Merle Haggard: Oprah Winfrey said 'we've come the farthest' at Kennedy Center Honors 2010 Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv/2010

Merle Haggard and Oprah Winfrey at the 33rd annual Kennedy Center Honors. WATCH VIDEO below.

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Oprah Winfrey was in full-on diva mode at the Kennedy Center Honors Tuesday night.

Merle Haggard and Barbara Walters were on the receiving end of the talk show queen's proud response to her lifetime achievement award for the performing arts, which she received alongside Paul McCartney, composer Jerry Herman and choreographer Bill T. Jones as well as Haggard.

The 73-year-old country musician, who spent three days with the group to celebrate the honor, said "Ope" was "completely beside herself" about the award.

"I don't think she'd ever been a recipient of much in her life," he told Rolling Stone. "She reached over to me, leaned over and said, 'You know, we've come the farthest.'"

The 56-year-old host of "The Oprah Winfrey Show" appeared to turn even haughtier when Barbara Walters introduced her during the ceremony that aired on CBS Tuesday night.

"I was used by Oprah," Walters said, before repeating a story she told earlier this month on "The David Letterman Show" about the talk show host imitating Walters to win the Miss Fire Prevention Contest when she was 16.

Oprah, who was seated next to McCartney and Michelle Obama, gave the First Lady a “I told you so!” look and threw her hands in the air in apparent frustration.

"You know this Oprah, I'm totally responsible for your career," Walters yelled up at her.

Oprah gave the journalist a slight genuflection then shared another look with the President's wife.

The small screen queen’s addition to the 2010 gala was considered controversial because she is not a performing artist, though Haggard had something to say about that.

"Television is certainly a modern method of communication that you can't overlook and she's probably the mother figure of that right now," he told Rolling Stone. "I don't know how anybody can say she wasn't deserving of it."

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv/2010/12/29/2010-12-29_merle_haggard_oprah_winfrey_said_weve_come_the_farthest_at_kennedy_center_honors.html#ixzz19W9E7RK1