Oprah Winfrey
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Oprah Gail Winfrey (born January 29, 1954) is the American multiple-Emmy Award winning host of The Oprah Winfrey Show, the highest-rated talk show in television history.<ref name="2010 contract">Modèle:Cite press release</ref> She is also an influential book critic, an Academy Award-nominated actress, and a magazine publisher. She has been ranked the richest African American of the 20th century,<ref name="Oprah The Educator"> Noon , Chris
(2007-01-02) . Oprah The Educator . Forbes
. Retrieved on 2007-03-04. </ref> the most philanthropic African American of all time,<ref name="UrbanMecca">Modèle:Cite press release</ref> and the world's only black billionaire for three straight years.<ref>Oprah Winfrey the richest black person in the world. African Echo Vol. 43, 2006-09-11. Accessed 2006-09-11</ref><ref name="#562"> #562 Oprah Winfrey
. Forbes Special Report: The World's Billionaires (2006)
. Forbes
(October 2006)
. Retrieved on 2006-09-11.
</ref><ref name="African-American News & Issues"> Malonson , Roy Douglas
(2006-05-10) . Condi and Oprah aren’t good role models for Black motherhood . African-American News & Issues
. Retrieved on 2007-03-04. </ref><ref name="£20m school"> Usborne , David
(2007-01-03) . Oprah's £20m school proves she's not all talk . Independent News and Media
. Retrieved on 2007-03-04. </ref> She is also, according to some assessments, the most influential woman in the world.<ref name="$40m school"> Meldrum Henley-on-Klip , Andrew
(2007-01-03) . 'Their story is my story' Oprah opens $40m school for South African girls . Guardian Unlimited
. Retrieved on 2007-03-04. </ref><ref>http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article2934348.ece</ref>
Born in rural Mississippi to a poor unwed teenaged mother, and later raised in a Milwaukee ghetto, Winfrey was raped at the age of nine, and at fourteen, gave birth to a son who died in infancy. Sent to live with the man she calls her father, a barber in Tennessee, Winfrey landed a job in radio while still in high school and began co-anchoring the local evening news at the age of 19. Her emotional ad-lib delivery eventually got her transferred to the daytime talk show arena, and after boosting a third rated local Chicago talk show to first place<ref name="#562"> #562 Oprah Winfrey
. Forbes Special Report: The World's Billionaires (2006)
. Forbes
(October 2006)
. Retrieved on 2006-09-11.
</ref>, she launched her own production company and became internationally syndicated.
Credited with creating a more intimate confessional form of media communication<ref name="TIME 100"> Tannen , Deborah
(1998-06-08) . Oprah Winfrey . The TIME 100 . TIME
. Retrieved on 2007-03-12. </ref>, she is thought to have popularized and revolutionized<ref name="Coming Afer Oprah">Modèle:Cite press release</ref> <ref name="TIME 100"/><ref name="Word Spy"> Oprahization
. Word Spy
. Retrieved on 2007-03-12. </ref> the tabloid talk show genre pioneered by Phil Donahue, which a Yale study claimed broke 20th century taboos and allowed gays, transsexuals, and transgender people to enter the mainstream. <ref name="FTB UCPress"> [http://www.press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/280640.html An interview and excerpt from Freaks Talk Back]
. University of Chicago Press
. Retrieved on 2007-03-12. </ref> By the mid 1990s she had reinvented her show with a focus on literature, self-improvement, and spirituality. Though criticized for unleashing confession culture<ref name="Word Spy"> Oprahization
. Word Spy
. Retrieved on 2007-03-12. </ref> and promoting controversial self-help fads, she is generally admired for overcoming adversity to become a benefactor to others.<ref>http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/time100/article/0,28804,1595326_1615754,00.html</ref>
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Early life
Oprah Winfrey (originally Orpah after the Biblical character), was born in Kosciusko, Mississippi, to a Baptist family. There are conflicting reports as to how her name became “Oprah.” According to a 1991 interview with the Academy of Achievement, Winfrey claimed that her family and friends' inability to pronounce “Orpah” caused them to put the “P” before the “R” in every place else other than the birth certificate.<ref> Oprah Winfrey
. Interview with Oprah Winfrey . Academy of Achievement (February 21, 1991)
. Retrieved on 2006-06-09.
</ref> However, there is the account that the midwife transposed letters while filling out the newborn's birth certificate.<ref> Biography for Oprah Winfrey
. IMDb.com . Amazon.com
. Retrieved on 2006-06-09.
</ref> Her parents were unmarried teenagers.<ref name="Winfrey on LKL"> Interview with Oprah Winfrey
. Larry King Live . CNN (2003-12-09)
. Retrieved on 2006-07-25. </ref> Her mother, Vernita Lee, was a housemaid, and her father, Vernon Winfrey, was a coal miner and later worked as a barber before becoming a city councilman. Winfrey's father was in the Armed Forces when she was born. After her birth, Winfrey's mother travelled north and Winfrey spent her first six years living in rural poverty with her grandmother, Hattie Mae. Winfrey's grandmother taught her to read before the age of three and took her to the local church, where she was nicknamed "The Preacher" for her ability to recite Bible verses. When Winfrey was a child, her grandmother would take a switch and would hit her with it when she didn't do chores or if she misbehaved in any way.<ref name="American Girl"> Oprah Winfrey Biography and Photos
. American Girl (2006-03-17)
. Retrieved on 2006-09-02. </ref>
At age six, Winfrey moved to an inner city ghetto in Milwaukee, Wisconsin with her mother, who was less supportive and encouraging than her grandmother. Winfrey has stated that she was molested by her cousin, uncle, and a family friend, starting when she was nine years old.
Despite her dysfunctional home life, Winfrey skipped two of her earliest grades, became the teacher's pet, and by the time she was 13 received a scholarship to attend Nicolet High School in the Milwaukee suburb of Glendale, Wisconsin. Although Winfrey was very popular, she couldn't afford to go out on the town as frequently as her better-off classmates. Like many teenagers at the end of the 1960s, Winfrey rebelled, ran away from home and ran to the streets. When she was 14, she became pregnant, but the baby died shortly after birth.<ref>[1]</ref> Also at that age, her frustrated mother sent her to live with her father in Nashville, Tennessee. Vernon was strict, but encouraging and made her education a priority. Winfrey became an honors student, was voted Most Popular Girl, joined her high school speech team, and placed second in the nation in dramatic interpretation. She won an oratory contest, which secured her a full scholarship to Tennessee State University, a historically black institution, where she studied communication. At age 18, Winfrey won the Miss Black Tennessee beauty pageant.
Winfrey's grandmother had said that ever since Winfrey could talk, she was on stage. As a child she played games interviewing her corncob doll and the crows on the fence of her family's property. At 17 Winfrey worked at a local radio station while attending Tennessee State University.
Working in local media, she was both the youngest news anchor and the first black female news anchor at Nashville's WLAC-TV. She moved to Baltimore's WJZ-TV in 1976 to co-anchor the six o'clock news. She was then recruited to join Richard Sher as co-host of WJZ's local talk show People Are Talking, which premiered on August 14, 1978. She also hosted the local version of Dialing for Dollars there as well.<ref>Oprah Winfrey Timeline</ref>
Career and success
Television
In 1983, Winfrey relocated to Chicago to host WLS-TV's low-rated half-hour morning talk-show, AM Chicago. The first episode aired on January 2, 1984. Within months after Winfrey took over, the show went from last place in the ratings to overtaking Donahue as the highest rated talk show in Chicago. It was renamed The Oprah Winfrey Show, expanded to a full hour, and broadcast nationally beginning September 8, 1986.<ref name="Who ... Millionaire">Modèle:Cite video</ref> On her 20th anniversary show, Oprah revealed that movie critic Roger Ebert was the one who persuaded her to sign a syndication deal with King World. Ebert predicted that she would generate 40 times as much revenue as his television show, At the Movies.<ref name="Ebert"> Ebert , Roger
(2005-11-16) . How I gave Oprah her start . Chicago Sun-Times
. Retrieved on 2007-03-04. </ref> Having surpassed Donahue in the local market Winfrey quickly doubled his national audience, her show replacing his as the number one day-time talk show in America. Their much publicized contest was the subject of enormous scrutiny.
Time magazine wrote, "Few people would have bet on Oprah Winfrey's swift rise to host of the most popular talk show on TV. In a field dominated by white males, she is a black female of ample bulk. As interviewers go, she is no match for, say, Phil Donahue...What she lacks in journalistic toughness, she makes up for in plainspoken curiosity, robust humor and, above all empathy. Guests with sad stories to tell are apt to rouse a tear in Oprah's eye...They, in turn, often find themselves revealing things they would not imagine telling anyone, much less a national TV audience. It is the talk show as a group therapy session."TV columnist Howard Rosenberg said, "She's a roundhouse, a full course meal, big, brassy, loud, aggressive, hyper, laughable, lovable, soulful, tender, low-down, earthy and hungry. And she may know the way to Phil Donahue's jugular."
Newsday's Les Payne observed, "Oprah Winfrey is sharper than Donahue, wittier, more genuine, and far better attuned to her audience, if not the world."
Martha Bayles of The Wall Street Journal wrote, "It's a relief to see a gab-monger with a fond but realistic assessment of her own cultural and religious roots."
In the mid-1990s, Winfrey adopted a less tabloid-oriented format, doing shows about heart disease in women, geopolitics with Lisa Ling, spirituality and meditation, and gift-giving and home decorating shows. She often interviews celebrities on issues that directly involve them in some way, such as cancer, charity work, or substance abuse. In addition, she interviews ordinary people who have done extraordinary things or been involved in important current issues.
In 1993, Winfrey hosted a rare prime-time interview with Michael Jackson which became the fourth most watched event in American television history as well as the most watched interview ever, with an audience of one hundred million. Perhaps Winfrey's most famous recent show was the first episode of the nineteenth season of The Oprah Winfrey Show in the fall of 2004. During the show each member of the audience received a new G6 sedan; the 276 cars were donated by Pontiac as part of a publicity stunt. The show received so much media attention that even the taxes on the cars became controversial.
During a lawsuit against Winfrey (see Influence), she hired Dr. Phil McGraw's company Courtroom Sciences, Inc. to help her analyze and read the jury. Dr. Phil made such an impression on Winfrey that she invited him to appear on her show. He accepted the invitation and was a resounding success. McGraw appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show for several years before launching his own show, Dr. Phil, in 2002, which was created by Winfrey's production company, Harpo Productions in partnership with Paramount which produced the show.
Winfrey recently made a deal to extend her show until the 2010–2011 season, by which time it will have been on the air for twenty-five years. She plans to host 140 episodes per season, until her final season, when it will return to its current number, 130.<ref name="2010 contract"/>
The 2004 Nobel Peace Prize Concert was hosted by Oprah and Tom Cruise. There were musical performances by Cyndi Lauper, Andrea Bocelli, Joss Stone, Chris Botti, Diana Krall, Tony Bennett and others. The concert was broadcasted in the United States on December 23, 2004, by E!.
As well as hosting and appearing on television shows, Winfrey co-founded the women's cable television network Oxygen. She is also the president of Harpo Productions (Oprah spelled backwards).
Film
In 1985, Winfrey co-starred in Steven Spielberg's epic film adaptation of Alice Walker's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Color Purple. She earned immediate acclaim as Sofia, the distraught housewife. The following year Winfrey was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, but she lost to Anjelica Huston. The Color Purple has now been made into a Broadway musical and opened late 2005, with Winfrey credited as a producer.
In October 1998, Winfrey produced and starred in the film Beloved, based upon Toni Morrison's Pulitzer Prize winning novel of the same name. To prepare for her role as Sethe, the protagonist and former slave, Winfrey experienced a 24-hour simulation of the experience of slavery, which included being tied up and blindfolded and left alone in the woods. Despite major advertising, including two episodes of her talk show dedicated solely to the film, and moderate to good critical reviews, Beloved opened to poor box-office results, losing approximately $30 million. Working with delicate subjects, Winfrey managed to keep the cast motivated and inspired. "Here we were working on this project with the heavy underbelly of political and social realism, and she managed to lighten things up", said costar Thandie Newton. "I've worked with a lot of good actors, and I know Oprah hasn't made many films. I was stunned. She's a very strong technical actress and it's because she's so smart. She's acute. She's got a mind like a razor blade."<ref>(Vogue October 199Image:Cool.gif</ref>
In 2005, Harpo Productions released another film adaptation of a famous American novel, Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937). The made-for-television film Their Eyes Were Watching God was based upon a teleplay by Suzan-Lori Parks, and starred Halle Berry in the lead female role.
She has voiced for Charlotte's Web, the 2006 film as Gussie the goose.
Books and magazines
Winfrey publishes two magazines: O, The Oprah Magazine and O at Home. She has co-authored five books; at the announcement of her future weight loss book (to be co-authored with her personal trainer Bob Greene), it was said that her undisclosed advance fee had broken the record for the world's highest book advance fee, previously held by former U.S. President Bill Clinton for his autobiography My Life.<ref> Glaister , Dan
. " Oprah Winfrey book deal tops Clinton's $12m " , The Guardian , 2006-05-22 . </ref> In 2002 Fortune called O, the Oprah Magazine the most successful start-up ever in the industry.<ref name="Mutual of America"> Sellers , Patricia
(2002-04-08) . The Business of Being Oprah . Fortune
. Retrieved on 2006-07-07. </ref>
Online
Oprah.com is a website created by Winfrey's company to provide resources and interactive content relating to her shows, magazines, book club, and public charity.
Oprah.com averages more than 68 million page views, more than four million users per month, and receives approximately 20,000 e-mails each week.<ref>Oprah.com: Online Leader</ref>
Winfrey initiated “Oprah’s Child Predator Watch List,” through her show and website, to help track down accused child molesters. Within the first 48 hours, two of the featured men were captured.<ref>The Oprah Show' Captures Accused Child Molesters!</ref>
Radio
On February 9 2006 it was announced that Winfrey signed a $55 million, three-year contract with XM Satellite Radio to establish a new radio channel. The channel, Oprah & Friends, features popular contributors to The Oprah Winfrey Show and O, The Oprah Magazine including Nate Berkus, Dr. Mehmet Oz, Bob Greene, Dr. Robin Smith and Marianne Williamson. Oprah & Friends began broadcasting at 11:00 AM ET, September 25, 2006, from a new studio at Winfrey's Chicago headquarters. The channel broadcasts 24 hours a day, 7 days a week on XM Radio Channel 156. Winfrey's contract requires her to be on the air 30 minutes a week, 39 weeks a year. The 30-minute weekly show will feature Winfrey with friend Gayle King. Winfrey's audience is extremely loyal and XM hopes that the "Oprah Effect" can have the same effect on XM subscription sales that she does on the New York Times Best Seller list, thanks to her book club.
Future projects
In late 2006 Winfrey’s Harpo production and ABC revealed plans to bring two new reality TV shows to the air. One of the series is tentatively titled Oprah Winfrey's The Big Give, and presents 10 people with large sums of money and resources and they must compete to find "the most powerful, sensational, emotional and dramatic ways to give to others." The second show, tentatively titled Your Money or Your Life, will unleash an "expert action team" every week to aid a family in overcoming a crisis through a "total money and life makeover."<ref name="Chicago Business"> Reuters
(2006-12-15) . Oprah to launch 2 prime-time reality TV series . Chicago Business
. Retrieved on 2007-03-04. </ref>
Winfrey is also the voice of Judge Bumbleden in Bee Movie released in November 2007.
Personal life
Homes
Winfrey currently lives on “The Promised Land”, her 42 acre (170,000 m²) ocean and mountain view estate in Montecito, California, outside of Santa Barbara. Winfrey also owns a house in Lavallette, New Jersey, an apartment in Chicago, an estate on Fisher Island off the coast of Miami, a ski house in Telluride, Colorado, and property on the island of Maui, Hawaii. Winfrey's show is based in Chicago, so she spends time there, specifically in the neighborhood of Streeterville, but otherwise resides in California. Her Hawaii property was featured on the cover of O at Home and on her TV show.
Family
Winfrey and her partner Stedman Graham have been together for over 20 years. Sophie<ref>Oprah mourns death of her dog, Gracie</ref> and Soloman are her two Cocker Spaniels and she also owns three Golden Retrievers. A third dog, "Gracie" died from choking in May 2007. Winfrey believes that the reason she never had children was because her students at South Africa’s Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls were meant to be her daughters:
“When I watched Oprah with those girls,” observed best friend Gayle King, “I kept thinking she was meant to be a mother, and it would happen one way or another.”<ref name="Oprah Goes to School"> Samuels , Allison
(2007-01-08) . Oprah Goes to School 3 of 3 . MSNBC
. Retrieved on 2007-03-5. </ref> Newsweek described a student named Thelasa Msumbi hugging Winfrey extra tight, then whispering “We are your daughters now.”<ref name="Oprah Goes to School" /> Winfrey, who will teach a class at the school via satellite, plans to spend much of her retirement in a house she is building on the campus where she plans to use the same dishes, sheets, and curtains that the students do. “I want to be near my girls and be in a position to see how they're doing,” said Winfrey.<ref name="Oprah Goes to School" />
Relatives
As revealed on a 2004 episode of her television show, Oprah had a half-brother who was gay and had died of AIDS.<ref name="Half-brother">Modèle:Cite video</ref>
In the February 2006 issue of her magazine, O, Winfrey said she felt "betrayed" by her family member, who revealed to the National Enquirer that Winfrey gave birth as a teen to a baby who died in the hospital weeks later.<ref name="Devastated"> Oprah Winfrey: I Was 'Devastated' by Relative's Betrayal
. People (2007-02-20)
. Retrieved on 2007-03-06. </ref>
Oprah visited Graceland in 2006 while on her cross-country trip with Gayle King. While having dinner with Lisa Marie Presley and her husband Michael Lockwood, Oprah told Lisa Marie that her grandmother's last name was also Presley. <ref>The Oprah Winfrey Show: Oprah and Gayle's cross-country journey" (2006).</ref>
Winfrey had her DNA tested for the 2006 PBS program African American Lives. The genetic test determined that her maternal line originated among the Kpelle ethnic group, in the area that today is Liberia. Her genetic make up was determined to be 89% Sub-Saharan African. She is part Native American (about 8% according to the test) and East Asian (about 3% according to the test).
Romantic history
Winfrey once dated movie critic Roger Ebert, whom she credits with advising her to take her show into syndication. The relationship of Winfrey and Graham has been documented through the years with numerous romantic tabloid articles often accompanied by color spreads of the couple at home and on lavish vacations. Prior to meeting Graham, Winfrey's love life was a lot less stable. A self-described promiscuous teen who was a victim of sexual abuse, Winfrey gave birth at the age of 14, to a boy who died shortly after.<ref name="path to power"> Mowbray , Nicole
(2003-03-02) . Oprah's path to power . Guardian Unlimited
. Retrieved on 2007-03-05. </ref> In 1997 a former boyfriend named Randoph Cook tried to sue Winfrey for $20 million for allegedly blocking a tell-all book where he claimed they lived together for several months in 1985 and did drugs.<ref name="FindLaw">Modèle:Cite court</ref><ref name="Jackson Walker"> Representative Matters
. Jackson Walker L.L.P
. Retrieved on 2007-03-06. </ref><ref name="Suit Says"> Oprah Blocks Tell-All Book, Suit Says by Marcus Errico Jan 31, 1997, E Online!</ref> Cook’s claims mark the second time reports surfaced about Winfrey’s involvement in a drug related love affair. In 1995 Winfrey herself confessed to drug use. “And I've often said over the years…in my attempts to come out and say it, I've said many times I did things in my 20s that I was ashamed of, I did things I felt guilty about, but that is my life's great big secret that's always been held over my head,” she explained on her show. “I always felt that the drug itself is not the problem but that I was addicted to the man.” She added: “I can't think of anything I wouldn't have done for that man.”<ref name="Jet"> Oprah reveals on her show she smoked crack cocaine during her 20s
. Jet (1995-01-30)
. Retrieved on 2007-03-05.
Archived at FindArticles in 2004. </ref>
Winfrey's early love life had not always been so tumultuous. Her high school sweetheart Anthony Otey recalled an innocent courtship that began in Winfrey's senior year of high school, from which he saved hundreds of love notes; Winfrey conducted herself with dignity and as a model student.<ref name="Mair pg 28-29">Modèle:Cite book</ref> The two spoke of getting married, but Otey claimed to have always secretly known that Winfrey was destined for a far greater life than he could ever provide.<ref name="Mair pg 30">Modèle:Cite book</ref> On Valentine's day of her senior year, Otey's fears came true when Winfrey took Otey aside and told him they needed to talk. “I knew right then that I was going to lose the girl I loved,” Otey recalled. “She told me she was breaking up with me because she didn't have time for a relationship. We both sat there and cried. It broke my heart.”<ref name="Mair pg 31">Modèle:Cite book</ref>Years later, Otey was stunned to discover details from Winfrey's promiscuous and rebellious past at the end of the 1960s, and the fact that she had given birth to a baby several years before they met.<ref name="Mair pg 30" />
In 1971, several months after breaking up with Otey, Winfrey met William “Bubba” Taylor at Tennessee State University. According to CBS journalist George Mair, Taylor was Winfrey's “first intense, to die for love affair”. Winfrey helped get Taylor a job at WVOL, and according to Mair, “did everything to keep him, including literally begging him on her knees to stay with her.”<ref name="Mair pg 33">Modèle:Cite book</ref> Taylor however was unwilling to leave Nashville with Winfrey when she moved to Baltimore to work at WJZ-TV in June 1976. “We really did care for each other,” Winfrey would later recall. “We shared a deep love. A love I will never forget.”<ref name="Mair pg 43">Modèle:Cite book</ref>
When WJZ-TV management criticized Winfrey for crying on the air while reporting tragedies and were unhappy with her physical appearance (especially when her hair fell out as the result of a bad perm), Winfrey turned to reporter Lloyd Kramer for comfort. “Lloyd was just the best,” Winfrey would later recall. “That man loved me even when I was bald! He was wonderful. He stuck with me through the whole demoralizing experience. That man was the most fun romance I ever had.”<ref name="Mair pg 47">Modèle:Cite book</ref>
According to Mair, when Kramer moved to NBC in New York Winfrey became involved with a man who friends had warned her to avoid. Winfrey would later recall:
According to Mair's reporting “the major problem with this intense love affair arose from her lover's being married, with no plans to leave his wife”. Winfrey became so depressed that on September 8, 1981, she wrote a suicide note to best friend Gayle King instructing King to water her plants.<ref name="Mair pg 49" /> “That suicide note had been much overplayed” Winfrey told Ms. magazine's Joan Barthel. “I couldn't kill myself. I would be afraid the minute I did it; something really good would happen and I'd miss it.”<ref name="Mair pg 50">Modèle:Cite book</ref>
According to Winfrey, such emotional ups and downs gradually led to a weight problem:
Best friends
Winfrey's best friend since their early twenties is Gayle King. King was formerly the host on The Gayle King Show, and is currently an editor of O, the Oprah Magazine. Since 1997, when Winfrey played the therapist on an episode of the sitcom Ellen in which Ellen DeGeneres came out of the closet, Winfrey and King have been the target of persistent rumours that they were gay. “I understand why people think we're gay,” Winfrey says in the August 2006 issue of O magazine. “There isn't a definition in our culture for this kind of bond between women. So I get why people have to label it—how can you be this close without it being sexual?”<ref name="Not Gay"> Lehner , Marla
(2006-07-18) . Oprah: Gayle and I Are Not Gay . People
. Retrieved on 2007-03-05. </ref> “I've told nearly everything there is to tell. All my stuff is out there. People think I'd be so ashamed of being gay that I wouldn't admit it? Oh, please.”<ref name="Not Gay" /> Another of Winfrey's best friend is Maria Shriver.<ref>http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=3776919&page=1</ref>
In 1989, Winfrey was personally touched by the 1980s AIDS crisis so frequently discussed on her show when her long time aide, Billy Rizzo, became afflicted by the disease. Rizzo was the only man among the four-person production team who Winfrey relied on in her early years in Chicago long before she had a large staff. “I love Billy like a brother,” she said at the time. “He's a wonderful, funny, talented guy, and it's just heartbreaking to see him so ill”. Winfrey visited him daily during his last days.
Personal heroes
To celebrate her African heritage and to honor her cultural and political heroines of the civil rights era, Winfrey hosted the Legends Weekend; a televised ball that took place at her California home and was watched by 11 million viewers. Among the most prominent honorees were civil rights icons Rosa Parks and Coretta Scott King who both died less than a year after being honored.
Health problem
On October 16 2007, Winfrey revealed that she was diagnosed with a thyroid disorder that made her gain 20 pounds. "At the end of May, I was so exhausted I couldn't figure out what was going on in my life. I ended up going to Africa and spent a month with my beautiful daughters there, was still feeling really tired, really tired, going around from doctor to doctor trying to figure out what was wrong and finally figured out that I had literally sort of blew out my thyroid " Winfrey said on her show. She also discusses more about her story in the October 2007 issue of the Oprah Magazine.
Wealth
Born in rural poverty, then raised by a mother on welfare in the ghetto, Winfrey became a millionaire at age 32 when her talk show went national. Because of the amount of revenue the show generated, Winfrey was in a position to negotiate ownership of the show and start her own production company. By 1994 the show's ratings were still thriving and Winfrey negotiated a contract that earned her nine figures a year. Considered the richest woman in entertainment by the early 1990s, at age 41 Winfrey's wealth crossed another milestone when with a net worth of $340 million, she replaced Bill Cosby as the only African American on the Forbes 400. Although blacks are 12% of the U.S. population, Winfrey has remained the only black person wealthy enough to rank among America's 400 richest people nearly every year since 1995. (Black Entertainment Television founder Bob Johnson briefly joined her on the list from 2001-2003 before his ex-wife reportedly acquired part of his fortune, though he returned in 2006.)<ref name="Bob Johnson"> Regan , Michael P.
(2004-02-27) . Billionaires' ranks open to 'Harry Potter' author . Arizona Daily Star
. Retrieved on 2007-03-06. </ref>
With a 2000 net-worth of $800 million, Winfrey is believed to have been the richest African American of the 20th century. To celebrate her status as a historical figure, Professor Juliet E.K. Walker of the University of Illinois created the course "History 298: Oprah Winfrey, the Tycoon."<ref> Mills , Marja
(2001-03-07) . Oprah College Course . Race Matters
. Retrieved on 2007-03-06. </ref>
Forbes' international rich list has listed Winfrey as the world's only black billionaire in 2004, 2005, and 2006 and as the first black woman billionaire in world history.<ref name="African-American News & Issues"/><ref> TV Hostess, Oprah Becomes First Black Woman Billionaire
. THISDAYonline (2004-11-15)
. Retrieved on 2007-03-06. </ref> According to Forbes, Winfrey is worth over $2.5 billion, as of September, 2007<ref>http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/070920/apfn_forbes_400_alphabetical_list.html</ref> and has overtaken Ebay CEO Meg Whitman as the richest self-made woman in America<ref>Forbes magazine March 21st 2007, pg 160 claims there are only 10 self-made women billionaires in the world and Winfrey is the richest of the 4 listed as U.S. billionaires</ref>
In July of 2007, it was reported that Winfrey was the highest paid TV entertainer in the United States during the past year. She earned an estimated $260 million during the year. This amount was more than 5 times what had been earned by the person in second place - music producer Simon Cowell, who had earned $45 million. The list was published in the July 2007 issue of TV Guide. [2].
Influence
Rankings as World's most influential woman
Winfrey was called "arguably the World's most powerful woman" by CNN and Time.com<ref name="2001 Global Influentials"> 19. Oprah Winfrey
. 2001 Global Influentails . TIME (2001)
. Retrieved on 2007-03-06. </ref>, "arguably the most influential woman in the World" by the American Spectator<ref>http://www.spectator.org/dsp_article.asp?art_id=11402</ref>, "one of the 100 people who most influenced the 20th Century" and "one of the most influential people" of 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007 by Time. Winfrey is the only person in the World to have made all five lists. It should be noted that when these publications use the phrase "the World's most influential person" they mean "no single other person on the planet has more clout", not "this person affects the whole World". It should also be noted that Time's list has been criticized for reflecting "a heavily U.S.-centric perspective".<ref>http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4159/is_20040418/ai_n12754149</ref>
At the end of the 20th century Life listed Winfrey as both the most influential woman and the most influential black person of her generation, and in a cover story profile the magazine called her "America's most powerful woman".<ref name="Boomers"> The 50 Most Influential Boomers
. LIFE
. Retrieved on 2007-03-06. </ref> Ladies Home Journal also ranked Winfrey number one in their list of the most powerful women in America and senator Barack Obama has said she "may be the most influential woman in the country".<ref name="Obama on LKL"> Interview With Barack Obama
. Larry King Live . CNN (2006-10-19)
. Retrieved on 2007-03-06. </ref> In 1998 Winfrey became the first woman and first Black to top Entertainment Weekly's list of the 101 most powerful people in the entertainment industry.<ref>http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1355/is_n24_v94/ai_21257357</ref>In 2003 Winfrey edged out both Superman and Elvis Presley to be named the greatest pop culture icon of all time by VH1.<ref name="Greatest Icon"> Oprah named greatest icon
(2003-07-23)
. Retrieved on 2007-03-06. </ref> Forbes named her the world's most powerful celebrity in both 2005<ref name="Most Powerful"> Associated Press
(2005-06-17) . Oprah Tops Powerful Celebs List . CBS News
. Retrieved on 2007-03-06. </ref> and 2007<ref>http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/6753847.stm</ref> Columnist Maureen Dowd seems to agree with such assessments:
Vanity Fair wrote:
Bill O'Reilly said:
Biographer Kitty Kelly states that she has always been “fascinated” by Winfrey:
Winfrey's influence reaches far beyond pop-culture and into unrelated industries where many believe she has the power to cause enormous market swings and radical price changes with a single comment. During a show about mad cow disease with Howard Lyman (aired on April 16, 1996), Winfrey exclaimed, "It has just stopped me cold from eating another burger!" Texas cattlemen sued her and Lyman in early 1998 for "false defamation of perishable food" and "business disparagement", claiming that Winfrey's remarks subsequently sent cattle prices tumbling, costing beef producers some USD$12 million. On February 26, after a trial spanning over two months in an Amarillo, Texas court in the thick of cattle country, a jury found Winfrey and Lyman were not liable for damages. (After the trial, she received a postcard from Roseanne Barr reading, “Congratulations, you beat the meat!”) In June 2005 the first case of mad cow disease in a cow native to the United States was detected in Texas. The USDA concluded that it was most likely infected in Texas prior to 1997.<ref name="USDA"> Clifford , John
(2005-06-25) . Regarding the Epidemiological Investigation into the recently confirmed BSE case (PDF) . United States Department of Agriculture
. Retrieved on 2007-03-12. </ref>
In 2005 Winfrey was named the greatest woman in American history as part of a public poll as part of The Greatest American. She was ranked #9 overall on the list of greatest Americans.
Winfrey's reach extends far beyond the shores of the U.S., where 49 million U.S. viewers see her talk show weekly. The show airs in 117 countries around the world “from Australia to Zimbabwe.”<ref name="Show Trivia"> The Oprah Winfrey Show: Trivia
. Harpo, Inc.
. Retrieved on [[2006-08-29]]. </ref>
Media counterculture
While Phil Donahue has been credited with pioneering the tabloid talk show genre, what has been described as the warmth, intimacy and personal confession<ref name="TIME 100"> Tannen , Deborah
(1998-06-08) . Oprah Winfrey . The TIME 100 . TIME
. Retrieved on 2007-03-12. </ref> Winfrey brought to the format is believed to have both popularized and revolutionized it.<ref name="Coming Afer Oprah">Modèle:Cite press release</ref> <ref name="TIME 100"/><ref name="Word Spy"> Oprahization
. Word Spy
. Retrieved on 2007-03-12. </ref> In the scholarly text Freaks Talk Back,<ref name="FTB UCPress"> [http://www.press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/280640.html An interview and excerpt from Freaks Talk Back]
. University of Chicago Press
. Retrieved on 2007-03-12. </ref> Yale sociology professor Joshua Gamson credits the tabloid talk show genre with providing much needed high impact media visibility for gays, bisexuals, transsexuals, and transgender people and doing more to make them mainstream and socially acceptable than any other development of the 20th century. In the book's editorial review Michael Bronski wrote "In the recent past, lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, and transgendered people had almost no presence on television. With the invention and propagation of tabloid talk shows such as Jerry Springer, Jenny Jones, Oprah, and Geraldo, people outside the sexual mainstream now appear in living rooms across America almost every day of the week."<ref name="FTP Amazon"> Freaks Talk Back: Tabloid Talk Shows and Sexual Nonconformity (Paperback)
. Amazon.com
. Retrieved on 2007-03-12.
</ref>
An example of one such show by Winfrey occurred in the 1980s where for the entire hour, members of the studio audience stood up one by one, gave their name and announced that they were gay. Also in the 1980s Winfrey took her show to West Virginia to confront a town gripped by AIDS paranoia because a gay man living in the town had HIV. Winfrey interviewed the man who had become a social outcast, the town's mayor who drained a swimming pool in which the man had gone swimming, and debated with the town's hostile residents. "But I hear this is a God fearing town," Winfrey scolded the homophobic studio audience; "where's all that Christian love and understanding?" During a show on gay marriage in the 1990s, a woman in Winfrey's audience stood up to complain that gays were constantly flaunting their sex lives and she announced that she was tired of it. "You know what I'm tired of", replied Winfrey, "heterosexual males raping and sodomizing young girls. That's what I'm tired of." Her rebuttal inspired a screaming standing ovation from that show's mostly gay studio audience.
Gamson credits the tabloid talk show fad with making alternative sexual orientations and identities more acceptable in mainstream society. Examples include a recent Time magazine article describing early 21st century gays coming out of the closet younger and younger and gay suicide rates plummeting. Gamson also believes that tabloid talk shows caused gays to be embraced on more traditional forms of media. Examples include sitcoms like Will & Grace, primetime shows like Queer Eye for the Straight Guy and Oscar nominated feature films like Brokeback Mountain.
While having changed with the times from her tabloid talk show roots, Winfrey continues to include gay guests by using her show to promote openly gay personalities like her hairdresser, makeup artist, and decorator Nate Berkus who inspired an outpouring of sympathy from middle America after grieving the loss of his partner in the 2004 tsunami on the Oprah Winfrey Show. Winfrey's "therapeutic" hosting style and the tabloid talk show genre has been credited or blamed for leading the media counterculture of the 1980s and 1990s which some believe broke 20th century taboos, led to America's self-help obsession, and created confession culture. The Wall Street Journal coined the term "Oprahfication" which means public confession as a form of therapy.<ref>[3]</ref>
In April 1997, Winfrey played the therapist on the sitcom Ellen to whom the character (and the real-life Ellen DeGeneres) said she was a lesbian. In 1998, Mark Steyn in the National Review wrote of Winfrey "Today, no truly epochal moment in the history of the Republic occurs unless it is validated by her presence. When Ellen said, 'Yep! I'm gay,' Oprah was by her side, guesting on the sitcom as (what else?) the star's therapist."
Communication style
By confessing intimate details about her weight problems, tumultuous love life, and sexual abuse, and crying alongside her guests, Time magazine credits Winfrey with creating a new form of media communication known as "rapport talk" as distinguished from the "report talk" of Phil Donahue:
Observers even noted the "Oprahfication" of politics by noting "Oprah-style debates" and Bill Clinton's empathetic speaking style. Columnist Maureen Dowd commented on the symbolism of Bill Clinton seeking an "Oprah-style" talk show when he left the presidency:
Newsweek stated:
Winfrey's intimate confessions about her weight (which peaked at 108 kg (238 lb), also paved the way for other plus sized women in media such as Roseanne Barr, Rosie O'Donnell and Star Jones. The November 1988 Ms. magazine observed that "in a society where fat is taboo, she made it in a medium that worships thin and celebrates a bland, white-bread prettiness of body and personality...But Winfrey made fat sexy, elegant — damned near gorgeous - with her drop-dead wardrobe, easy body language, and cheerful sensuality."
Oprah's Book Club
In late 1996,<ref>http://www2.oprah.com/obc/pastbooks/obc_pastdate.jhtml</ref> Winfrey introduced a new segment on her television show: Oprah's Book Club. The segment focused on new books and classics, and often brought obscure novels to popular attention. The book club became such a powerful force that whenever Winfrey introduced a new book as her book-club selection, it instantly became a best-seller (known as the Oprah Effect); for example, when she selected the classic John Steinbeck novel East of Eden, it soared to the top of the book charts. Being recognized by Winfrey often means a million additional book sales for an author.<ref>[4]</ref>
In Reading with Oprah: The book club that changed America, Kathleen Rooney describes Winfrey as "a serious American intellectual who pioneered the use of electronic media, specifically television and the Internet, to take reading — a decidedly non-technological and highly individual act — and highlight its social elements and uses in such a way to motivate millions of erstwhile non-readers to pick up books."
Oprah's Book Club has occasionally chosen books which have proven to be controversial. Most notably, Jonathan Franzen questioned the Club's selection process and credibility,<ref>http://www.bitchmagazine.com/archives/02_02franzen/franzen.shtml Jonathan Franzen and Oprah</ref> and there was a live television confrontation over allegations of fabrication regarding James Frey's A Million Little Pieces.
Spiritual icon
In 2002, Christianity Today published an article called "The Church of O" in which they concluded that Winfrey had emerged as an influential spiritual leader. "Since 1994, when she abandoned traditional talk-show fare for more edifying content, and 1998, when she began 'Change Your Life TV', Oprah's most significant role has become that of spiritual leader. To her audience of more than 22 million mostly female viewers, she has become a postmodern priestess—an icon of church-free spirituality."<ref>The Church of O. Christianity Today, March 22 2002. Retrieved July 7 2006.</ref> The sentiment was seconded by Marcia Z. Nelson in her book The Gospel According to Oprah.<ref>[5]</ref> On the season premier of Winfrey's 13th season Roseanne Barr told Winfrey "you're the African Mother Goddess of us all" inspiring much enthusiasm from the studio audience. The animated series Futurama alluded to her spiritual influence by suggesting that, a thousand years from now, a religion known as "Oprahism" exists.
Fan base
The audience for her magazine is considerably more upscale than those who watch her show, earning US$63,000 a year (well above the median for U.S. women).<ref name=businessfortune>[6]</ref> Although Winfrey's audience is sometimes spoofed for their fanatical devotion by shows like Saturday Night Live, Winfrey has been very protective of them and gets very offended when they are publicly disparaged.
Although Winfrey's audience is 75% female<ref>Newsmax May 2007, On pg 62 they note that three out of four Oprah viewers are female</ref>, some of Winfrey's fans are gay males. For example, one of the stars of the reality TV show The Benefactor was a gay African American man named Kevin who was so obsessed with Winfrey that he would ask "What would Oprah do?" before making any strategic decision.
Winfrey's fan base transcends national borders. The Wall Street Journal reported that MBC 4, an Arab satellite channel, centered its entire programming around reruns of her show because it was drawing record numbers of female viewers in Saudi Arabia.<ref>NewsMax May 2007 pg 65</ref>
Philanthropy
In 1998, Winfrey began Oprah's Angel Network, a charity aimed at encouraging people around the world to make a difference in the lives of underprivileged others. Accordingly, Oprah's Angel Network supports charitable projects and provides grants to nonprofit organizations around the world that share this vision. To date, Oprah's Angel Network has raised more than $51,000,000 ($1 million of which was donated by Jon Bon Jovi). Winfrey personally covers all administrative costs associated with the charity, so 100% of all funds raised go to charity programs.<ref name="Angel Network"> The History of Oprah's Angel Network
. Harpo Productions
. Retrieved on 2007-03-06. </ref>
Although Winfrey's show is known for raising money through her public charity and the cars and gifts she gives away on TV are often donated by corporations in exchange for publicity, behind the scenes Winfrey personally donates more of her own money to charity than any other show-business celebrity in America. In 2005 she became the first black person listed by Business Week as one of America's top 50 most generous philanthropists, having given an estimated $303 million.<ref>[7]</ref> Winfrey was the 32nd most philanthropic.
In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, Oprah asked her viewers to open their hearts—and they did. As of September 2006, donations to the Oprah Angel Network Katrina registry total more than $11 million. Homes have been built in four states—Texas, Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama—before the one year anniversary of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.<ref>Building Oprah Katrina Homes</ref> Winfrey also matched her viewers' donations by personally giving $10 million to the cause.<ref name="LAStarz"> Mirabella , Linda
. Cash Donations, Benefit Concerts, Celebrity Auctions and Celectrity Volunteers to Beneift Victims of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita . LAStarz
. Retrieved on 2007-03-07. </ref>
Winfrey has also put 250 African-American men through college<ref>[8]</ref>
Winfrey was the recipient of the first Bob Hope Humanitarian Award at the 2002 Emmy Awards for services to television and film.
To celebrate two decades on national TV, and to thank her employees for their hard work, Winfrey took her staff and their families (1065 people in total) on vacation to Hawaii in the summer of 2006.<ref name="Oprah's Back"> Boykin , Keith
(2006-09-19) . Oprah's Back . keithboykin.com
. Retrieved on 2007-03-05. </ref>
South Africa
In 2004, Winfrey and her team filmed an episode of her show entitled Oprah's Christmas Kindness, in which Winfrey, her best friend Gayle King, her partner Stedman Graham, and some crew members travelled to South Africa to bring attention to the plight of young children affected by poverty and AIDS. During the 21-day whirlwind trip, Winfrey and her crew visited schools and orphanages in poverty-stricken areas, and at different set-up points in the areas distributed Christmas presents to 50,000 children,<ref name="Christmas Kindness"> Christmas Kindness
. Harpo Productions
. Retrieved on 2007-03-06. </ref> with dolls for the girls and soccer balls for the boys. In addition, each child was given a backpack full of school supplies and received two sets of school uniforms for their gender, in addition to two sets of socks, two sets of underwear, and a pair of shoes. Throughout the show, Winfrey appealed to viewers to donate money to Oprah's Angel Network for poor and AIDS-affected children in Africa, and pledged that she personally would oversee where that money was spent. From that show alone, viewers around the world donated over $7,000,000.
Winfrey invested $40 million and much of her time establishing the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls near Johannesburg in South Africa. The school opened in January, 2007. Nelson Mandela praised Winfrey for overcoming her own disadvantaged youth to become a benefactor for others and for investing in the future of South Africa.<ref name = "Mandela cheers"> Mandela cheers Oprah's new school
. IOL (2007-01-02)
. Retrieved on 2007-03-06. </ref>
Political advocacy
Winfrey has recently exerted political influence, endorsing presidential candidate Barack Obama in the 2008 presidential election. This is the first time she has publically made such an endorsement. Winfrey held a fundraiser for Obama on September 8, 2007 at her Santa Barbara, CA estate. <ref>http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/472156,oprah071707.article</ref> In Decemeber 2007, Winfrey joined Obama for a series of rallies in the early primary states of Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina. <ref>[9]</ref> The Columbia, South Carolina event on December 9, 2007 drew a crowd of nearly 30,000, the largest for any political event of the 2008 presidential election season thus far. <ref>http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/12/09/506930.aspx</ref>
Criticisms and controversies
Although Winfrey has continually changed the focus of her show since the mid-1990s, her success has been blamed for popularizing the "tabloid talk show" genre, and turning it into a thriving industry that has included Ricki Lake, The Jenny Jones Show, and The Jerry Springer Show. Sociologist Vicki Abt criticised tabloid talk shows for redefining social norms. In her book Coming After Oprah: Cultural Fallout in the Age of the TV talk show, Abt warned that the media revolution that followed Winfrey's success was blurring the lines between "normal" and "deviant" behavior.<ref>[10]</ref><ref>[11]</ref>
Leading up to the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, Winfrey's show received criticism for allegedly having an anti-war bias. Ben Shapiro of Townhall.com wrote: Modèle:Cquote
In 2006, Winfrey recalled such controversies: Modèle:Cquote
However antiwar activist Michael Moore came to Winfrey’s defense, praising her for showing antiwar footage no other media would show<ref>Dude Where’s My Country by Michael Moore, pg 87</ref> and begging her to run for president.<ref>Dude Where’s My Country, pg 255-258</ref> A February 2003 series Winfrey did, in which she showed clips from people all over the world asking America not to go to war, was interrupted in several east coast markets by network broadcasts of a press conference in which President George W. Bush, joined by Colin Powell, summarized the case for war.<ref> Modèle:Cite press release</ref> An article in Buzzflash.com argued that the press conference was a deliberate attempt to stop Winfrey’s show from airing. <ref>[12]</ref>
In June 2005, Winfrey was denied access to the Hermès company's flagship store in Paris, France. Winfrey arrived fifteen minutes after the store's formal closing time, though the store was still very active and high end stores routinely extend hours for VIP customers. Winfrey believed she would have been allowed in the store if she were a white celebrity. “I know the difference between a store that is closed and a store that is closed to me,” explained Winfrey. In September 2005, Hermès USA CEO Robert Chavez was a guest on The Oprah Winfrey Show and apologized for a rude employee.
On December 1, 2005, Winfrey appeared on The Late Show with David Letterman to promote the new Broadway musical The Color Purple,<ref>The Color Purple: The Musical</ref> of which she was a producer, joining the host for the first time in 16 years. The episode was hailed by some as the “television event of the decade” and helped Letterman attract his largest audience in more than 11 years: 13.45 million viewers.<ref name="Letterman ratings"> Huff , Richard
; Chrisena Coleman
(2005-12-03) . It's Win-Winfrey situation for Dave as ratings soar . New York Daily News
. Retrieved on 2007-03-05. </ref> Although a much-rumored feud was said to have been the cause of the rift, both Winfrey and Letterman balked at such talk. “I want you to know, it's really over, whatever you thought was happening,” said Winfrey. On September 10, 2007, David Letterman made his first appearance on "The Oprah Winfrey Show", as its season premiere was filmed in New York City.<ref>Yahoo.TV, Letterman to appear on `Oprah'</ref>
In 2006, rappers Ludacris, 50 Cent and Ice Cube criticized Winfrey for what they perceived as an anti-hip hop bias. In an interview with GQ magazine, Ludacris said that Winfrey gave him a "hard time" about his lyrics, and edited comments he made during an appearance on her show with the cast of the film Crash. He also claimed that he wasn't initially invited on the show with the rest of the cast. Winfrey responded by saying that she's opposed to rap lyrics that "marginalize women", but enjoys some artists, including Kanye West, who appeared on her show. She said she spoke with Ludacris backstage after his appearance to explain her position, and said she understood that his music was for entertainment purposes, but that some of his listeners might take it literally.<ref>[13]</ref>
Winfrey has also been criticized for not being "tough" enough in questioning celebrity or politician guests on her show that she appears to like.<ref>Poniewozik, James, "Oprah Winfrey, Journalist?" Salon Media Circus, [14], D'Addario, Dan, "The Audacity of Hype", Media Frenzy, [15].</ref> Lisa de Moraes, a media columnist for The Washington Post, stated, "Oprah doesn't do follow-up questions unless you're an author who's embarrassed her by fabricating portions of a supposed memoir she's plugged for her book club."<ref>de Moraes, Lisa, "Dave Chappelle, Rematerializing Guy", The Washington Post, February 4, 2006.[16]</ref>
In early 2007, Winfrey was criticized for building a $40 million school complex for girls in South Africa. The school will have an initial enrollment of 152 but will gradually accommodate 450,<ref>[17]</ref> and features such amenities as a beauty salon and yoga studio.<ref>[18]</ref> It has been argued that the money would be better utilized to educate a larger number of children in either North America or South Africa; however, Winfrey insists that beautiful surroundings will inspire greatness in the future leaders of Africa.<ref>[19]</ref>
Recently, Winfrey has been accused by magician and skeptic James Randi of being deliberately deceptive and uncritical in how she handles paranormal claims on her show.<ref>[20]</ref>
In 2007, Winfrey began to endorse the controversial self-help program The Secret. The Secret claims that people can change their lives through positive thoughts, which will then cause vibrations that result in good things happening to them. Critics argue that this idea is pseudoscience and psychologically damaging, as it trivializes important decisions and promotes a quick-fix material culture, and suggest Winfrey's promotion of it is irresponsible given her influence.<ref>[21]</ref>
Despite the occasional media controversy, best-selling biographer Kitty Kelley, known for making scandalous allegations of such celebrated figures as Jackie Kennedy Onassis, Frank Sinatra, Nancy Reagan, Elizabeth Taylor and the Bush family, stated that two months into researching Winfrey, she and her staff have been unable to uncover a single nasty rumor or story: "So far, I don't see anything negative on this woman. I think she's a real icon.”<ref>[22]</ref>
Footnotes
See also
- Lists of billionaires
- Harpo Productions
- Oprah Winfrey's Legends Ball
- Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls
- The Oprah Winfrey Show
- Media works of Oprah Winfrey
External links
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