Yara Shahidi Says Oprah Calling Her the 'Future' Was a 'Peak Life Moment'

Yara Shahidi is on cloud nine, thanks to Oprah Winfrey.

ET's Nischelle Turner spoke with the 18-year-old actress at the Los Angeles premiere of BlacKkKlansman on Wednesday, where she opened up about the media mogul recently referring to her as "the future" -- and declaring that she could be president if she wanted to.

"OK, coupled with the fact that I was in Barbados with my family, that was a peak life moment," Shahidi confessed. "I guess, on a serious note... I just live in a state of constant awe, where I'm like, 'How am I where I am?' And I'm just grateful that there truly is a community of people that are supporting me."

"I feel like when my parents helped me into this industry through commercials and then through TV, we always, I guess, dissolved the idea of competition especially amongst other women of color. And I feel like everyday that I get to be here and like see everybody together, it just proves that that is so right ,and that we are never in competition but the power of uplifting one another," she continued. "I mean, that's what all of I feel like September covers have been about, that's what everything has been about. And I love seeing that love. And I love being the recipient of it."

Shahidi graces the cover of The Hollywood Reporter, while Beyonce is on the September issue of Vogue. Rihanna is on British Vogue, Tiffany Haddish on Glamour, and Tracee Ellis Ross on Elle Canada. Shahidi has definitely made a name for herself in entertainment -- but she's not ruling out a career in politics.

"I definitely want to be in like, a politics-adjacent kind of position," she told ET. "I do want to be in a place in which I can implement that level of change, president I don't quite know. I always think about how strange it'll be that they'll be going back through my Instagram that I had when I was 12."

"So that's a little eerie, but I definitely want to be [in Washington] D.C., yeah," Shahidi added.

The actress, who has deferred her studies at Harvard University, has already made a big effort in using her star power to encourage her peers to become participants in the politics. See more on Shahidi in the video below.

BlacKkKlansman hits theaters on Friday.
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