybody standing right here. -I have a little-- period. -Yeah. You have the advantage. -You have the upper hand on everybody. -I went there and I came back. I went there and I came back, and he-- or love.

It's the most powerful thing on this planet, man. Yeah. And I'm not gonna never, like, take that lightly no more. Nah. What's the quality that you now admire most in others that you see? I'm sure you see other people differently. Change. Change. You can change. You gotta want to. You can change. Some people need the help, but you can change. That's the only thing that remains the same is change.

Trust me, change is gonna be here. Every year the leaves fall, they grow. Genius architect, man. Genius architect. Okay, finish this sentence. I believe. I believe in God. Simple and plain. Laughter is? For me, faith. Laughter is faith. Laughter. That's how strong my faith is. I don't have no worry.

When you got wherever, your faith is weak. Yeah. You got to get on your knees and you got to just see, give me the strength. Yeah. So as long as my comedy's strong, my faith is strong. Yeah. So answer this for me. You know, everybody talks now about all the stuff going on in the world and the violence and so forth. What do you think is the root of racism? Pride. That's all. Nobody better than nobody. Yeah. You have to over... You just got to... There's only one way...

For me, my ideas is beat racism. You have to stay creative. You gotta stay creative. You gotta really transcend that. Yeah. Me, personally, if you love me, I love you. All right, finally, now, today, you're grateful just to be here. You appreciate every moment. What inspires you? What inspires me? Okay, I have one example.

What inspired me, this is just an example. When I was in a wheelchair with both of my feet going like this, and I'm not knowing if I'm ever going to walk again. My daughter was 14 months old, and I seen her take her first two steps. That inspired me to get up and walk. Wow. My wife. That's the one. What she went through. Like getting that call at 6 in the morning. She's still bitter about that.

The police called the media before they called her. I got hit at 12:59. She didn't know I was in a hospital, in a coma, until 6:00 in the morning. When she got there, I was in ICU. She thought she was gonna get there and I was gonna have a broken leg, making the nurses laugh. They said, "Miss Morgan, are you prepared?" She said, "What?" Then they took her up to ICU and she flipped. She walked in the room and I asked her, I said, "Baby, how did I look?" She said, "Dead." Dead. "Broke every bone in your face. Your face was about this big."

You had staples, and your head was wrapped, and you was laying there. I was dead. She stayed in there for two weeks with me. And what was weird was, two months before the accident, I did my will. -Really? -And I made her my health proxy. And sure enough, they started asking me questions. And they asked me one question. They said, "If you're on life support, and who do you want to make that decision?" And I looked at my wife. I said, "My wife." I had nobody else. My wife. Two months later, look what happened.

Wow. She said -- And she's a good girl, strong woman, 'cause she told the doctors no a few times. "No, you're not putting a hole in my husband's neck. He's an entertainer." The next day, I start breathing on my own. So she's a good girl, strong woman. Strong woman. Young, 18 years younger than me, but know what to do. Yeah. And you don't know this world. This world got teeth, and it bite, and it bites.

And I'm glad I'm here. I'm glad my wife is over there. I'm glad my daughter, Maymay, Maven, she calls herself Maymay Morgan. She Maymay Morgan. She Maymay. And my son is in college, and everything is wonderful. Thank you. Thank you for saying yes to this. Thank you for coming this way. Thank you for having me.

I'm Oprah Winfrey, and you've been listening to Super Soul Conversations, the podcast. You can follow Super Soul on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. If you haven't yet, go to Apple Podcasts and subscribe, rate, and review this podcast. Join me next week for another Super Soul Conversation. Thank you for listening.

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