Oprah: 'The Buck Stops With Me'

When first told of abuse allegations at her South African school for disadvantaged girls, Oprah Winfrey "spent about a half-hour going around my house crying," the talk show star said today. Winfrey, who has publicly discussed the abuse she suffered as a child, called the incident "one of most devastating experiences of my life," the AP reports.

The matron who faces 13 charges in the case made bail today in Johannesburg. Although she did not oversee hiring, Oprah said "the buck always stops with me," adding that the school would "clean house from top to bottom." Still, she added: "No one can destroy the dream that I have held and the dream that each girl continues to hold for herself at the school." (More Oprah Winfrey stories.)