‘Liar, doper and in trouble’

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What makes famous people reveal the most guarded of secrets to America’s favourite shrink Oprah Winfrey is a perplexing question. But when they do, it sure grabs the eyeballs of people not just in USA, but around the world.

The latest celebrity to follow the custom, is champion cyclist and cancer survivor Lance Armstrong. On Friday, in part one of Oprah Winfrey’s exclusive interview with the now-disgraced cyclist, he admitted to something he has been denying for a long time now — using performance enhancement drugs to win his Tour de France titles. And the best reaction from people who saw the interview, was obtained from various social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook, many of whom expressed shock, remorse and surprisingly support too.
In the interview, Armstrong looked uncomfortable, constantly shifting in his seat and laughing nervously. He seemed to have a hard time going into the details of his doping scandal. The cyclist admitted that he was a “prick” and a “jerk”, and that apologising was not something he was good at. “All of this is a process for me,” the cyclist said. “I’ll spend the rest of my life trying to earn back trust and apologise.”
After many years of denials to authorities and the public, Armstrong admitted to using performance-enhancing drugs and blood doping prior to his 2008 comeback from retirement. However, he denied that he did so in 2009 and 2010. He also denied forcing his Tour de France teammates to dope.
On Twitter, Netizens were quick to create hashtags and discuss, with #OWNTV and #Doprah becoming the most trending topics. While acidic comments condemning his actions were predominant, Armstrong’s ardent fans had messages of support for him and a few others brought light to the fact that confessing like how he had done, requires a lot of courage. Armstrong’s saving grace might be all the philanthropic work he has done for cancer survivors, but he has now become an example of how the bigger you are, the harder you fall!