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Oprah Winfrey

March 08, 2023

"Oprah" redirects here. Not to be confused with Orpah or Opera.
For the talk show, see The Oprah Winfrey Show.

Oprah Gail Winfrey (/ˈoʊprə/; born Orpah Gail Winfrey;[2] January 29, 1954) is an American talk show host, television producer, actress, author, and media proprietor. She is best known for her talk show, The Oprah Winfrey Show, broadcast from Chicago, which ran in national syndication for 25 years, from 1986 to 2011.[3][better source needed][4] Dubbed the "Queen of All Media",[5] she was the richest African-American of the 20th century[6][7] and was once the world's only black billionaire.[8] By 2007, she was often ranked as the most influential woman in the world.[9][10]

Oprah Winfrey
Winfrey in 2014
Born
Orpah Gail Winfrey

(1954-01-29) January 29, 1954 (age 69)
Kosciusko, Mississippi, U.S.
Alma materTennessee State University (BA)
Occupations
  • Television presenter
  • actress
  • television producer
  • media proprietor
  • philanthropist
  • author
Years active1973–present
WorksMedia projects
Title
Political partyIndependent
PartnerStedman Graham (1986–present)
Children1[a][1]
AwardsFull list
Websiteoprah.com
Signature

Winfrey was born into poverty in rural Mississippi to a single teenage mother and later raised in inner-city Milwaukee. She has stated that she was molested during her childhood and early teenage years and became pregnant at 14; her son was born prematurely and died in infancy.[11] Winfrey was then sent to live with the man she calls her father, Vernon Winfrey, a barber in Nashville, Tennessee, and landed a job in radio while still in high school.[4] By 19, she was a co-anchor for the local evening news. Winfrey's often emotional, extemporaneous delivery eventually led to her transfer to the daytime talk show arena, and after boosting a third-rated local Chicago talk show to first place,[12] she launched her own production company.

By the mid-1990s, Winfrey had reinvented her show with a focus on literature, self-improvement, mindfulness, and spirituality. Though she has been criticized for unleashing a confession culture, promoting controversial self-help ideas,[13] and having an emotion-centered approach,[14] she has also been praised for overcoming adversity to become a benefactor to others.[15] Winfrey also emerged as a political force in the 2008 presidential race, with her endorsement of Barack Obama estimated to have been worth about one million votes during the 2008 Democratic primaries.[16] In 2013, Winfrey was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Obama[17] and received honorary doctorate degrees from Duke and Harvard.[18][19] In 2008, she formed her own network, the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN).

Credited with creating a more intimate, confessional form of media communication,[20] Winfrey popularized and revolutionized[20][21] the tabloid talk show genre pioneered by Phil Donahue.[20] In 1994, she was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame.[22] Winfrey has won many accolades throughout her career which includes 18 Daytime Emmy Awards, including the Lifetime Achievement Award and the Chairman's Award, two Primetime Emmy Awards, including the Bob Hope Humanitarian Award, a Tony Award, a Peabody Award and the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, awarded by the Academy Awards and two additional Academy Award nominations. Winfrey was elected as a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2021.[23]

Early life

Orpah Gail Winfrey was born on January 29, 1954; her first name was spelled Orpah on her birth certificate after the biblical figure in the Book of Ruth, but people mispronounced it regularly and "Oprah" stuck.[2][24] She was born in Kosciusko, Mississippi, to an unmarried teenage mother.[25] Her mother, Vernita Lee (1935–2018), was a housemaid.[26][27] Winfrey's biological father is usually noted as Vernon Winfrey (c. 1933–2022), a coal miner turned barber turned city councilman who was in the Armed Forces when she was born.[26] However, Mississippi farmer and World War II Veteran Noah Robinson Sr. (born c. 1925) has claimed to be her biological father.[28][29] A genetic test in 2006 determined that her matrilineal line originated among the Kpelle ethnic group, in the area that today is Liberia. Her genetic makeup was determined to be 89% Sub-Saharan African, 8% Native American, and 3% East Asian. However, given the imprecision of genetic testing, the East Asian markers may actually be Native American.[30]

After Winfrey's birth, her mother traveled north, and Winfrey spent her first six years living in rural poverty with her maternal grandmother, Hattie Mae (Presley) Lee (April 15, 1900 – February 27, 1963). Her grandmother was so poor that Winfrey often wore dresses made of potato sacks, for which other children made fun of her.[25][31] Her 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 was reportedly abusive.[32]

At age six, Winfrey moved to an inner-city neighborhood in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, with her mother, who was less supportive and encouraging than her grandmother had been, largely as a result of the long hours she worked as a maid.[26] Around this time, Lee had given birth to another daughter, Winfrey's younger half-sister, Patricia[33] who died of causes related to cocaine addiction in February 2003 at age 43.[34] By 1962, Lee was having difficulty raising both daughters, so Winfrey was temporarily sent to live with Vernon in Nashville, Tennessee.[35] While Winfrey was in Nashville, Lee gave birth to a third daughter,[36] who was put up for adoption in the hopes of easing the financial straits that had led to Lee's being on welfare, and was later also named Patricia.[37] Winfrey did not know that she had a second half-sister until 2010.[37] By the time Winfrey moved back with her mother, Lee had also given birth to Winfrey's half-brother Jeffrey, who died of AIDS-related causes in 1989.[34] At the age of 8, she was baptized in a Baptist church.[38]

Winfrey has stated she was molested by her cousin, uncle, and a family friend, starting when she was nine years old, something she first announced on a 1986 episode of her TV show regarding sexual abuse.[39][40] A biographer alleged that when Winfrey discussed the alleged abuse with family members at age 24, they reportedly refused to believe her account.[41] Winfrey once commented that she had chosen not to be a mother because she had not been mothered well.[42] At 13, after suffering what she described as years of abuse, Winfrey ran away from home.[24] When she was 14, she became pregnant, but her son was born prematurely and died shortly after birth.[43] Winfrey later stated she felt betrayed by the family member who had sold the story of her son to the National Enquirer in 1990.[44]

Winfrey attended Lincoln High School in Milwaukee, but after early success in the Upward Bound program, was transferred to the affluent suburban Nicolet High School. Upon transferring, she said she was continually reminded of her poverty as she rode the bus to school with fellow African-Americans, some of whom were servants of her classmates' families. She began to rebel and steal money from her mother in an effort to keep up with her free-spending peers.[45][46] As a result, her mother once again sent her to live with Vernon in Nashville, although this time she did not take her back. Vernon was strict but encouraging, and made her education a priority. Winfrey became an honors student, was voted Most Popular Girl, and joined her high school speech team at East Nashville High School, placing second in the nation in dramatic interpretation.[47][48]

Winfrey's first job as a teenager was working at a local grocery store.[49][50] At the age of 17, Winfrey won the Miss Black Tennessee beauty pageant.[citation needed] She also attracted the attention of the local black radio station, WVOL, which hired her to do the news part-time.[39] She worked there during her senior year of high school and in her first two years of college.[51] She had won an oratory contest, which secured her a full scholarship to Tennessee State University, a historically black institution, where she studied communication. However, she did not deliver her final paper and receive her degree until 1987, by which time she was a successful television personality.[52]

Winfrey's career in media would not have surprised her grandmother, who once 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. Winfrey later acknowledged her grandmother's influence, saying it was Hattie Mae who had encouraged her to speak in public and "gave me a positive sense of myself".[53]

Television

Main article: The Oprah Winfrey Show

Working in local media, Winfrey was both the youngest news anchor and the first black female news anchor at Nashville's WLAC-TV (now WTVF-TV), where she often covered the same stories as John Tesh, who worked at a competing Nashville station. In 1976, she moved to Baltimore's WJZ-TV to co-anchor the six o'clock news. In 1977, she was removed as co-anchor and worked in lower profile positions at the station. 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.[54][55][56]

In 1984, Winfrey relocated to Chicago to host WLS-TV's low-rated half-hour morning talk show, AM Chicago, after being hired by that station's general manager, Dennis Swanson. 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. The movie critic Roger Ebert 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.[57] It was then renamed The Oprah Winfrey Show and expanded to a full hour. The first episode was broadcast nationwide on September 8, 1986.[58][59] Winfrey's syndicated show brought in double Donahue's national audience, displacing Donahue as the number-one daytime talk show in America. Their much-publicized contest was the subject of enormous scrutiny. According to Time magazine in August 1988:

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.[60]

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."[61] 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"[61] and 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."[61]

 
Winfrey in 1997

In the early years of The Oprah Winfrey Show, the program was classified as a tabloid talk show. In the mid-1990s, Winfrey began to host shows on broader topics such as heart disease, geopolitics, spirituality, and meditation. She interviewed celebrities on social issues they were directly involved with, such as cancer, charity work, or substance abuse, and hosted televised giveaways.[62][63] The later years of the show faced accusations that Winfrey was promoting junk science.[64] This has manifested as criticisms of Winfrey for promoting particular guests whose medical commentaries (both on her show and in the wider media) frequently lack supporting science. Common targets of this criticism include Dr. Oz's promotion of various "miracle pills" (especially those aimed at weight loss), Dr. Phil, Jenny McCarthy's unfounded assertions about vaccines, and Suzanne Somers's promotion of bioidenticals.[65][66] Multiple publications have called on Oprah to denounce medical statements made by her former proteges long after her show ended. For example, there were calls for her to denounce Dr. Oz in 2020 reaction to his comments about coronavirus and his promotion of a poorly vetted drug as a cure.[67]

In addition to her talk show, Winfrey also produced and co-starred in the drama miniseries The Women of Brewster Place (1989) and its short-lived spin-off, Brewster Place. As well as hosting and appearing on television shows, Winfrey co-founded the women's cable television network Oxygen which was the initial network for her Oprah After the Show program from 2002 to 2006 before moving to Oprah.com when Winfrey sold her stake in the network. She is also the president of Harpo Productions (Oprah spelled backwards), a film and TV production company behind The Oprah Winfrey Show, Dr. Phil, Rachael Ray, The Dr. Oz Show and many others. She also moderated three ABC Afterschool Specials from 1992 to 1994.

On January 15, 2008, Winfrey and Discovery Communications announced plans to change Discovery Health Channel into a new channel called OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network. It was scheduled to launch in 2009 but was delayed, and actually launched on January 1, 2011.[68]

The series finale of The Oprah Winfrey Show aired on May 25, 2011.[69]

In January 2017, CBS announced that Winfrey would join 60 Minutes as a special contributor on the Sunday evening news magazine program starting in September 2017.[70] The National Museum of African American History and Culture in 2018 opened a special exhibit on Winfrey's cultural influence through television.[71] Winfrey left 60 Minutes by the end of 2018.[72]

In June 2018, Apple announced a multi-year content partnership with Winfrey, in which it was agreed that Winfrey would create new original programs exclusively for Apple's streaming service, Apple TV+.[73] The first show under the deal, Oprah's Book Club, premiered on November 1, 2019. Oprah's Book Club is based on the segment of the same name from The Oprah Winfrey Show. The second show under the deal, Oprah Talks COVID-19, debuted on March 21, 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic. A third show, The Oprah Conversation debuted on July 30, 2020, with Winfrey "[continuing] to explore impactful and relevant topics with fascinating thought leaders from all over the world".[74]

Celebrity interviews

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 36.5 million.[75] On December 1, 2005, Winfrey appeared on the Late Show with David Letterman for the first time in 16 years, to promote the new Broadway musical, The Color Purple,[76] which she produced. 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.[77] Although a much-rumored feud was said to have been the cause of the rift,[76] 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, Letterman made his first appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show, as its season premiere was filmed in New York City.[78]

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 said that he wasn't initially invited on the show with the rest of the cast.[79] Winfrey responded by saying that she is 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. In September 2008, Winfrey received criticism after Matt Drudge of the Drudge Report[80] reported that Winfrey refused to have Sarah Palin on her show, allegedly because of Winfrey's support for Barack Obama.[81] Winfrey denied the report, maintaining that there never was a discussion regarding Palin's appearing on her show. She said that after she made public her support for Obama, she decided that she would not let her show be used as a platform for any of the candidates.[81] Although Obama appeared twice on her show, those appearances were prior to his declaration as a presidential candidate. Winfrey added that Palin would make a fantastic guest and that she would love to have her on the show after the election, which she did on November 18, 2009.[81]

In 2009, Winfrey was criticized for allowing actress Suzanne Somers to appear on her show to discuss hormone treatments that are not accepted by mainstream medicine.[82] Critics have also suggested that Winfrey is not tough enough when questioning celebrity guests or politicians whom she appears to like.[83] 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."[84]

In 2021, she conducted an interview with Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, and her husband Prince Harry, which was broadcast globally and received international media attention.[85]

Other media

Film

Winfrey co-starred in Steven Spielberg's The Color Purple (1985), as distraught housewife Sofia. She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance. The Alice Walker novel later became a Broadway musical which opened in late 2005, with Winfrey credited as a producer. In October 1998, Winfrey produced and starred in the film Beloved, based on 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. While promoting the movie, co-star Thandie Newton described Winfrey as "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."[86] Harpo Productions released a film adaptation of Zora Neale Hurston's 1937 novel Their Eyes Were Watching God in 2005. The made-for-television film was based upon a teleplay by Suzan-Lori Parks and starred Halle Berry in the lead female role.

In late 2008, Winfrey's company Harpo Films signed an exclusive output pact to develop and produce scripted series, documentaries, and movies exclusively for HBO.[87]

Oprah voiced Gussie the goose in Charlotte's Web (2006) and voiced Judge Bumbleton in Bee Movie (2007), co-starring the voices of Jerry Seinfeld and Renée Zellweger. In 2009, Winfrey provided the voice for the character of Eudora, the mother of Princess Tiana, in Disney's The Princess and the Frog and in 2010, narrated the US version of the BBC nature program Life for Discovery.

In 2018, Winfrey starred as Mrs. Which in the film adaptation of Madeleine L'Engle's novel A Wrinkle in Time.[88] She also lent her voice to an animated virtual-reality short film written and directed by Eric Darnell, starring John Legend, titled Crow: The Legend, telling a native American origin tale.[89]

Publishing and writing

Winfrey has co-authored five books. At the announcement of a weight-loss book in 2005, 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 the autobiography of former U.S. President Bill Clinton.[90]

In 2015, her memoir, The Life You Want, was announced following on her tour of the same name,[91][92] and scheduled for publication in 2017,[93] but was "indefinitely postponed" in 2016.[94]

Winfrey publishes the magazine: O, The Oprah Magazine and from 2004 to 2008 also published a magazine called O At Home.[95] In 2002, Fortune called O, the Oprah Magazine the most successful start-up ever in the industry.[96] Although its circulation had declined by more than 10 percent 2.4 million from 2005 to 2008, the January 2009 issue was the best selling issue since 2006.[97] The January 2009 issue was the best selling issue since 2006.[98] The audience for her magazine is considerably more upscale than for her TV show; the average reader earns well above the median for U.S. women.[96] In July 2020, it was announced that O Magazine would end its regular print publications after the December 2020 issue.[99][100] In the December 2020 issue, Winfrey thanked readers and acknowledged it was the magazine's "final monthly print edition".[101]

Online

Winfrey's company created the Oprah.com website to provide resources and interactive content related to her shows, magazines, book club, and public charity. Oprah.com averages more than 70 million page views and more than six million users per month, and receives approximately 20,000 e-mails each week.[102] 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.[103]

Radio

On February 9, 2006, it was announced that Winfrey had signed a three-year, $55-million contract with XM Satellite Radio to establish a new radio channel. The channel, Oprah Radio, 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, seven 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.[104]

Personal life

Homes

 
Aerial view of Oprah's Montecito estate

Oprah's extensive and continuously evolving real-estate portfolio has garnered heightened attention throughout her life and career, with many prominent industry outlets branding her a "tycoon" regarding her investments which as of 2022, are estimated to total approximately $127 million.

As her talk-show was beginning, Oprah first purchased a condominium in Chicago's Water Tower Place in 1985, before purchasing the condos adjoining and directly below it in 1992, 1993, and 1994, respectively. In 1988, she purchased an 164-acre property including main and guest residences, orchard, and stables in Rolling Prairie, Indiana as her weekend refuge. In 1992, she purchased an 80-acre compound in Telluride, Colorado, which she would go on to sell in approximately late 2000. In 1994, she also purchased an apartment at the Four Seasons Hotel Chicago. Between 1996 and 2000 she purchased a total of five condos in different development areas of Fisher Island, Florida. In 2000, through her Chicago-based LLC Overground Railroad, Oprah purchased her friend Gayle King an estate in Greenwich, Connecticut. In 2001, Oprah sold all five of her Fisher Island condos and purchased what would become her "main home base" she has also called "The Promised Land" (where she currently lives as of 2022), a (then) 42-acre (17-ha) estate with ocean and mountain views in Montecito, California.

Additionally that year, she also purchased homes in both Elmwood Park, Illinois and Merrillville, Indiana for other family members and friends. Similarly, in 2002, she purchased her father's home in Franklin, Tennessee and a lakefront condo in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. In 2003 she listed her compound in Rolling Prairie, Indiana, and sold it in 2004. From 2003 to 2005, Oprah acquired several properties totaling 163 acres in Kula and Hana, Hawaii as well as a penthouse apartment in Atlanta, Georgia. In 2005, she purchased a home in Douglasville, Georgia which was gifted in 2011 to a family member.

In 2006, Oprah purchased a co-op apartment along Lake Shore Drive in downtown Chicago, reportedly with plans to permanently move there from her prior adjoined-condo unit in Water Tower Place for the duration of her show but for reasons unknown, the property sat entirely unused until she sold it in 2012. In 2008, she sold her penthouse apartment in Atlanta. That year, she also listed Gayle King's estate and purchased her (through her second LLC Sophie's Penthouse) a penthouse apartment in midtown Manhattan, New York City which would later be sold in 2012.

In early 2014, she listed her combined-unit Chicago duplex on the market. Later that year, Oprah came back to Telluride, Colorado to purchase a 60-acre lot with plans to build on the property. A lawsuit filed against her that year by a retired nuclear physicist living in the area regarding trail access rights was dismissed later that year with the judge citing little case law to support his case, among other issues. The extent of the agreement between all the parties and jurisdictions regarding her subsequent development on the property remains undisclosed.

In 2015, Oprah purchased another property in Telluride, and later that year, expanded her Montecito compound with another 23-acre estate and yet another 44-acre dedicated crop and equestrian preserve. That year she also sold both of her downtown Chicago homes.

In 2018, Oprah obtained two adjoining parcels of land totaling 23 acres including the Madroneagle compound on Orcas Island, Washington and sold her last home property in the Chicago area from Elmwood Park. In late 2019, Oprah yet again expanded her Montecito home-base compound, this time to 70 contiguous acres, with the purchase of a four-acre complex from actor Jeff Bridges. In 2021, she sold her Orcas Island compound as she said she was too busy to use it and purchased another compound in Montecito further away from her home-base compound, flipping the latter in 2022 with split properties, one of which was sold to her property manager and longtime personal trainer Bob Greene, and the other to actress Jennifer Aniston.[105][106][107][108][109][110][111][112][113][114][115][116][117]

Romantic history

Winfrey's 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 was a model student.[118] 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.[119] She broke up with him on Valentine's Day of her senior year.[119][120]

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".[121] 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."[122]

In the 1970s, Winfrey had a romantic relationship with John Tesh. Biographer Kitty Kelley claims that Tesh split with Winfrey over the pressures of an interracial relationship.[123]

When WJZ-TV management criticized Winfrey for crying on air while reporting tragedies and were unhappy with her physical appearance (especially when her hair fell out as a 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."[124]

According to Mair, when Kramer moved to NBC in New York, Winfrey had a love affair with a married man who had no intention of leaving his wife.[125] Winfrey would later recall: "I'd had a relationship with a man for four years. I wasn't living with him. I'd never lived with anyone—and I thought I was worthless without him. The more he rejected me, the more I wanted him. I felt depleted, powerless. At the end, I was down on the floor on my knees groveling and pleading with him".[126] 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.[126] "That suicide note had been much overplayed" Winfrey told Ms. magazine. "I couldn't kill myself. I would be afraid the minute I did it, something really good would happen and I'd miss it."[127]

According to Winfrey, her emotional turmoil gradually led to a weight problem: "The reason I gained so much weight in the first place and the reason I had such a sorry history of abusive relationships with men was I just needed approval so much. I needed everyone to like me, because I didn't like myself much. So I'd end up with these cruel self-absorbed guys who'd tell me how selfish I was, and I'd say 'Oh thank you, you're so right' and be grateful to them. Because I had no sense that I deserved anything else. Which is also why I gained so much weight later on. It was the perfect way of cushioning myself against the world's disapproval."[127]

Winfrey later confessed to smoking crack cocaine with a man she was romantically involved with during the same era. 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."[128]

Winfrey was allegedly involved in a second drug-related love affair. Self-proclaimed former boyfriend Randolph Cook said they lived together for several months in 1985 and did drugs. In 1997, Cook tried to sue Winfrey for $20 million for allegedly blocking a tell-all book about their alleged relationship.[129][130]

In the mid-1980s, Winfrey briefly dated movie critic Roger Ebert, whom she credits with advising her to take her show into syndication.[57]

In 1985, before Winfrey's Chicago talk show had gone national, Haitian filmmaker Reginald Chevalier claims he appeared as a guest on a look-alike segment and began a relationship with Winfrey involving romantic evenings at home, candlelit baths, and dinners with Michael Jordan and Danny Glover. Chevalier says Winfrey ended the relationship when she met Stedman Graham.[131]

Winfrey and her partner Stedman Graham have been together since 1986. They were engaged to be married in November 1992, but the ceremony never took place.[132]

Close friends

 
Winfrey celebrating her 50th birthday among friends at her Santa Barbara estate, 2004

Winfrey's best friend since their early twenties is Gayle King. King was formerly the host of 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 rumors 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?"[133] "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."[133]

Winfrey has also had a long friendship with Maria Shriver, after they met in Baltimore.[134][135] Winfrey considered Maya Angelou, author of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, her mentor and close friend; she called Angelou her "mother-sister-friend".[136] Winfrey hosted a week-long Caribbean cruise for Angelou and 150 guests for Angelou's 70th birthday in 1998, and in 2008, threw her "an extravagant 80th birthday celebration" at Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida.[137]

Personal wealth

Born in rural poverty, and raised by a mother dependent on government welfare payments in a poor urban neighborhood, Winfrey became a millionaire at the age of 32 when her talk show received national syndication. Winfrey negotiated ownership rights to the television program and started her own production company. At the age of 41, Winfrey had a net worth of $340 million and replaced Bill Cosby as the only African American on the Forbes 400.[138] By 2000, with a net worth of $800 million, Winfrey is believed to have been the richest African American of the 20th century. There has been a course taught at the University of Illinois focusing on Winfrey's business acumen, namely: "History 298: Oprah Winfrey, the Tycoon".[139] Winfrey was the highest-paid television entertainer in the United States in 2006, earning an estimated $260 million during the year, five times the sum earned by second-place music executive Simon Cowell.[140] By 2008, her yearly income had increased to $275 million.[141]

Forbes' list of The World's Billionaires has listed Winfrey as the world's only black billionaire from 2004 to 2006 and as the first black woman billionaire in the world that was achieved in 2003.[138] As of 2014, Winfrey had a net worth in excess of 2.9 billion dollars[142] and had overtaken former eBay CEO Meg Whitman as the richest self-made woman in America.[143]

Religious views

Oprah was raised a Baptist. In her early life, she would speak at local, mostly African American congregations of the Southern Baptist Convention that were often deeply religious and familiar with such themes as evangelical Protestantism, the Black church, and being born-again.[144][145][146]

She was quoted as saying: "I have church with myself: I have church walking down the street. I believe in the God force that lives inside all of us, and once you tap into that, you can do anything."[147] She also stated, "Doubt means don't. When you don't know what to do, do nothing until you do know what to do. Because the doubt is your inner voice or the voice of God or whatever you choose to call it. It is your instinct trying to tell you something is off. That's how I have found myself to be led spiritually, because that's your spiritual voice saying to you, 'let's think about it.' So when you don't know what to do, do nothing."[148]

Oprah has stated that she is a Christian and her favorite Bible verse is Acts 17:28.[149]

Oprah attends The Potter's House Church, Dallas service, an Evangelical church.[38]

Influence

Rankings

 
Winfrey at the White House for the 2010 Kennedy Center Honors

Winfrey was called "arguably the world's most powerful woman" by CNN and TIME,[150] "arguably the most influential woman in the world" by The American Spectator,[151] "one of the 100 people who most influenced the 20th Century" and "one of the most influential people" from 2004 to 2011 by TIME. Winfrey is the only person to have appeared in the latter list on ten occasions.[152]

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".[153] In 2007, USA Today ranked Winfrey as the most influential woman and most influential black person of the previous quarter-century.[154] Ladies' Home Journal also ranked Winfrey number one in their list of the most powerful women in America and then Senator Barack Obama in 2007 said she "may be the most influential woman in the country".[155] In 1998, Winfrey became the first woman and first African American to top Entertainment Weekly's list of the 101 most powerful people in the entertainment industry.[156] Forbes named her the world's most powerful celebrity in 2005,[157] 2007,[158] 2008,[141] 2010,[159] and 2013.[160]

As chairman of Harpo Inc., she was named the most powerful woman in entertainment by The Hollywood Reporter in 2008.[161] She has been listed as one of the most powerful 100 women in the world by Forbes, ranking 14th in 2014.[162] In 2010, Life magazine named Winfrey one of the 100 people who changed the world, alongside Jesus Christ, Elvis Presley, and Lady Mary Wortley Montagu. Winfrey was the only living woman to make the list.[163]

Columnist Maureen Dowd seems to agree with such assessments. Interviewed by The Guardian in 2006, Dowd said: "She is the top alpha female in this country. She has more credibility than the president. Other successful women, such as Hillary Clinton and Martha Stewart, had to be publicly slapped down before they could move forward. Even Condi has had to play the protégé with Bush. None of this happened to Oprah – she is a straight ahead success story."[164] Vanity Fair wrote: "Oprah Winfrey arguably has more influence on the culture than any university president, politician, or religious leader, except perhaps the Pope.[165] Bill O'Reilly said: "this is a woman that came from nothing to rise up to be the most powerful woman, I think, in the world. I think Oprah Winfrey is the most powerful woman in the world, not just in America. That's – anybody who goes on her program immediately benefits through the roof. I mean, she has a loyal following; she has credibility; she has talent; and she's done it on her own to become fabulously wealthy and fabulously powerful."[166]

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 No. 9 overall on the list of greatest Americans. However, polls estimating Winfrey's personal popularity have been inconsistent. A November 2003 Gallup poll estimated that 73% of American adults had a favorable view of Winfrey. Another Gallup poll in January 2007 estimated the figure at 74%, although it dropped to 66% when Gallup conducted the same poll in October 2007. A December 2007 Fox News poll put the figure at 55%.[167] According to Gallup's annual most admired poll, Americans consistently rank Winfrey as one of the most admired women in the world. Her highest rating came in 2007[168] when she was statistically tied with Hillary Clinton for first place.[169] In a list compiled by the British magazine New Statesman in September 2010, she was voted 38th in the list of "The World's 50 Most Influential Figures 2010".[170]

In 1989, she was accepted into the NAACP Image Award Hall of Fame.[171]

"Oprahfication"

The Wall Street Journal coined the term "Oprahfication", meaning public confession as a form of therapy.[172] By confessing intimate details about her weight problems, tumultuous love life, and sexual abuse, and crying alongside her guests, Winfrey has been credited by Time magazine with creating a new form of media communication known as "rapport talk" as distinguished from the "report talk" of Phil Donahue: "Winfrey saw television's power to blend public and private; while it links strangers and conveys information over public airwaves, TV is most often viewed in the privacy of our homes. Like a family member, it sits down to meals with us and talks to us in the lonely afternoons. Grasping this paradox, ... She makes people care because she cares. That is Winfrey's genius, and will be her legacy, as the changes she has wrought in the talk show continue to permeate our culture and shape our lives."[173]

Observers have also noted the "Oprahfication" of politics such as "Oprah-style debates" and Bill Clinton being described as "the man who brought Oprah-style psychobabble and misty confessions to politics".[174] Newsweek stated: "Every time a politician lets his lip quiver or a cable anchor 'emotes' on TV, they nod to the cult of confession that Oprah helped create."[175]

The November 1988 Ms. 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."[176]

Daytime talk show's impact on LGBT people

While Phil Donahue has been credited with pioneering the tabloid talk show genre, Winfrey's warmth, intimacy, and personal confession popularized and changed it.[20][21] Her success at popularizing the tabloid talk show genre opened up a thriving industry that has included Ricki Lake, The Jenny Jones Show, and The Jerry Springer Show. In the book Freaks Talk Back,[177] Yale sociology professor Joshua Gamson credits the tabloid talk show genre with providing much needed high-impact media visibility for gay, bisexual, transsexual, and transgender (LGBT) 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."[178] Gamson credits the tabloid talk show with making alternative sexual orientations and identities more acceptable in mainstream society. Examples include a Time magazine article[page needed] on early 21st-century gays coming out of the closet at an increasingly younger age and on plummeting gay suicide rates. Gamson also believes that tabloid talk shows caused gays to be accepted on more traditional forms of media.

In April 1997, Winfrey played the therapist in "The Puppy Episode" on the sitcom Ellen to whom the character (and the real-life Ellen DeGeneres) came out as a lesbian.

"The Oprah Effect"

The power of Winfrey's opinions and endorsement to influence public opinion, especially consumer purchasing choices, has been dubbed "the Oprah Effect".[179] The effect has been documented or alleged in domains as diverse as book sales, beef markets, and election voting. Late in 1996,[180] Winfrey introduced the Oprah's Book Club segment to her television show. 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; 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.[181] In Reading with Oprah: The Book Club that Changed America (2005), 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."

When author Jonathan Franzen's book was selected for the Book Club, he reportedly "cringed" and said selected books tend to be "schmaltzy".[182] After James Frey's A Million Little Pieces was found to contain fabrications in 2006, Winfrey confronted him on her show over the breach of trust. In 2009, Winfrey apologized to Frey for the public confrontation.[183] During a show about mad cow disease with Howard Lyman (aired on April 16, 1996), Winfrey said she was stopped 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 sent cattle prices tumbling, costing beef producers $11 million. Winfrey was represented by attorney Chip Babcock and, on February 26, after a two-month trial in an Amarillo, Texas, court, a jury found Winfrey and Lyman were not liable for damages.[184][185] During the lawsuit, Winfrey hired Phil McGraw's company Courtroom Sciences, Inc. to help her analyze and read the jury.[186] Winfrey's ability to launch other successful talk shows such as Dr. Phil, The Dr. Oz Show, and Rachael Ray has also been cited as examples of "The Oprah Effect".[187]

Politics

Matthew Baum and Angela Jamison performed an experiment testing their hypothesis, "Politically unaware individuals who consume soft news will be more likely to vote consistently than their counterparts who do not consume soft news".[188] In their studies, they found that low-awareness individuals who watch soft news shows, such as The Oprah Winfrey Show are 14% more likely to vote consistently than low-awareness individuals who only watch hard news.[188]

 
Winfrey joins Barack and Michelle Obama on the campaign trail (December 10, 2007)

Winfrey states she is a political independent who has "earned the right to think for myself and to vote for myself".[189] She endorsed presidential candidate Barack Obama in the 2008 presidential election.[190][191][192] On September 25, 2006, Winfrey made her first endorsement of Obama for president on Larry King Live, the first time she endorsed a political candidate running for office.[193] Two economists estimate that Winfrey's endorsement was worth over a million votes in the Democratic primary race[194] and that without it, Obama would have lost the nomination.[195] Winfrey held a fundraiser for Obama on September 8, 2007, at her Santa Barbara estate. In December 2007, Winfrey joined Obama for a series of rallies in the early primary states of Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina. The Columbia, South Carolina, event on December 9, 2007, drew a crowd of nearly 30,000, the largest for any political event of 2007.[196] An analysis by two economists at the University of Maryland, College Park estimated that Winfrey's endorsement was responsible for between 420,000 and 1,600,000 votes for Obama in the Democratic primary alone, based on a sample of states that did not include Texas, Michigan, North Dakota, Kansas, or Alaska. The results suggest that in the sampled states, Winfrey's endorsement was responsible for the difference in the popular vote between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.[197] The governor of Illinois, Rod Blagojevich, reported being so impressed by Winfrey's endorsement that he considered offering Winfrey Obama's vacant senate seat, describing Winfrey as "the most instrumental person in electing Barack Obama president," with "a voice larger than all 100 senators combined".[198] Winfrey responded by stating that although she was absolutely not interested, she did feel she could be a senator.[199] The Topps trading card company memorialized Oprah's involvement in the campaign by featuring her on a card in a set commemorating Obama's road to the White House.[200]

In April 2014, Winfrey spoke for more than 20 minutes at a fundraiser in Arlington, Virginia, for Lavern Chatman, a candidate in a primary to nominate a Democratic Party candidate for election to the U.S. House of Representatives. Winfrey participated in the event even after reports had revealed that Chatman had been found liable in 2001 for her role in a scheme to defraud hundreds of District of Columbia nursing-home employees of at least $1.4 million in owed wages.[201]

Winfrey endorsed Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election, and referred to Republican candidate Donald Trump as a "demagogue".[202] In 2018, Winfrey canvassed door-to-door for Georgia gubernatorial Democratic nominee Stacey Abrams[203][204] and donated $500,000 to the March for Our Lives student demonstration in favor of gun control in the United States.[205]

Winfrey has at times been the subject of media speculation that she may run for president herself, most notably in the lead-up to the 2020 election in which some reports claimed that she was actively considering launching a campaign for the Democratic nomination.[206] Winfrey ultimately denied any plans to run for president, saying in 2018 that while it was "a humbling thing to have people think you can run the country", she "would not be able to do it. It's not a clean business. It would kill me."[207] Winfrey suggested that she would publicly endorse a candidate in the 2020 Democratic primaries, however she ultimately did not do so.[208] She later campaigned for Joe Biden during the general election.[209]

In early 2018, Winfrey met with Mohammad bin Salman, the crown prince and de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia, when he visited the United States.[210]

 
Winfrey speaking at Moore's inauguration, 2023

In the 2022 Pennsylvania Senate election, Winfrey endorsed Democrat John Fetterman over Republican Mehmet Oz, whose show she promoted.[211] In the 2022 Maryland gubernatorial election, she endorsed Baltimore author Wes Moore in the Democratic primary, co-hosting a virtual fundraiser for him in June.[212][213] Winfrey later attended and spoke at Moore's gubernatorial inauguration on January 18, 2023.[214][215]

In 2022, Winfrey set up OWN Your Vote, a nonpartisan group dedicated to voter registration and a get-out-the-vote campaign focused on providing Black women with tools and resources to vote in the November election.[216] Their partners include Advancement Project, African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME), Color Of Change, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, The King Center, The Lawyers' Committee, NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, National Action Network, National Bar Association, National Council of Negro Women, Sigma Gamma Rho, Southern Poverty Law Center, VoteRunLead, Vote.org.[217][218][219][220][221][222][223]

Spiritual leadership

In 2000, she was awarded the Spingarn Medal from the NAACP.[224] 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 a 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."[172] The sentiment was echoed by Marcia Z. Nelson in her book The Gospel According to Oprah.[225] Since the mid-1990s, Winfrey's show has emphasized uplifting and inspirational topics and themes and some viewers say the show has motivated them to perform acts of altruism such as helping Congolese women and building an orphanage.[226] A scientific study by psychological scientists at the University of Cambridge, University of Plymouth, and University of California used an uplifting clip from The Oprah Winfrey Show in an experiment that discovered that watching the 'uplifting' clip caused subjects to become twice as helpful as subjects assigned to watch a British comedy or nature documentary.[227][228]

In 1998, Winfrey began an ongoing conversation with Gary Zukav, an American spiritual teacher, who appeared on her television show 35 times.[229] Winfrey has said she keeps a copy of Zukav's The Seat of the Soul at her bedside, a book that she says is one of her all-time favorites.[230]

On the season premiere 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 "Oprahism" is a mainstream religion in 3000 AD.[231] Twelve days after the September 11 attacks, New York mayor Rudy Giuliani asked Winfrey to serve as host of a Prayer for America service at New York City's Yankee Stadium, which was attended by former president Bill Clinton and New York senator Hillary Clinton.[232] Leading up to the U.S.-led 2001 invasion of Afghanistan, less than a month after the September 11 attacks, Winfrey aired a controversial show called "Islam 101" in which she portrayed Islam as a religion of peace, calling it "the most misunderstood of the three major religions".[233] In 2002, George W. Bush invited Winfrey to join a US delegation that included adviser Karen Hughes and Condoleezza Rice, planning to go to Afghanistan to celebrate the return of Afghan girls to school. The "Oprah strategy" was designed to portray the War on Terror in a positive light; however, when Winfrey refused to participate, the trip was postponed.[234]

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: "Oprah Winfrey is the most powerful woman in America. She decides what makes The New York Times Best Seller lists. Her touchy-feely style sucks in audiences at the rate of 14 million viewers per day. But Oprah is far more than a cultural force, she's a dangerous political force as well, a woman with unpredictable and mercurial attitudes toward the major issues of the day."[235] In 2006, Winfrey recalled such controversies: "I once did a show titled Is War the Only Answer? In the history of my career, I've never received more hate mail – like 'Go back to Africa' hate mail. I was accused of being un-American for even raising the question."[236] Filmmaker Michael Moore came to Winfrey's defense, praising her for showing antiwar footage no other media would show[237] and begging her to run for president.[238]

A February 2003 series, in which Winfrey 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 and Colin Powell summarized the case for war.[239][240]

In 2007, Winfrey began to endorse the self-help program The Secret. The Secret claims that people can change their lives through positive thoughts or 'vibrations', which will then cause them to attract more positive vibrations that result in good things happening to them. Peter Birkenhead of Salon magazine argued that this idea is pseudoscience and psychologically damaging, as it trivializes important decisions and promotes a quick-fix material culture, and suggests Winfrey's promotion of it is irresponsible given her influence.[241] In 2007, skeptic and magician James Randi accused Winfrey of being deliberately deceptive and uncritical in how she handles paranormal claims on her show.[242] In 2008, Winfrey endorsed author and spiritual teacher Eckhart Tolle and his book, A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose, which sold several million extra copies after being selected for her book club. During a Webinar class, in which she promoted the book, Winfrey stated "God is a feeling experience and not a believing experience. If your religion is a believing experience [...] then that's not truly God."[243] Frank Pastore, a Christian radio talk show host on KKLA, was among the many Christian leaders who criticized Winfrey's views, saying "if she's a Christian, she's an ignorant one because Christianity is incompatible with New Age thought".[243]

Winfrey was named as the 2008 Person of the Year by animal-rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) for using her fame and listening audience to help the less fortunate, including animals. PETA praised Winfrey for using her talk show to uncover horrific cases of cruelty to animals in puppy mills and on factory farms, and Winfrey even used the show to highlight the cruelty-free vegan diet that she tried.[244]

 
Winfrey filming in Denmark in 2009

In 2009, Winfrey filmed a series of interviews in Denmark highlighting its citizens as the happiest people in the world. In 2010, Bill O'Reilly of Fox News criticized these shows for promoting a left-wing society.[245] Following the launch of the Super Soul Sunday and SuperSoul Sessions programs on Harpo Productions' SuperSoul TV, in 2016 Winfrey selected 100 people for the SuperSoul 100 list of "innovators and visionaries who are aligned on a mission to move humanity forward".[246][247]

On using the N-word, Winfrey said, "You cannot be my friend and use that word around me. ... I always think of the...people who heard that as their last word as they were hanging from a tree."[248]

Fan base

The viewership for The Oprah Winfrey Show was highest during the 1991–92 season, when about 13.1 million U.S. viewers were watching each day. By 2003, ratings declined to 7.4 million daily viewers.[249] Ratings briefly rebounded to approximately 9 million in 2005 and then declined again to around 7.3 million viewers in 2008, though it remained the highest rated talk show.[250]

In 2008, Winfrey's show was airing in 140 countries internationally and seen by an estimated 46 million people in the US weekly.[251][252] According to the Harris poll, Winfrey was America's favorite television personality in 1998, 2000, 2002–06, and 2009. Winfrey was especially popular among women, Democrats, political moderates, Baby Boomers, Generation X, Southern Americans, and East Coast Americans.[253]

Outside the U.S., Winfrey has become increasingly popular in the Arab world. The Wall Street Journal reported in 2007 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.[254] In 2008, The New York Times reported that The Oprah Winfrey Show, with Arabic subtitles, was broadcast twice each weekday on MBC 4. Winfrey's modest dress, combined with her attitude of triumph over adversity and abuse has caused some women in Saudi Arabia to idealize her.[255]

Philanthropy

 
Winfrey visits evacuees from New Orleans temporarily sheltered at the Reliant center in Houston following Hurricane Katrina

In 2004, Winfrey became the first black person to rank among the 50 most generous Americans[256] and she remained among the top 50 until 2010.[257] By 2012, she had given away about $400 million to educational causes.[258]

As of 2012, Winfrey had also given over 400 scholarships to Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia.[142] 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 (1,065 people in total) on vacation to Hawaii in the summer of 2006.[259]

In 2013, Winfrey donated $12 million to the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture.[260] President Barack Obama awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom later that same year.[261]

Oprah's Angel Network

In 1998, Winfrey created the Oprah's Angel Network, a charity that supported charitable projects and provided grants to nonprofit organizations around the world. Oprah's Angel Network raised more than $80 million ($1 million of which was donated by Jon Bon Jovi). Winfrey personally covered all administrative costs associated with the charity, so 100% of all funds raised went to charity programs. In May 2010, with Oprah's show ending, the charity stopped accepting donations and was shut down.[262][263]

In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, Oprah created the Oprah Angel Network Katrina registry which raised more than $11 million for relief efforts. Winfrey personally gave $10 million to the cause.[264] Homes were built in Texas, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Alabama before the one-year anniversary of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.[265]

South Africa

Main article: Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls

In 2004, Winfrey and her team filmed an episode of her show, "Oprah's Christmas Kindness", in which Winfrey travelled to South Africa to bring attention to the plight of young children affected by poverty and AIDS. During the 21-day trip, Winfrey and her crew visited schools and orphanages in poverty-stricken areas, and distributed Christmas presents to 50,000 children,[266] with dolls for the girls and soccer balls for the boys, and school supplies. Throughout the show, Winfrey appealed to viewers to donate money to Oprah's Angel Network for poor and AIDS-affected children in Africa. From that show alone, viewers around the world donated over $7 million. Winfrey invested $40 million and some of her time establishing the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls in Henley on Klip south of Johannesburg, South Africa. The school set over 22 acres, opened in January 2007 with an enrollment of 150 pupils (increasing to 450) and features state-of-the-art classrooms, computer and science laboratories, a library, a theatre, and a beauty salon. Nelson Mandela praised Winfrey for overcoming her own disadvantaged youth to become a benefactor for others. Critics considered the school elitist and unnecessarily luxurious.[267] Winfrey rejected the claims, saying: "If you are surrounded by beautiful things and wonderful teachers who inspire you, that beauty brings out the beauty in you."[267] Winfrey, who has no surviving biological children, described maternal feelings towards the girls at Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls.[268][269] Winfrey teaches a class at the school via satellite.[268]

Filmography

Main article: Media works of Oprah Winfrey

As actress

Year Title Role Notes
1985 The Color Purple Sofia Nominated – Academy Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role
Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture
Nominated – Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress
1986 Native Son Mrs. Thomas
1989 The Women of Brewster Place Mattie Michael TV miniseries
1990 Brewster Place Mattie Michael TV series
1992 Lincoln Elizabeth Keckley Voice role; TV movie (ABC)
There Are No Children Here LaJoe Rivers TV movie (ABC)
1997 Ellen Therapist "The Puppy Episode: Part 1" (#4.22)
“Part 2" (#4.23)
Before Women Had Wings Zora Williams Producer;
TV movie (ABC)
1998 Beloved Sethe Producer;
Nominated – NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture
1999 Our Friend, Martin Coretta Scott King Voice role; Direct-to-video film
2006 Charlotte's Web Gussy the Goose Voice role
2007 Bee Movie Judge Bumbleton
2009 The Princess and the Frog Eudora
2010 Sesame Street O Voice role; "The Camouflage Challenge"
2013 The Butler Gloria Gaines African-American Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress;
Santa Barbara International Film Festival — Montecito Award;
Nominated – BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role;
Nominated – Black Reel Award for Best Supporting Actress;
Nominated – Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress;
Nominated – Denver Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actress;
Nominated – NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture;
Nominated – Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actress;
Nominated – Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture;
Nominated – Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role;
Nominated – Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
2014 Selma Annie Lee Cooper Producer;
Women Film Critics Circle Award for Best Female Action Star;
Nominated – Academy Award for Best Picture;
Nominated – Independent Spirit Award for Best Film;
Nominated – NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture
2016–17 Greenleaf Mavis McCready TV series; Executive producer
2017 The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks[270] Deborah Lacks TV movie; Executive producer;
Nominated – NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Television Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Special;
Nominated – Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Television Movie
The Star Deborah the Camel Voice role[271]
2018 A Wrinkle in Time Mrs. Which
Crow: The Legend The One Who Creates Everything by Thinking Voice role[272][273]
2018–19 The Handmaid's Tale Radio Free America Announcer
TBA Six Triple Eight Filming[274]

As herself

Year Title Role Notes
1986 Saturday Night Live Herself (host) Episode: "Oprah Winfrey/Joe Jackson"
1986–2011 The Oprah Winfrey Show Herself Television talk show
1987 Throw Momma from the Train Film
1990 Gabriel's Fire Episode: "Tis the Season"
1992 The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air Episode: "A Night at the Oprah"
1995 All-American Girl Episode: "A Night at the Oprah"
1999 Home Improvement Episode: "Home Alone"
The Hughleys Episode: "Milsap Moves Up"
2005 Desperate Housewives: Oprah Winfrey Is the New Neighbor Herself, Karen Stouffer Segment for The Oprah Winfrey Show, aired February 3, 2005
2007 Ocean's Thirteen Herself Film
2008 30 Rock Herself/Pam Episode: "Believe in the Stars"
2011–18 Oprah's Master Class Herself OWN reality show
2011–14 Oprah's Lifeclass OWN self-help show
2011–present Super Soul Sunday OWN spirituality show
2012–15 Oprah Prime OWN interview show
2012–17 Oprah: Where Are They Now? OWN reality show
2019 A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood Archive footage
2019–present Oprah's Book Club Apple TV+ book club show
2020–present Oprah Talks COVID-19 Apple TV+ interview show
2020–present The Oprah Conversation Apple TV+ talk show
2020 Between the World and Me HBO Special - adaptation of the book
2021 Tina Documentary
Oprah with Meghan and Harry CBS Primetime Special
The Me You Can't See Apple TV+ docuseries
Adele One Night Only CBS Primetime Special
TBD Oprah Winfrey Documentary Apple TV+[275]

As producer only

  • 1989 – The Oprah Winfrey Show (supervising producer – 8 episodes, 1989–2011)
  • 1989 – The Women of Brewster Place (TV miniseries) (executive producer)
  • 1992 – Nine (TV documentary) (executive producer)
  • 1992 – Overexposed (TV movie) (executive producer)
  • 1993 – ABC Afterschool Special (TV series) (producer – 1 episode "Shades of a Single Protein") (producer)
  • 1993 – Michael Jackson Talks to... Oprah Live (TV special) (executive producer)
  • 1997 – Before Women Had Wings (TV movie) (producer)
  • 1998 – The Wedding (TV miniseries) (executive producer)
  • 1998 – Beloved (producer)
  • 1998 – David and Lisa (TV movie) (executive producer)
  • 1999 – Tuesdays with Morrie (TV movie) (executive producer)
  • 2001 – Amy & Isabelle (TV movie) (executive producer, producer)
  • 2002 – Oprah After the Show (TV series) (executive producer)
  • 2005 – Their Eyes Were Watching God (TV movie) (executive producer)
  • 2006 – Legends Ball (TV documentary) (executive producer)
  • 2007 – Oprah's Big Give (TV series) (executive producer)
  • 2007 – The Oprah Winfrey Oscar Special (TV movie) (executive producer)
  • 2007 – Building a Dream: The Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy (TV documentary) (executive producer)
  • 2007 – Oprah Winfrey Presents: Mitch Albom's For One More Day (TV movie) (executive producer)
  • 2007 – The Great Debaters (producer)
  • 2009 – The Dr. Oz Show (TV series) (executive producer)
  • 2009 – Precious (executive producer)
  • 2009 – Christmas at the White House: An Oprah Primetime Special (TV special) (executive producer)
  • 2010 – The Oprah Winfrey Oscar Special (TV movie) (executive producer)
  • 2011 – Your OWN Show (TV series) (executive producer)
  • 2011 – Extraordinary Mom (TV documentary) (executive producer)
  • 2011 – Serving Life (TV documentary) (executive producer)
  • 2014 – The Hundred-Foot Journey (producer)
  • 2014 – Selma (producer)
  • 2016–present – Queen Sugar[276] (co-creator and executive producer)
  • 2016–2020 – Greenleaf (executive producer)
  • 2017 – The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (TV movie) (executive producer)
  • 2018 – Love Is (executive producer)[277][278]
  • 2019 – When They See Us (executive producer)
  • 2019 – Oprah Winfrey Presents: After Neverland (executive producer)
  • 2019 – David Makes Man (executive producer)
  • 2020 – The Water Man (executive producer)[279]
  • 2023 – The Color Purple (producer)

Bibliography

By Oprah Winfrey

  • Winfrey, Oprah (1996). The Uncommon Wisdom of Oprah Winfrey: A Portrait in Her Own Words
  • Winfrey, Oprah (1998). Journey to Beloved (Photography by Ken Regan)
  • Winfrey, Oprah (1998). Make the Connection: Ten Steps to a Better Body and a Better Life (co-authored with Bob Greene)
  • Winfrey, Oprah (2000). Oprah Winfrey: The Soul and Spirit of a Superstar
  • Winfrey, Oprah (2014). What I Know for Sure
  • Winfrey, Oprah (2016). Mr. or Ms. Just Right (co-authored with B. Grace)
  • Winfrey, Oprah (2017). Food, Health and Happiness
  • Winfrey, Oprah (2017). The Wisdom of Sundays: Life-Changing Insights from Super Soul Conversations
    • Winfrey, Oprah (2017). The Wisdom Journal: The Companion to The Wisdom of Sundays
  • Winfrey, Oprah (2019). The Path Made Clear: Discovering Your Life's Direction and Purpose
  • Winfrey, Oprah (2021). What Happened to You?: Conversations on Trauma, Resilience, and Healing (co-authored with B. Perry)

About Oprah Winfrey

  • Mair, George (2001). Oprah Winfrey: The Real Story. Citadel Press. ISBN 1-55972-250-9.
  • Cooper, Irene (2007). Oprah Winfrey. Viking. ISBN 0-670-06162-X.

Awards and honors

Main article: List of awards and nominations received by Oprah Winfrey

See also

References

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Notes

  1. ^ Died during infancy.

External links

  • Official website  
  • Oprah Winfrey at IMDb
  • NPR "Oprah: The Billionaire Everywoman". Audio file, video and biography. Retrieved September 17, 2010
  • Works by Oprah Winfrey at Open Library  
  • Oprah Winfrey February 16, 2013, at the Wayback Machine Video produced by Makers: Women Who Make America
  • Appearances on C-SPAN
  • Watching Oprah April 17, 2021, at the Wayback Machine – Smithsonian exhibition on the Oprah Show and Winfrey

March 08, 2023
oprah, winfrey, oprah, redirects, here, confused, with, orpah, opera, talk, show, show, oprah, gail, winfrey, born, orpah, gail, winfrey, january, 1954, american, talk, show, host, television, producer, actress, author, media, proprietor, best, known, talk, sh. Oprah redirects here Not to be confused with Orpah or Opera For the talk show see The Oprah Winfrey Show Oprah Gail Winfrey ˈ oʊ p r e born Orpah Gail Winfrey 2 January 29 1954 is an American talk show host television producer actress author and media proprietor She is best known for her talk show The Oprah Winfrey Show broadcast from Chicago which ran in national syndication for 25 years from 1986 to 2011 3 better source needed 4 Dubbed the Queen of All Media 5 she was the richest African American of the 20th century 6 7 and was once the world s only black billionaire 8 By 2007 she was often ranked as the most influential woman in the world 9 10 Oprah WinfreyWinfrey in 2014BornOrpah Gail Winfrey 1954 01 29 January 29 1954 age 69 Kosciusko Mississippi U S Alma materTennessee State University BA OccupationsTelevision presenteractresstelevision producermedia proprietorphilanthropistauthorYears active1973 presentWorksMedia projectsTitleChairwoman and CEO of Harpo Productions 1986 present Chairwoman CEO and CCO of the Oprah Winfrey Network 2011 present Political partyIndependentPartnerStedman Graham 1986 present Children1 a 1 AwardsFull listWebsiteoprah wbr comSignatureWinfrey was born into poverty in rural Mississippi to a single teenage mother and later raised in inner city Milwaukee She has stated that she was molested during her childhood and early teenage years and became pregnant at 14 her son was born prematurely and died in infancy 11 Winfrey was then sent to live with the man she calls her father Vernon Winfrey a barber in Nashville Tennessee and landed a job in radio while still in high school 4 By 19 she was a co anchor for the local evening news Winfrey s often emotional extemporaneous delivery eventually led to her transfer to the daytime talk show arena and after boosting a third rated local Chicago talk show to first place 12 she launched her own production company By the mid 1990s Winfrey had reinvented her show with a focus on literature self improvement mindfulness and spirituality Though she has been criticized for unleashing a confession culture promoting controversial self help ideas 13 and having an emotion centered approach 14 she has also been praised for overcoming adversity to become a benefactor to others 15 Winfrey also emerged as a political force in the 2008 presidential race with her endorsement of Barack Obama estimated to have been worth about one million votes during the 2008 Democratic primaries 16 In 2013 Winfrey was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Obama 17 and received honorary doctorate degrees from Duke and Harvard 18 19 In 2008 she formed her own network the Oprah Winfrey Network OWN Credited with creating a more intimate confessional form of media communication 20 Winfrey popularized and revolutionized 20 21 the tabloid talk show genre pioneered by Phil Donahue 20 In 1994 she was inducted into the National Women s Hall of Fame 22 Winfrey has won many accolades throughout her career which includes 18 Daytime Emmy Awards including the Lifetime Achievement Award and the Chairman s Award two Primetime Emmy Awards including the Bob Hope Humanitarian Award a Tony Award a Peabody Award and the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award awarded by the Academy Awards and two additional Academy Award nominations Winfrey was elected as a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2021 23 Contents 1 Early life 2 Television 2 1 Celebrity interviews 3 Other media 3 1 Film 3 2 Publishing and writing 3 3 Online 3 4 Radio 4 Personal life 4 1 Homes 4 2 Romantic history 4 3 Close friends 4 4 Personal wealth 4 5 Religious views 5 Influence 5 1 Rankings 5 2 Oprahfication 5 2 1 Daytime talk show s impact on LGBT people 5 3 The Oprah Effect 5 4 Politics 5 5 Spiritual leadership 5 6 Fan base 5 7 Philanthropy 5 7 1 Oprah s Angel Network 5 7 2 South Africa 6 Filmography 6 1 As actress 6 2 As herself 6 3 As producer only 7 Bibliography 8 Awards and honors 9 See also 10 References 11 Notes 12 External linksEarly lifeOrpah Gail Winfrey was born on January 29 1954 her first name was spelled Orpah on her birth certificate after the biblical figure in the Book of Ruth but people mispronounced it regularly and Oprah stuck 2 24 She was born in Kosciusko Mississippi to an unmarried teenage mother 25 Her mother Vernita Lee 1935 2018 was a housemaid 26 27 Winfrey s biological father is usually noted as Vernon Winfrey c 1933 2022 a coal miner turned barber turned city councilman who was in the Armed Forces when she was born 26 However Mississippi farmer and World War II Veteran Noah Robinson Sr born c 1925 has claimed to be her biological father 28 29 A genetic test in 2006 determined that her matrilineal line originated among the Kpelle ethnic group in the area that today is Liberia Her genetic makeup was determined to be 89 Sub Saharan African 8 Native American and 3 East Asian However given the imprecision of genetic testing the East Asian markers may actually be Native American 30 After Winfrey s birth her mother traveled north and Winfrey spent her first six years living in rural poverty with her maternal grandmother Hattie Mae Presley Lee April 15 1900 February 27 1963 Her grandmother was so poor that Winfrey often wore dresses made of potato sacks for which other children made fun of her 25 31 Her 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 was reportedly abusive 32 At age six Winfrey moved to an inner city neighborhood in Milwaukee Wisconsin with her mother who was less supportive and encouraging than her grandmother had been largely as a result of the long hours she worked as a maid 26 Around this time Lee had given birth to another daughter Winfrey s younger half sister Patricia 33 who died of causes related to cocaine addiction in February 2003 at age 43 34 By 1962 Lee was having difficulty raising both daughters so Winfrey was temporarily sent to live with Vernon in Nashville Tennessee 35 While Winfrey was in Nashville Lee gave birth to a third daughter 36 who was put up for adoption in the hopes of easing the financial straits that had led to Lee s being on welfare and was later also named Patricia 37 Winfrey did not know that she had a second half sister until 2010 37 By the time Winfrey moved back with her mother Lee had also given birth to Winfrey s half brother Jeffrey who died of AIDS related causes in 1989 34 At the age of 8 she was baptized in a Baptist church 38 Winfrey has stated she was molested by her cousin uncle and a family friend starting when she was nine years old something she first announced on a 1986 episode of her TV show regarding sexual abuse 39 40 A biographer alleged that when Winfrey discussed the alleged abuse with family members at age 24 they reportedly refused to believe her account 41 Winfrey once commented that she had chosen not to be a mother because she had not been mothered well 42 At 13 after suffering what she described as years of abuse Winfrey ran away from home 24 When she was 14 she became pregnant but her son was born prematurely and died shortly after birth 43 Winfrey later stated she felt betrayed by the family member who had sold the story of her son to the National Enquirer in 1990 44 Winfrey attended Lincoln High School in Milwaukee but after early success in the Upward Bound program was transferred to the affluent suburban Nicolet High School Upon transferring she said she was continually reminded of her poverty as she rode the bus to school with fellow African Americans some of whom were servants of her classmates families She began to rebel and steal money from her mother in an effort to keep up with her free spending peers 45 46 As a result her mother once again sent her to live with Vernon in Nashville although this time she did not take her back Vernon was strict but encouraging and made her education a priority Winfrey became an honors student was voted Most Popular Girl and joined her high school speech team at East Nashville High School placing second in the nation in dramatic interpretation 47 48 Winfrey s first job as a teenager was working at a local grocery store 49 50 At the age of 17 Winfrey won the Miss Black Tennessee beauty pageant citation needed She also attracted the attention of the local black radio station WVOL which hired her to do the news part time 39 She worked there during her senior year of high school and in her first two years of college 51 She had won an oratory contest which secured her a full scholarship to Tennessee State University a historically black institution where she studied communication However she did not deliver her final paper and receive her degree until 1987 by which time she was a successful television personality 52 Winfrey s career in media would not have surprised her grandmother who once 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 Winfrey later acknowledged her grandmother s influence saying it was Hattie Mae who had encouraged her to speak in public and gave me a positive sense of myself 53 TelevisionMain article The Oprah Winfrey Show Working in local media Winfrey was both the youngest news anchor and the first black female news anchor at Nashville s WLAC TV now WTVF TV where she often covered the same stories as John Tesh who worked at a competing Nashville station In 1976 she moved to Baltimore s WJZ TV to co anchor the six o clock news In 1977 she was removed as co anchor and worked in lower profile positions at the station 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 54 55 56 In 1984 Winfrey relocated to Chicago to host WLS TV s low rated half hour morning talk show AM Chicago after being hired by that station s general manager Dennis Swanson 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 The movie critic Roger Ebert 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 57 It was then renamed The Oprah Winfrey Show and expanded to a full hour The first episode was broadcast nationwide on September 8 1986 58 59 Winfrey s syndicated show brought in double Donahue s national audience displacing Donahue as the number one daytime talk show in America Their much publicized contest was the subject of enormous scrutiny According to Time magazine in August 1988 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 60 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 61 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 61 and 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 61 Winfrey in 1997 In the early years of The Oprah Winfrey Show the program was classified as a tabloid talk show In the mid 1990s Winfrey began to host shows on broader topics such as heart disease geopolitics spirituality and meditation She interviewed celebrities on social issues they were directly involved with such as cancer charity work or substance abuse and hosted televised giveaways 62 63 The later years of the show faced accusations that Winfrey was promoting junk science 64 This has manifested as criticisms of Winfrey for promoting particular guests whose medical commentaries both on her show and in the wider media frequently lack supporting science Common targets of this criticism include Dr Oz s promotion of various miracle pills especially those aimed at weight loss Dr Phil Jenny McCarthy s unfounded assertions about vaccines and Suzanne Somers s promotion of bioidenticals 65 66 Multiple publications have called on Oprah to denounce medical statements made by her former proteges long after her show ended For example there were calls for her to denounce Dr Oz in 2020 reaction to his comments about coronavirus and his promotion of a poorly vetted drug as a cure 67 In addition to her talk show Winfrey also produced and co starred in the drama miniseries The Women of Brewster Place 1989 and its short lived spin off Brewster Place As well as hosting and appearing on television shows Winfrey co founded the women s cable television network Oxygen which was the initial network for her Oprah After the Show program from 2002 to 2006 before moving to Oprah com when Winfrey sold her stake in the network She is also the president of Harpo Productions Oprah spelled backwards a film and TV production company behind The Oprah Winfrey Show Dr Phil Rachael Ray The Dr Oz Show and many others She also moderated three ABC Afterschool Specials from 1992 to 1994 On January 15 2008 Winfrey and Discovery Communications announced plans to change Discovery Health Channel into a new channel called OWN Oprah Winfrey Network It was scheduled to launch in 2009 but was delayed and actually launched on January 1 2011 68 The series finale of The Oprah Winfrey Show aired on May 25 2011 69 In January 2017 CBS announced that Winfrey would join 60 Minutes as a special contributor on the Sunday evening news magazine program starting in September 2017 70 The National Museum of African American History and Culture in 2018 opened a special exhibit on Winfrey s cultural influence through television 71 Winfrey left 60 Minutes by the end of 2018 72 In June 2018 Apple announced a multi year content partnership with Winfrey in which it was agreed that Winfrey would create new original programs exclusively for Apple s streaming service Apple TV 73 The first show under the deal Oprah s Book Club premiered on November 1 2019 Oprah s Book Club is based on the segment of the same name from The Oprah Winfrey Show The second show under the deal Oprah Talks COVID 19 debuted on March 21 2020 during the COVID 19 pandemic A third show The Oprah Conversation debuted on July 30 2020 with Winfrey continuing to explore impactful and relevant topics with fascinating thought leaders from all over the world 74 Celebrity interviews 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 36 5 million 75 On December 1 2005 Winfrey appeared on the Late Show with David Letterman for the first time in 16 years to promote the new Broadway musical The Color Purple 76 which she produced 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 77 Although a much rumored feud was said to have been the cause of the rift 76 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 Letterman made his first appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show as its season premiere was filmed in New York City 78 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 said that he wasn t initially invited on the show with the rest of the cast 79 Winfrey responded by saying that she is 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 In September 2008 Winfrey received criticism after Matt Drudge of the Drudge Report 80 reported that Winfrey refused to have Sarah Palin on her show allegedly because of Winfrey s support for Barack Obama 81 Winfrey denied the report maintaining that there never was a discussion regarding Palin s appearing on her show She said that after she made public her support for Obama she decided that she would not let her show be used as a platform for any of the candidates 81 Although Obama appeared twice on her show those appearances were prior to his declaration as a presidential candidate Winfrey added that Palin would make a fantastic guest and that she would love to have her on the show after the election which she did on November 18 2009 81 In 2009 Winfrey was criticized for allowing actress Suzanne Somers to appear on her show to discuss hormone treatments that are not accepted by mainstream medicine 82 Critics have also suggested that Winfrey is not tough enough when questioning celebrity guests or politicians whom she appears to like 83 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 84 In 2021 she conducted an interview with Meghan Duchess of Sussex and her husband Prince Harry which was broadcast globally and received international media attention 85 Other mediaFilm Winfrey co starred in Steven Spielberg s The Color Purple 1985 as distraught housewife Sofia She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance The Alice Walker novel later became a Broadway musical which opened in late 2005 with Winfrey credited as a producer In October 1998 Winfrey produced and starred in the film Beloved based on 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 While promoting the movie co star Thandie Newton described Winfrey as 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 86 Harpo Productions released a film adaptation of Zora Neale Hurston s 1937 novel Their Eyes Were Watching God in 2005 The made for television film was based upon a teleplay by Suzan Lori Parks and starred Halle Berry in the lead female role In late 2008 Winfrey s company Harpo Films signed an exclusive output pact to develop and produce scripted series documentaries and movies exclusively for HBO 87 Oprah voiced Gussie the goose in Charlotte s Web 2006 and voiced Judge Bumbleton in Bee Movie 2007 co starring the voices of Jerry Seinfeld and Renee Zellweger In 2009 Winfrey provided the voice for the character of Eudora the mother of Princess Tiana in Disney s The Princess and the Frog and in 2010 narrated the US version of the BBC nature program Life for Discovery In 2018 Winfrey starred as Mrs Which in the film adaptation of Madeleine L Engle s novel A Wrinkle in Time 88 She also lent her voice to an animated virtual reality short film written and directed by Eric Darnell starring John Legend titled Crow The Legend telling a native American origin tale 89 Publishing and writing Winfrey has co authored five books At the announcement of a weight loss book in 2005 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 the autobiography of former U S President Bill Clinton 90 In 2015 her memoir The Life You Want was announced following on her tour of the same name 91 92 and scheduled for publication in 2017 93 but was indefinitely postponed in 2016 94 Winfrey publishes the magazine O The Oprah Magazine and from 2004 to 2008 also published a magazine called O At Home 95 In 2002 Fortune called O the Oprah Magazine the most successful start up ever in the industry 96 Although its circulation had declined by more than 10 percent 2 4 million from 2005 to 2008 the January 2009 issue was the best selling issue since 2006 97 The January 2009 issue was the best selling issue since 2006 98 The audience for her magazine is considerably more upscale than for her TV show the average reader earns well above the median for U S women 96 In July 2020 it was announced that O Magazine would end its regular print publications after the December 2020 issue 99 100 In the December 2020 issue Winfrey thanked readers and acknowledged it was the magazine s final monthly print edition 101 Online Winfrey s company created the Oprah com website to provide resources and interactive content related to her shows magazines book club and public charity Oprah com averages more than 70 million page views and more than six million users per month and receives approximately 20 000 e mails each week 102 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 103 Radio On February 9 2006 it was announced that Winfrey had signed a three year 55 million contract with XM Satellite Radio to establish a new radio channel The channel Oprah Radio 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 amp 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 seven 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 104 Personal lifeHomes Aerial view of Oprah s Montecito estate Oprah s extensive and continuously evolving real estate portfolio has garnered heightened attention throughout her life and career with many prominent industry outlets branding her a tycoon regarding her investments which as of 2022 are estimated to total approximately 127 million As her talk show was beginning Oprah first purchased a condominium in Chicago s Water Tower Place in 1985 before purchasing the condos adjoining and directly below it in 1992 1993 and 1994 respectively In 1988 she purchased an 164 acre property including main and guest residences orchard and stables in Rolling Prairie Indiana as her weekend refuge In 1992 she purchased an 80 acre compound in Telluride Colorado which she would go on to sell in approximately late 2000 In 1994 she also purchased an apartment at the Four Seasons Hotel Chicago Between 1996 and 2000 she purchased a total of five condos in different development areas of Fisher Island Florida In 2000 through her Chicago based LLC Overground Railroad Oprah purchased her friend Gayle King an estate in Greenwich Connecticut In 2001 Oprah sold all five of her Fisher Island condos and purchased what would become her main home base she has also called The Promised Land where she currently lives as of 2022 a then 42 acre 17 ha estate with ocean and mountain views in Montecito California Additionally that year she also purchased homes in both Elmwood Park Illinois and Merrillville Indiana for other family members and friends Similarly in 2002 she purchased her father s home in Franklin Tennessee and a lakefront condo in Milwaukee Wisconsin In 2003 she listed her compound in Rolling Prairie Indiana and sold it in 2004 From 2003 to 2005 Oprah acquired several properties totaling 163 acres in Kula and Hana Hawaii as well as a penthouse apartment in Atlanta Georgia In 2005 she purchased a home in Douglasville Georgia which was gifted in 2011 to a family member In 2006 Oprah purchased a co op apartment along Lake Shore Drive in downtown Chicago reportedly with plans to permanently move there from her prior adjoined condo unit in Water Tower Place for the duration of her show but for reasons unknown the property sat entirely unused until she sold it in 2012 In 2008 she sold her penthouse apartment in Atlanta That year she also listed Gayle King s estate and purchased her through her second LLC Sophie s Penthouse a penthouse apartment in midtown Manhattan New York City which would later be sold in 2012 In early 2014 she listed her combined unit Chicago duplex on the market Later that year Oprah came back to Telluride Colorado to purchase a 60 acre lot with plans to build on the property A lawsuit filed against her that year by a retired nuclear physicist living in the area regarding trail access rights was dismissed later that year with the judge citing little case law to support his case among other issues The extent of the agreement between all the parties and jurisdictions regarding her subsequent development on the property remains undisclosed In 2015 Oprah purchased another property in Telluride and later that year expanded her Montecito compound with another 23 acre estate and yet another 44 acre dedicated crop and equestrian preserve That year she also sold both of her downtown Chicago homes In 2018 Oprah obtained two adjoining parcels of land totaling 23 acres including the Madroneagle compound on Orcas Island Washington and sold her last home property in the Chicago area from Elmwood Park In late 2019 Oprah yet again expanded her Montecito home base compound this time to 70 contiguous acres with the purchase of a four acre complex from actor Jeff Bridges In 2021 she sold her Orcas Island compound as she said she was too busy to use it and purchased another compound in Montecito further away from her home base compound flipping the latter in 2022 with split properties one of which was sold to her property manager and longtime personal trainer Bob Greene and the other to actress Jennifer Aniston 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 Romantic history Winfrey s 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 was a model student 118 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 119 She broke up with him on Valentine s Day of her senior year 119 120 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 121 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 122 In the 1970s Winfrey had a romantic relationship with John Tesh Biographer Kitty Kelley claims that Tesh split with Winfrey over the pressures of an interracial relationship 123 When WJZ TV management criticized Winfrey for crying on air while reporting tragedies and were unhappy with her physical appearance especially when her hair fell out as a 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 124 According to Mair when Kramer moved to NBC in New York Winfrey had a love affair with a married man who had no intention of leaving his wife 125 Winfrey would later recall I d had a relationship with a man for four years I wasn t living with him I d never lived with anyone and I thought I was worthless without him The more he rejected me the more I wanted him I felt depleted powerless At the end I was down on the floor on my knees groveling and pleading with him 126 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 126 That suicide note had been much overplayed Winfrey told Ms magazine I couldn t kill myself I would be afraid the minute I did it something really good would happen and I d miss it 127 According to Winfrey her emotional turmoil gradually led to a weight problem The reason I gained so much weight in the first place and the reason I had such a sorry history of abusive relationships with men was I just needed approval so much I needed everyone to like me because I didn t like myself much So I d end up with these cruel self absorbed guys who d tell me how selfish I was and I d say Oh thank you you re so right and be grateful to them Because I had no sense that I deserved anything else Which is also why I gained so much weight later on It was the perfect way of cushioning myself against the world s disapproval 127 Winfrey later confessed to smoking crack cocaine with a man she was romantically involved with during the same era 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 128 Winfrey was allegedly involved in a second drug related love affair Self proclaimed former boyfriend Randolph Cook said they lived together for several months in 1985 and did drugs In 1997 Cook tried to sue Winfrey for 20 million for allegedly blocking a tell all book about their alleged relationship 129 130 In the mid 1980s Winfrey briefly dated movie critic Roger Ebert whom she credits with advising her to take her show into syndication 57 In 1985 before Winfrey s Chicago talk show had gone national Haitian filmmaker Reginald Chevalier claims he appeared as a guest on a look alike segment and began a relationship with Winfrey involving romantic evenings at home candlelit baths and dinners with Michael Jordan and Danny Glover Chevalier says Winfrey ended the relationship when she met Stedman Graham 131 Winfrey and her partner Stedman Graham have been together since 1986 They were engaged to be married in November 1992 but the ceremony never took place 132 Close friends Winfrey celebrating her 50th birthday among friends at her Santa Barbara estate 2004 Winfrey s best friend since their early twenties is Gayle King King was formerly the host of 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 rumors 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 133 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 133 Winfrey has also had a long friendship with Maria Shriver after they met in Baltimore 134 135 Winfrey considered Maya Angelou author of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings her mentor and close friend she called Angelou her mother sister friend 136 Winfrey hosted a week long Caribbean cruise for Angelou and 150 guests for Angelou s 70th birthday in 1998 and in 2008 threw her an extravagant 80th birthday celebration at Donald Trump s Mar a Lago club in Palm Beach Florida 137 Personal wealth Born in rural poverty and raised by a mother dependent on government welfare payments in a poor urban neighborhood Winfrey became a millionaire at the age of 32 when her talk show received national syndication Winfrey negotiated ownership rights to the television program and started her own production company At the age of 41 Winfrey had a net worth of 340 million and replaced Bill Cosby as the only African American on the Forbes 400 138 By 2000 with a net worth of 800 million Winfrey is believed to have been the richest African American of the 20th century There has been a course taught at the University of Illinois focusing on Winfrey s business acumen namely History 298 Oprah Winfrey the Tycoon 139 Winfrey was the highest paid television entertainer in the United States in 2006 earning an estimated 260 million during the year five times the sum earned by second place music executive Simon Cowell 140 By 2008 her yearly income had increased to 275 million 141 Forbes list of The World s Billionaires has listed Winfrey as the world s only black billionaire from 2004 to 2006 and as the first black woman billionaire in the world that was achieved in 2003 138 As of 2014 Winfrey had a net worth in excess of 2 9 billion dollars 142 and had overtaken former eBay CEO Meg Whitman as the richest self made woman in America 143 Religious views Oprah was raised a Baptist In her early life she would speak at local mostly African American congregations of the Southern Baptist Convention that were often deeply religious and familiar with such themes as evangelical Protestantism the Black church and being born again 144 145 146 She was quoted as saying I have church with myself I have church walking down the street I believe in the God force that lives inside all of us and once you tap into that you can do anything 147 She also stated Doubt means don t When you don t know what to do do nothing until you do know what to do Because the doubt is your inner voice or the voice of God or whatever you choose to call it It is your instinct trying to tell you something is off That s how I have found myself to be led spiritually because that s your spiritual voice saying to you let s think about it So when you don t know what to do do nothing 148 Oprah has stated that she is a Christian and her favorite Bible verse is Acts 17 28 149 Oprah attends The Potter s House Church Dallas service an Evangelical church 38 InfluenceRankings Winfrey at the White House for the 2010 Kennedy Center Honors Winfrey was called arguably the world s most powerful woman by CNN and TIME 150 arguably the most influential woman in the world by The American Spectator 151 one of the 100 people who most influenced the 20th Century and one of the most influential people from 2004 to 2011 by TIME Winfrey is the only person to have appeared in the latter list on ten occasions 152 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 153 In 2007 USA Today ranked Winfrey as the most influential woman and most influential black person of the previous quarter century 154 Ladies Home Journal also ranked Winfrey number one in their list of the most powerful women in America and then Senator Barack Obama in 2007 said she may be the most influential woman in the country 155 In 1998 Winfrey became the first woman and first African American to top Entertainment Weekly s list of the 101 most powerful people in the entertainment industry 156 Forbes named her the world s most powerful celebrity in 2005 157 2007 158 2008 141 2010 159 and 2013 160 As chairman of Harpo Inc she was named the most powerful woman in entertainment by The Hollywood Reporter in 2008 161 She has been listed as one of the most powerful 100 women in the world by Forbes ranking 14th in 2014 162 In 2010 Life magazine named Winfrey one of the 100 people who changed the world alongside Jesus Christ Elvis Presley and Lady Mary Wortley Montagu Winfrey was the only living woman to make the list 163 Columnist Maureen Dowd seems to agree with such assessments Interviewed by The Guardian in 2006 Dowd said She is the top alpha female in this country She has more credibility than the president Other successful women such as Hillary Clinton and Martha Stewart had to be publicly slapped down before they could move forward Even Condi has had to play the protege with Bush None of this happened to Oprah she is a straight ahead success story 164 Vanity Fair wrote Oprah Winfrey arguably has more influence on the culture than any university president politician or religious leader except perhaps the Pope 165 Bill O Reilly said this is a woman that came from nothing to rise up to be the most powerful woman I think in the world I think Oprah Winfrey is the most powerful woman in the world not just in America That s anybody who goes on her program immediately benefits through the roof I mean she has a loyal following she has credibility she has talent and she s done it on her own to become fabulously wealthy and fabulously powerful 166 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 No 9 overall on the list of greatest Americans However polls estimating Winfrey s personal popularity have been inconsistent A November 2003 Gallup poll estimated that 73 of American adults had a favorable view of Winfrey Another Gallup poll in January 2007 estimated the figure at 74 although it dropped to 66 when Gallup conducted the same poll in October 2007 A December 2007 Fox News poll put the figure at 55 167 According to Gallup s annual most admired poll Americans consistently rank Winfrey as one of the most admired women in the world Her highest rating came in 2007 168 when she was statistically tied with Hillary Clinton for first place 169 In a list compiled by the British magazine New Statesman in September 2010 she was voted 38th in the list of The World s 50 Most Influential Figures 2010 170 In 1989 she was accepted into the NAACP Image Award Hall of Fame 171 Oprahfication The Wall Street Journal coined the term Oprahfication meaning public confession as a form of therapy 172 By confessing intimate details about her weight problems tumultuous love life and sexual abuse and crying alongside her guests Winfrey has been credited by Time magazine with creating a new form of media communication known as rapport talk as distinguished from the report talk of Phil Donahue Winfrey saw television s power to blend public and private while it links strangers and conveys information over public airwaves TV is most often viewed in the privacy of our homes Like a family member it sits down to meals with us and talks to us in the lonely afternoons Grasping this paradox She makes people care because she cares That is Winfrey s genius and will be her legacy as the changes she has wrought in the talk show continue to permeate our culture and shape our lives 173 Observers have also noted the Oprahfication of politics such as Oprah style debates and Bill Clinton being described as the man who brought Oprah style psychobabble and misty confessions to politics 174 Newsweek stated Every time a politician lets his lip quiver or a cable anchor emotes on TV they nod to the cult of confession that Oprah helped create 175 The November 1988 Ms 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 176 Daytime talk show s impact on LGBT people While Phil Donahue has been credited with pioneering the tabloid talk show genre Winfrey s warmth intimacy and personal confession popularized and changed it 20 21 Her success at popularizing the tabloid talk show genre opened up a thriving industry that has included Ricki Lake The Jenny Jones Show and The Jerry Springer Show In the book Freaks Talk Back 177 Yale sociology professor Joshua Gamson credits the tabloid talk show genre with providing much needed high impact media visibility for gay bisexual transsexual and transgender LGBT 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 178 Gamson credits the tabloid talk show with making alternative sexual orientations and identities more acceptable in mainstream society Examples include a Time magazine article page needed on early 21st century gays coming out of the closet at an increasingly younger age and on plummeting gay suicide rates Gamson also believes that tabloid talk shows caused gays to be accepted on more traditional forms of media In April 1997 Winfrey played the therapist in The Puppy Episode on the sitcom Ellen to whom the character and the real life Ellen DeGeneres came out as a lesbian The Oprah Effect The power of Winfrey s opinions and endorsement to influence public opinion especially consumer purchasing choices has been dubbed the Oprah Effect 179 The effect has been documented or alleged in domains as diverse as book sales beef markets and election voting Late in 1996 180 Winfrey introduced the Oprah s Book Club segment to her television show 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 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 181 In Reading with Oprah The Book Club that Changed America 2005 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 When author Jonathan Franzen s book was selected for the Book Club he reportedly cringed and said selected books tend to be schmaltzy 182 After James Frey s A Million Little Pieces was found to contain fabrications in 2006 Winfrey confronted him on her show over the breach of trust In 2009 Winfrey apologized to Frey for the public confrontation 183 During a show about mad cow disease with Howard Lyman aired on April 16 1996 Winfrey said she was stopped 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 sent cattle prices tumbling costing beef producers 11 million Winfrey was represented by attorney Chip Babcock and on February 26 after a two month trial in an Amarillo Texas court a jury found Winfrey and Lyman were not liable for damages 184 185 During the lawsuit Winfrey hired Phil McGraw s company Courtroom Sciences Inc to help her analyze and read the jury 186 Winfrey s ability to launch other successful talk shows such as Dr Phil The Dr Oz Show and Rachael Ray has also been cited as examples of The Oprah Effect 187 Politics Matthew Baum and Angela Jamison performed an experiment testing their hypothesis Politically unaware individuals who consume soft news will be more likely to vote consistently than their counterparts who do not consume soft news 188 In their studies they found that low awareness individuals who watch soft news shows such as The Oprah Winfrey Show are 14 more likely to vote consistently than low awareness individuals who only watch hard news 188 Winfrey joins Barack and Michelle Obama on the campaign trail December 10 2007 Winfrey states she is a political independent who has earned the right to think for myself and to vote for myself 189 She endorsed presidential candidate Barack Obama in the 2008 presidential election 190 191 192 On September 25 2006 Winfrey made her first endorsement of Obama for president on Larry King Live the first time she endorsed a political candidate running for office 193 Two economists estimate that Winfrey s endorsement was worth over a million votes in the Democratic primary race 194 and that without it Obama would have lost the nomination 195 Winfrey held a fundraiser for Obama on September 8 2007 at her Santa Barbara estate In December 2007 Winfrey joined Obama for a series of rallies in the early primary states of Iowa New Hampshire and South Carolina The Columbia South Carolina event on December 9 2007 drew a crowd of nearly 30 000 the largest for any political event of 2007 196 An analysis by two economists at the University of Maryland College Park estimated that Winfrey s endorsement was responsible for between 420 000 and 1 600 000 votes for Obama in the Democratic primary alone based on a sample of states that did not include Texas Michigan North Dakota Kansas or Alaska The results suggest that in the sampled states Winfrey s endorsement was responsible for the difference in the popular vote between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton 197 The governor of Illinois Rod Blagojevich reported being so impressed by Winfrey s endorsement that he considered offering Winfrey Obama s vacant senate seat describing Winfrey as the most instrumental person in electing Barack Obama president with a voice larger than all 100 senators combined 198 Winfrey responded by stating that although she was absolutely not interested she did feel she could be a senator 199 The Topps trading card company memorialized Oprah s involvement in the campaign by featuring her on a card in a set commemorating Obama s road to the White House 200 In April 2014 Winfrey spoke for more than 20 minutes at a fundraiser in Arlington Virginia for Lavern Chatman a candidate in a primary to nominate a Democratic Party candidate for election to the U S House of Representatives Winfrey participated in the event even after reports had revealed that Chatman had been found liable in 2001 for her role in a scheme to defraud hundreds of District of Columbia nursing home employees of at least 1 4 million in owed wages 201 Winfrey endorsed Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election and referred to Republican candidate Donald Trump as a demagogue 202 In 2018 Winfrey canvassed door to door for Georgia gubernatorial Democratic nominee Stacey Abrams 203 204 and donated 500 000 to the March for Our Lives student demonstration in favor of gun control in the United States 205 Winfrey has at times been the subject of media speculation that she may run for president herself most notably in the lead up to the 2020 election in which some reports claimed that she was actively considering launching a campaign for the Democratic nomination 206 Winfrey ultimately denied any plans to run for president saying in 2018 that while it was a humbling thing to have people think you can run the country she would not be able to do it It s not a clean business It would kill me 207 Winfrey suggested that she would publicly endorse a candidate in the 2020 Democratic primaries however she ultimately did not do so 208 She later campaigned for Joe Biden during the general election 209 In early 2018 Winfrey met with Mohammad bin Salman the crown prince and de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia when he visited the United States 210 Winfrey speaking at Moore s inauguration 2023 In the 2022 Pennsylvania Senate election Winfrey endorsed Democrat John Fetterman over Republican Mehmet Oz whose show she promoted 211 In the 2022 Maryland gubernatorial election she endorsed Baltimore author Wes Moore in the Democratic primary co hosting a virtual fundraiser for him in June 212 213 Winfrey later attended and spoke at Moore s gubernatorial inauguration on January 18 2023 214 215 In 2022 Winfrey set up OWN Your Vote a nonpartisan group dedicated to voter registration and a get out the vote campaign focused on providing Black women with tools and resources to vote in the November election 216 Their partners include Advancement Project African Methodist Episcopal Church AME Color Of Change Delta Sigma Theta Sorority The King Center The Lawyers Committee NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund National Action Network National Bar Association National Council of Negro Women Sigma Gamma Rho Southern Poverty Law Center VoteRunLead Vote org 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 Spiritual leadership In 2000 she was awarded the Spingarn Medal from the NAACP 224 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 a 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 172 The sentiment was echoed by Marcia Z Nelson in her book The Gospel According to Oprah 225 Since the mid 1990s Winfrey s show has emphasized uplifting and inspirational topics and themes and some viewers say the show has motivated them to perform acts of altruism such as helping Congolese women and building an orphanage 226 A scientific study by psychological scientists at the University of Cambridge University of Plymouth and University of California used an uplifting clip from The Oprah Winfrey Show in an experiment that discovered that watching the uplifting clip caused subjects to become twice as helpful as subjects assigned to watch a British comedy or nature documentary 227 228 In 1998 Winfrey began an ongoing conversation with Gary Zukav an American spiritual teacher who appeared on her television show 35 times 229 Winfrey has said she keeps a copy of Zukav s The Seat of the Soul at her bedside a book that she says is one of her all time favorites 230 On the season premiere 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 Oprahism is a mainstream religion in 3000 AD 231 Twelve days after the September 11 attacks New York mayor Rudy Giuliani asked Winfrey to serve as host of a Prayer for America service at New York City s Yankee Stadium which was attended by former president Bill Clinton and New York senator Hillary Clinton 232 Leading up to the U S led 2001 invasion of Afghanistan less than a month after the September 11 attacks Winfrey aired a controversial show called Islam 101 in which she portrayed Islam as a religion of peace calling it the most misunderstood of the three major religions 233 In 2002 George W Bush invited Winfrey to join a US delegation that included adviser Karen Hughes and Condoleezza Rice planning to go to Afghanistan to celebrate the return of Afghan girls to school The Oprah strategy was designed to portray the War on Terror in a positive light however when Winfrey refused to participate the trip was postponed 234 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 Oprah Winfrey is the most powerful woman in America She decides what makes The New York Times Best Seller lists Her touchy feely style sucks in audiences at the rate of 14 million viewers per day But Oprah is far more than a cultural force she s a dangerous political force as well a woman with unpredictable and mercurial attitudes toward the major issues of the day 235 In 2006 Winfrey recalled such controversies I once did a show titled Is War the Only Answer In the history of my career I ve never received more hate mail like Go back to Africa hate mail I was accused of being un American for even raising the question 236 Filmmaker Michael Moore came to Winfrey s defense praising her for showing antiwar footage no other media would show 237 and begging her to run for president 238 A February 2003 series in which Winfrey 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 and Colin Powell summarized the case for war 239 240 In 2007 Winfrey began to endorse the self help program The Secret The Secret claims that people can change their lives through positive thoughts or vibrations which will then cause them to attract more positive vibrations that result in good things happening to them Peter Birkenhead of Salon magazine argued that this idea is pseudoscience and psychologically damaging as it trivializes important decisions and promotes a quick fix material culture and suggests Winfrey s promotion of it is irresponsible given her influence 241 In 2007 skeptic and magician James Randi accused Winfrey of being deliberately deceptive and uncritical in how she handles paranormal claims on her show 242 In 2008 Winfrey endorsed author and spiritual teacher Eckhart Tolle and his book A New Earth Awakening to Your Life s Purpose which sold several million extra copies after being selected for her book club During a Webinar class in which she promoted the book Winfrey stated God is a feeling experience and not a believing experience If your religion is a believing experience then that s not truly God 243 Frank Pastore a Christian radio talk show host on KKLA was among the many Christian leaders who criticized Winfrey s views saying if she s a Christian she s an ignorant one because Christianity is incompatible with New Age thought 243 Winfrey was named as the 2008 Person of the Year by animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals PETA for using her fame and listening audience to help the less fortunate including animals PETA praised Winfrey for using her talk show to uncover horrific cases of cruelty to animals in puppy mills and on factory farms and Winfrey even used the show to highlight the cruelty free vegan diet that she tried 244 Winfrey filming in Denmark in 2009 In 2009 Winfrey filmed a series of interviews in Denmark highlighting its citizens as the happiest people in the world In 2010 Bill O Reilly of Fox News criticized these shows for promoting a left wing society 245 Following the launch of the Super Soul Sunday and SuperSoul Sessions programs on Harpo Productions SuperSoul TV in 2016 Winfrey selected 100 people for the SuperSoul 100 list of innovators and visionaries who are aligned on a mission to move humanity forward 246 247 On using the N word Winfrey said You cannot be my friend and use that word around me I always think of the people who heard that as their last word as they were hanging from a tree 248 Fan base The viewership for The Oprah Winfrey Show was highest during the 1991 92 season when about 13 1 million U S viewers were watching each day By 2003 ratings declined to 7 4 million daily viewers 249 Ratings briefly rebounded to approximately 9 million in 2005 and then declined again to around 7 3 million viewers in 2008 though it remained the highest rated talk show 250 In 2008 Winfrey s show was airing in 140 countries internationally and seen by an estimated 46 million people in the US weekly 251 252 According to the Harris poll Winfrey was America s favorite television personality in 1998 2000 2002 06 and 2009 Winfrey was especially popular among women Democrats political moderates Baby Boomers Generation X Southern Americans and East Coast Americans 253 Outside the U S Winfrey has become increasingly popular in the Arab world The Wall Street Journal reported in 2007 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 254 In 2008 The New York Times reported that The Oprah Winfrey Show with Arabic subtitles was broadcast twice each weekday on MBC 4 Winfrey s modest dress combined with her attitude of triumph over adversity and abuse has caused some women in Saudi Arabia to idealize her 255 Philanthropy Winfrey visits evacuees from New Orleans temporarily sheltered at the Reliant center in Houston following Hurricane Katrina In 2004 Winfrey became the first black person to rank among the 50 most generous Americans 256 and she remained among the top 50 until 2010 257 By 2012 she had given away about 400 million to educational causes 258 As of 2012 Winfrey had also given over 400 scholarships to Morehouse College in Atlanta Georgia 142 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 1 065 people in total on vacation to Hawaii in the summer of 2006 259 In 2013 Winfrey donated 12 million to the Smithsonian s National Museum of African American History and Culture 260 President Barack Obama awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom later that same year 261 Oprah s Angel Network In 1998 Winfrey created the Oprah s Angel Network a charity that supported charitable projects and provided grants to nonprofit organizations around the world Oprah s Angel Network raised more than 80 million 1 million of which was donated by Jon Bon Jovi Winfrey personally covered all administrative costs associated with the charity so 100 of all funds raised went to charity programs In May 2010 with Oprah s show ending the charity stopped accepting donations and was shut down 262 263 In the wake of Hurricane Katrina Oprah created the Oprah Angel Network Katrina registry which raised more than 11 million for relief efforts Winfrey personally gave 10 million to the cause 264 Homes were built in Texas Mississippi Louisiana and Alabama before the one year anniversary of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita 265 South Africa Main article Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls In 2004 Winfrey and her team filmed an episode of her show Oprah s Christmas Kindness in which Winfrey travelled to South Africa to bring attention to the plight of young children affected by poverty and AIDS During the 21 day trip Winfrey and her crew visited schools and orphanages in poverty stricken areas and distributed Christmas presents to 50 000 children 266 with dolls for the girls and soccer balls for the boys and school supplies Throughout the show Winfrey appealed to viewers to donate money to Oprah s Angel Network for poor and AIDS affected children in Africa From that show alone viewers around the world donated over 7 million Winfrey invested 40 million and some of her time establishing the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls in Henley on Klip south of Johannesburg South Africa The school set over 22 acres opened in January 2007 with an enrollment of 150 pupils increasing to 450 and features state of the art classrooms computer and science laboratories a library a theatre and a beauty salon Nelson Mandela praised Winfrey for overcoming her own disadvantaged youth to become a benefactor for others Critics considered the school elitist and unnecessarily luxurious 267 Winfrey rejected the claims saying If you are surrounded by beautiful things and wonderful teachers who inspire you that beauty brings out the beauty in you 267 Winfrey who has no surviving biological children described maternal feelings towards the girls at Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls 268 269 Winfrey teaches a class at the school via satellite 268 FilmographyThis section of a biography of a living person needs additional citations for verification Please help by adding reliable sources Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately especially if potentially libelous or harmful Find sources Oprah Winfrey news newspapers books scholar JSTOR January 2018 Learn how and when to remove this template message Main article Media works of Oprah Winfrey As actress Year Title Role Notes1985 The Color Purple Sofia Nominated Academy Award for Best Actress in a Supporting RoleNominated Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress Motion PictureNominated Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress1986 Native Son Mrs Thomas1989 The Women of Brewster Place Mattie Michael TV miniseries1990 Brewster Place Mattie Michael TV series1992 Lincoln Elizabeth Keckley Voice role TV movie ABC There Are No Children Here LaJoe Rivers TV movie ABC 1997 Ellen Therapist The Puppy Episode Part 1 4 22 Part 2 4 23 Before Women Had Wings Zora Williams Producer TV movie ABC 1998 Beloved Sethe Producer Nominated NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture1999 Our Friend Martin Coretta Scott King Voice role Direct to video film2006 Charlotte s Web Gussy the Goose Voice role2007 Bee Movie Judge Bumbleton2009 The Princess and the Frog Eudora2010 Sesame Street O Voice role The Camouflage Challenge 2013 The Butler Gloria Gaines African American Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress Santa Barbara International Film Festival Montecito Award Nominated BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role Nominated Black Reel Award for Best Supporting Actress Nominated Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress Nominated Denver Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actress Nominated NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture Nominated Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actress Nominated Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress Motion Picture Nominated Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role Nominated Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture2014 Selma Annie Lee Cooper Producer Women Film Critics Circle Award for Best Female Action Star Nominated Academy Award for Best Picture Nominated Independent Spirit Award for Best Film Nominated NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture2016 17 Greenleaf Mavis McCready TV series Executive producer2017 The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks 270 Deborah Lacks TV movie Executive producer Nominated NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Television Movie Mini Series or Dramatic Special Nominated Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Television MovieThe Star Deborah the Camel Voice role 271 2018 A Wrinkle in Time Mrs WhichCrow The Legend The One Who Creates Everything by Thinking Voice role 272 273 2018 19 The Handmaid s Tale Radio Free America AnnouncerTBA Six Triple Eight Filming 274 As herself Year Title Role Notes1986 Saturday Night Live Herself host Episode Oprah Winfrey Joe Jackson 1986 2011 The Oprah Winfrey Show Herself Television talk show1987 Throw Momma from the Train Film1990 Gabriel s Fire Episode Tis the Season 1992 The Fresh Prince of Bel Air Episode A Night at the Oprah 1995 All American Girl Episode A Night at the Oprah 1999 Home Improvement Episode Home Alone The Hughleys Episode Milsap Moves Up 2005 Desperate Housewives Oprah Winfrey Is the New Neighbor Herself Karen Stouffer Segment for The Oprah Winfrey Show aired February 3 20052007 Ocean s Thirteen Herself Film2008 30 Rock Herself Pam Episode Believe in the Stars 2011 18 Oprah s Master Class Herself OWN reality show2011 14 Oprah s Lifeclass OWN self help show2011 present Super Soul Sunday OWN spirituality show2012 15 Oprah Prime OWN interview show2012 17 Oprah Where Are They Now OWN reality show2019 A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood Archive footage2019 present Oprah s Book Club Apple TV book club show2020 present Oprah Talks COVID 19 Apple TV interview show2020 present The Oprah Conversation Apple TV talk show2020 Between the World and Me HBO Special adaptation of the book2021 Tina DocumentaryOprah with Meghan and Harry CBS Primetime SpecialThe Me You Can t See Apple TV docuseriesAdele One Night Only CBS Primetime SpecialTBD Oprah Winfrey Documentary Apple TV 275 As producer only 1989 The Oprah Winfrey Show supervising producer 8 episodes 1989 2011 1989 The Women of Brewster Place TV miniseries executive producer 1992 Nine TV documentary executive producer 1992 Overexposed TV movie executive producer 1993 ABC Afterschool Special TV series producer 1 episode Shades of a Single Protein producer 1993 Michael Jackson Talks to Oprah Live TV special executive producer 1997 Before Women Had Wings TV movie producer 1998 The Wedding TV miniseries executive producer 1998 Beloved producer 1998 David and Lisa TV movie executive producer 1999 Tuesdays with Morrie TV movie executive producer 2001 Amy amp Isabelle TV movie executive producer producer 2002 Oprah After the Show TV series executive producer 2005 Their Eyes Were Watching God TV movie executive producer 2006 Legends Ball TV documentary executive producer 2007 Oprah s Big Give TV series executive producer 2007 The Oprah Winfrey Oscar Special TV movie executive producer 2007 Building a Dream The Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy TV documentary executive producer 2007 Oprah Winfrey Presents Mitch Albom s For One More Day TV movie executive producer 2007 The Great Debaters producer 2009 The Dr Oz Show TV series executive producer 2009 Precious executive producer 2009 Christmas at the White House An Oprah Primetime Special TV special executive producer 2010 The Oprah Winfrey Oscar Special TV movie executive producer 2011 Your OWN Show TV series executive producer 2011 Extraordinary Mom TV documentary executive producer 2011 Serving Life TV documentary executive producer 2014 The Hundred Foot Journey producer 2014 Selma producer 2016 present Queen Sugar 276 co creator and executive producer 2016 2020 Greenleaf executive producer 2017 The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks TV movie executive producer 2018 Love Is executive producer 277 278 2019 When They See Us executive producer 2019 Oprah Winfrey Presents After Neverland executive producer 2019 David Makes Man executive producer 2020 The Water Man executive producer 279 2023 The Color Purple producer BibliographyBy Oprah Winfrey Winfrey Oprah 1996 The Uncommon Wisdom of Oprah Winfrey A Portrait in Her Own Words Winfrey Oprah 1998 Journey to Beloved Photography by Ken Regan Winfrey Oprah 1998 Make the Connection Ten Steps to a Better Body and a Better Life co authored with Bob Greene Winfrey Oprah 2000 Oprah Winfrey The Soul and Spirit of a Superstar Winfrey Oprah 2014 What I Know for Sure Winfrey Oprah 2016 Mr or Ms Just Right co authored with B Grace Winfrey Oprah 2017 Food Health and Happiness Winfrey Oprah 2017 The Wisdom of Sundays Life Changing Insights from Super Soul Conversations Winfrey Oprah 2017 The Wisdom Journal The Companion to The Wisdom of Sundays Winfrey Oprah 2019 The Path Made Clear Discovering Your Life s Direction and Purpose Winfrey Oprah 2021 What Happened to You Conversations on Trauma Resilience and Healing co authored with B Perry About Oprah Winfrey Mair George 2001 Oprah Winfrey The Real Story Citadel Press ISBN 1 55972 250 9 Cooper Irene 2007 Oprah Winfrey Viking ISBN 0 670 06162 X Awards and honorsMain article List of awards and nominations received by Oprah WinfreySee alsoAfrican Americans in MississippiReferences Oprah Winfrey in Melbourne for Australian tour 2015 spreads a message of love reveals lost child News com au Retrieved September 25 2017 a b Oprah Winfrey Biography and Interview achievement org American Academy of Achievement Winfrey has said in interviews that my name had been chosen from the Bible My Aunt Ida had chosen the name but nobody really knew how to spell it so it went down as Orpah on my birth certificate but people didn t know how to pronounce it so they put the P before the R in every place else other than the birth certificate On the birth certificate it is Orpah but then it got translated to Oprah so here we are Oprah Winfrey signs with King World Productions for new three year contract to continue as host and producer of The Oprah Winfrey Show through 2010 2011 Press release King World Productions August 4 2004 Archived from the original on February 10 2007 Retrieved September 24 2009 a b Oprah Winfrey Biography February 17 2021 Retrieved March 5 2022 Oswald Brad January 26 2010 Yes she s Queen of all Media but to Discovery she s Life itself Winnipeg Free Press Retrieved August 22 2014 Denenberg Dennis Roscoe Lorraine September 1 2016 50 American Heroes Every Kid Should Meet 2nd Revised ed Millbrook Press ISBN 9781512413298 Miller Matthew May 6 2009 The Wealthiest Black Americans Forbes Retrieved August 26 2010 Oprah Winfrey buys 14 million ski chalet in Colorado The Telegraph February 4 2016 Meldrum Henley on Klip Andrew January 3 2007 Their story is my story Oprah opens 40m school for South African girls The Guardian UK Retrieved March 4 2007 The most influential US liberals 1 20 The Daily Telegraph London October 31 2007 Archived from the original on January 10 2022 Retrieved May 20 2010 Mowbray Nicole March 2 2003 Oprah s path to power The Guardian UK Retrieved August 25 2008 562 Oprah Winfrey Forbes Special Report The World s Billionaires 2006 October 2006 Retrieved August 25 2008 Tacopino Joe January 25 2010 Oprah Glenn Beck are America s favorite TV personalities poll Daily News New York Archived from the original on January 30 2010 Retrieved August 26 2010 Chapman Roger 2010 Culture wars an encyclopedia of issues viewpoints and voices M E Sharpe pp 619 620 ISBN 978 0 7656 1761 3 Retrieved May 31 2011 Mandela Nelson May 3 2007 Oprah Winfrey The TIME 100 Archived from the original on May 5 2007 Retrieved February 1 2008 Steven By August 6 2008 So Much for One Person One Vote Freakonomics Blog The New York Times Retrieved January 8 2018 Slack Megan November 20 2013 President Obama Honors Presidential Medal of Freedom Recipients Retrieved April 8 2018 Oprah Winfrey Receives Honorary Degree at Harvard Tells Graduates to Max Out Your Humanity E May 30 2013 Retrieved August 22 2014 Jarmul David Oprah Winfrey Urges Duke Graduates to Help Others Move to Higher Ground Duke Today Duke University Office of News amp Communications Retrieved April 1 2015 a b c d Tannen Deborah June 8 1998 The TIME 100 Oprah Winfrey Time Archived from the original on July 4 2011 Retrieved August 25 2008 a b Coming After Oprah Press release Dr Leonard Mustazza Archived from the original on June 25 2003 Retrieved August 25 2008 Winfrey Oprah National Women s Hall of Fame Retrieved April 9 2019 New Members American Academy of Arts amp Sciences Retrieved April 24 2021 a b Winfrey has said in interviews that my name had been chosen from the Bible My Aunt Ida had chosen the name but nobody really knew how to spell it so it went down as Orpah on my birth certificate but people didn t know how to pronounce it so they put the P before the R in every place else other than the birth certificate On the birth certificate it is Orpah but then it got translated to Oprah so here we are Oprah Winfrey Interview Academy of Achievement January 21 1991 Archived from the original on January 19 2016 Retrieved August 25 2008 a b You go girl The Observer Profile Oprah Winfrey The Observer UK November 20 2005 a b c Nelson Jill December 14 1986 THE MAN WHO SAVED OPRAH WINFREY The Washington Post ISSN 0190 8286 Retrieved March 6 2020 Everything to Know About Oprah Winfrey s Mother Vernita Lee People Retrieved March 6 2020 66 Fascinating Facts About Oprah Winfrey E January 29 2020 Retrieved March 6 2020 FOXNews com Poor Mississippi Farmer Claims He s Oprah s Dad Fox News April 23 2010 Archived from the original on April 23 2010 Retrieved March 6 2020 1 Finding Oprah s Roots Finding Your Own by Henry Louis Gates page 154 at Google Books Ancestry of Oprah Winfrey Genealogy about com Retrieved August 22 2014 Krohn Katherine E Oprah Winfrey Global Media Leader USA Today Krohn 2002 ISBN 978 1 58013 571 9 pg 9 Mair 1999 p 12 a b Garson Helen S Oprah Winfrey A Biography Greenwood 2004 ISBN 978 0 313 32339 3 p 20 Mair 1999 pp 13 14 Collins Leah January 24 2011 Oprah s Big Secret She Has a Half Sister The Gazette Montreal Archived from the original on January 27 2011 Retrieved February 23 2011 a b Oldenburg Ann Oprah s Secret Is Out USA Today January 24 2011 WebCitation archive a b Barbranda Lumpkins Walls Spirituality According to Oprah aarp org USA November 9 2015 a b Winfrey Lee September 7 1986 Talking her way to TV stardom The Philadelphia Inquirer Philadelphia Pennsylvania p TV Week 4 51 Retrieved March 6 2022 via Newspapers com Morgan Thomas March 4 1986 Troubled Girl s Evolution into an Oscar Nominee The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved March 14 2020 Garson Helen S Oprah Winfrey A Biography Greenwood 2004 ISBN 978 0 313 32339 3 p 22 Oprah Winfrey It s good to talk BBC News November 20 2009 Retrieved August 26 2010 Oprah Winfrey The Biography Channel Archived from the original on March 7 2008 Retrieved February 8 2008 Oprah Winfrey I Was Devastated by Relative s Betrayal People February 20 2007 Archived from the original on September 4 2016 Retrieved August 25 2008 Nagle Jeanne M Oprah Winfrey Profile of a Media Mogul Rosen Publishing 2007 p 12 Milwaukee plays supporting role in Oprah book archive jsonline com Retrieved March 16 2020 Biography com Biography com Archived from the original on November 5 2012 Retrieved September 18 2012 White Lionel Luciano Illuminati August 11 2010 Wealth Building Strategies of the Super Rich How to Start a Family Dynasty SPOIO Books imprint of SPOIO Inc ISBN 978 1 4524 0843 9 Before They Were Stars Msn careerbuilder com January 22 2010 Archived from the original on July 8 2011 Retrieved August 26 2010 Lowe Janet January 22 2001 Oprah Winfrey Speaks Insights from the World s Most Influential Voice John Wiley amp Sons p 31 ISBN 978 0 471 39994 0 Cooper Ilene 2008 Oprah Winfrey A Twentieth century Life Penguin pp 65 71 ISBN 978 0 14 241045 5 Retrieved March 20 2020 Kelley K 2010 Oprah A Biography Crown p 163 ISBN 978 0 307 71877 8 Retrieved March 1 2021 Mel Novit Oprah Talk Show Dynamo Treats the Audience Like a Friend Syracuse Post Standard September 14 1986 p A9 Oprah Gail Winfrey Star born out of adversity Hindustan Times January 29 2020 Retrieved March 20 2020 Klenke Karin December 13 2017 Women in Leadership Contextual Dynamics and Boundaries Second Edition Emerald Group Publishing ISBN 978 1 78743 277 2 Sun David Zurawik The Baltimore From Sun Magazine Oprah Built in Baltimore The Baltimore Sun Retrieved March 20 2020 a b Ebert Roger November 16 2005 How I gave Oprah her start Roger Ebert s Journal Chicago Retrieved January 15 2017 Formerly appeared as Ebert Roger November 16 2005 How I gave Oprah her start Chicago Sun Times online ed Archived from the original on June 21 2008 Retrieved August 25 2008 Meredith Vieira host July 19 2006 Who Wants to Be a Millionaire Buena Vista Television Thomas Mike Oprah s First Season An Oral History Chicago magazine Retrieved March 20 2020 Oprah Winfrey Lady with a Calling Time August 8 1988 Retrieved September 17 2010 a b c Mair George 2001 p 97 Oprah once gave an entire audience free cars but it turns out there was a hidden cost The Independent February 13 2018 Archived from the original on May 24 2022 Retrieved December 9 2019 Benedictus Leo September 14 2010 Oprah surprises her audience with a trip to Australia on a plane flown by John Travolta The Guardian ISSN 0261 3077 Retrieved December 9 2019 Belluz Julia January 9 2018 Oprah s long history with junk science Vox Retrieved June 27 2019 Mathis Lilley Ben January 8 2018 Oprah s Record of Promoting Charlatans Should Perhaps Give Us Pause About Her Impending Presidency Slate How Oprah helped spread anti vaccine pseudoscience Summers Daniel April 17 2020 It s Time for Oprah to Renounce Dr Phil and Dr Oz over Their Dangerous Coronavirus Propaganda The Daily Beast What is OWN Oprah com Archived from the original on May 14 2010 Retrieved August 26 2010 This Is It Oprah s Final Show etonline com Archived from the original on May 28 2011 Retrieved May 25 2011 Oprah Winfrey to join 60 Minutes as Special Contributor NBC News January 31 2017 Retrieved February 9 2018 Johnson Steve July 20 2018 Smithsonian s Watching Oprah a powerful reminder of why we miss her Chicago Tribune Retrieved July 22 2018 Oprah Talks Apple Plans 60 Minutes Exit Leaving Neverland Backlash and Mayor Pete Buttabeep Buttaboop The Hollywood Reporter April 30 2019 Retrieved June 21 2019 Apple signs up Oprah Winfrey in 1bn programming push The Guardian Reuters June 16 2018 ISSN 0261 3077 Retrieved February 13 2019 Respers France Lisa July 28 2020 Oprah Winfrey launching new show on Apple TV CNN Retrieved July 29 2020 Company Johnson Publishing March 8 1993 Alex Haley s Queen Lifts CBS To No 1 Jet 37 Retrieved February 23 2011 a b Time magazine Huff Richard Coleman Christena December 3 2005 It s Win Winfrey situation for Dave as ratings soar Daily News New York Archived from the original on December 5 2005 Retrieved March 5 2007 Letterman to Appear on Oprah The Washington Post Associated Press August 29 2007 Retrieved September 17 2010 Ice Cube Says Oprah Has a Problem With Hip Hop Archived September 29 2009 at the Wayback Machine Fox News Channel May 28 2006 Retrieved September 17 2010 Bercovici Jeff September 7 2008 Oprah and Sarah Anatomy of a Non troversy Portfolio com Retrieved November 30 2008 a b c Friedman Emily September 5 2008 Is Oprah Biased Host Won t Interview Palin ABC News Retrieved September 5 2008 Noveck Jocelyn October 19 2009 Somers New Target Conventional Cancer Treatment ABC News Archived from the original on October 29 2009 Poniewozik James October 27 1998 Oprah Winfrey Journalist Salon Archived from the original on April 12 2000 Retrieved February 23 2011 de Moraes Lisa February 4 2006 Dave Chappelle Rematerializing Guy The Washington Post Retrieved May 15 2008 Meghan and Harry interview Tabloid racism large part of why we left UK says duke BBC News March 8 2021 Retrieved March 9 2021 Vogue October 1998 Frankel Daniel December 16 2008 Oprah Winfrey pacts with HBO Variety Why A Wrinkle in Time Will Change Hollywood Time Retrieved March 13 2018 Russian Ale John Legend Ventures in VR with Oprah Winfrey and More in Crow The Legend Watch Here People November 29 2018 Glaister Dan May 22 2006 Oprah Winfrey book deal tops Clinton s m The Guardian UK Retrieved August 25 2008 Begley Sarah December 3 2015 Oprah to Publish New Memoir The Life You Want Time Retrieved March 5 2019 Conlin Jennifer October 10 2014 The Tao of Oprah The New York Times Retrieved March 5 2019 Alter Alexandra December 3 2015 Oprah Winfrey to Release Memoir in 2017 The New York Times Retrieved December 9 2015 Schaub Michael June 15 2016 Oprah s memoir is delayed but her cookbook is coming in January Los Angeles Times Retrieved March 5 2019 Perez Pena Richard November 7 2008 Hearst to Close O at Home Oprah Magazine Spinoff The New York Times Retrieved May 27 2011 a b Sellers Patricia April 8 2002 The Business of Being Oprah Fortune Archived from the original on December 8 2008 Retrieved August 25 2008 Wyatt Edward May 26 2008 A Few Tremors in Oprahland The New York Times Retrieved September 25 2008 Memo Pad Oprah Boosts Sales AMI s New Deal Boodro Departs Women s Wear Daily February 2 2009 Retrieved August 26 2010 Oprah s O Mag to end regular print editions after 20 years AP NEWS July 27 2020 Arbel Tali Writer AP Technology July 28 2020 Oprah s O Mag to end regular print editions after 20 years Houston Chronicle Winfrey Oprah November 17 2020 Oprah Thanks Readers of O in the Magazine s Last Monthly Issue O the Oprah Magazine Retrieved December 17 2020 About Oprah Harpo Inc Retrieved January 8 2018 Presenter Oprah Winfrey October 11 2005 The Oprah Show Captures Accused Child Molesters The Oprah Winfrey Show Oprah Signs XM Satellite Radio Deal Los Angeles Times February 10 2006 Retrieved March 11 2020 She Gets a House And He Gets a House Oprah Winfrey s Impressive Real Estate Portfolio Realtor com November 14 2019 Retrieved November 6 2022 Oprah owned Penthouse at Place 57 Up for Grabs Dirt February 22 2012 Retrieved November 6 2022 Oprah Winfrey s Homes A Look Inside Her Extensive Real Estate Portfolio Architectural Digest October 1 2021 Retrieved November 6 2022 A Look Inside 6 of Oprah Winfrey s Homes Yes 6 She Knows November 6 2019 Retrieved November 6 2022 Oprah Winfrey sells Water Tower condo for 4 6 million Chicago Tribune November 20 2015 Retrieved November 6 2022 MV trails case dismissed Telluride Daily Planet December 1 2014 Retrieved November 6 2022 All The Homes That Oprah Owns House Digest May 11 2022 Retrieved November 6 2022 Muhammad Ali Oprah selling nearby estates Chicago Tribune September 14 2003 Retrieved November 6 2022 Oprah sells final piece of Chicago area real estate 4 bedroom Elmwood Park home Chicago Tribune October 19 2018 Retrieved November 6 2022 Oprah s Indiana farm sold to developer UPI December 16 2004 Retrieved November 6 2022 Oprah buying 40 acre estate in California Chicago Tribune April 29 2001 Retrieved November 6 2022 Gayle King Selling the Big House Dirt June 21 2008 Retrieved November 6 2022 Oprah Sells 14 Million Montecito Estate to Jennifer Aniston Dirt September 9 2022 Retrieved November 6 2022 Mair 1999 pp 28 29 a b Mair 1999 p 30 Mair 1999 p 31 Mair 1999 p 33 Mair 1999 p 43 Oprah and John Tesh Briefly Dated Lived Together New Book Claims Fox News Channel April 12 2010 Mair George 1995 Oprah Winfrey The Real Story Carol Pub Group p 47 ISBN 1 55972 250 9 Mair 1999 p 49 the major problem with this intense love affair arose from her lover s being married with no plans to leave his wife a b Mair 1999 p 49 a b Mair 1999 p 50 Oprah reveals on her show she smoked crack cocaine during her 20s Jet January 30 1995 Archived from the original on December 8 2008 Retrieved August 25 2008 Archived at FindArticles in 2004 Randolph L Cook v Oprah Winfrey 7th FindLaw 973403 7th Cir April 8 1998 Representative Matters Jackson Walker L L P Archived from the original on October 19 2003 Retrieved August 25 2008 EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW Stedman Stole Oprah From Me Secret Lover Tells Radar radaronline com February 17 2011 Retrieved February 23 2011 A Look Into the Personal Life of Oprah Winfrey Oprah about com November 14 2008 Retrieved August 26 2010 a b Lehner Marla July 18 2006 Oprah Gayle and I Are Not Gay People Archived from the original on April 21 2007 Retrieved August 25 2008 Hernandez Greg May 2004 Balancing Act Orange Coast Magazine 55 ABC News Shriver Struggles With Kennedy Legacy ABC News October 23 2007 Retrieved August 26 2010 Winfrey Oprah Oprah s cut with Maya Angelou Oprah com Retrieved January 8 2018 Article from USA Today Maya Angelou official website Retrieved September 18 2010 a b Fletcher Dan May 25 2010 7 Oprah The Billionaire Time Archived from the original on November 19 2009 Retrieved August 26 2010 Mills Marja March 7 2001 Oprah College Course Race Matters Retrieved August 25 2008 July Reuters July 25 2007 Oprah tops list of highest paid TV stars Canada com Reuters Archived from the original on October 11 2007 Retrieved August 26 2010 a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a first has generic name help a b 1 Oprah Winfrey Forbes June 11 2008 Retrieved August 22 2014 a b Oprah Winfrey Forbes Retrieved August 22 2014 Forbes magazine March 26 2007 p 160 says there are only 10 self made women billionaires in the world and Winfrey is the richest of the 4 listed as U S billionaires Oprah Winfrey and the Glamour of Misery An Essay on Popular Culture by Eva Illou THE ROLE OF THE BLACK CHURCH Oprah Winfrey Global Media Leader by Katherine E Krohn pg 14 Oprah Winfrey A Biography Second Edition by Helen S Garson pg 34 Lowe Janet January 22 2001 Oprah Winfrey Speaks Insights from the World s Most Influential Voice John Wiley amp Sons p 122 ISBN 978 0 471 39994 0 Oprah on Why Doubt Means Don t The Oprah Winfrey Show Retrieved November 5 2018 Oprah s Christian Faith HuffPost January 28 2014 Retrieved February 3 2021 2001 Global Influentials 19 Oprah Winfrey Time March 12 2001 Archived from the original on May 10 2008 Retrieved August 25 2008 Tamny John The American Spectator Spectator org Archived from the original on September 30 2007 Retrieved August 26 2010 Obama Michelle April 30 2009 The 2008 TIME 100 Time Archived from the original on May 5 2008 Retrieved August 26 2010 The 50 Most Influential Boomers Life Archived from the original on January 27 2007 Retrieved March 6 2007 Most influential people USA Today September 3 2007 Retrieved August 26 2010 Interview With Barack Obama Larry King Live CNN October 19 2006 Retrieved March 6 2007 Oprah Winfrey named most powerful person in entertainment industry Jet 1998 Archived from the original on December 8 2008 Oprah Tops Powerful Celebs List CBS News Associated Press June 17 2005 Retrieved August 25 2008 Oprah most powerful celebrity BBC News June 14 2007 Retrieved May 20 2010 Oprah Back Atop the Forbes Celebrity 100 List TV Guide Oprah Winfrey celebrite la plus puissante de l annee 2013 Le Figaro June 26 2013 Retrieved August 22 2014 Dobuzinskis Alex Serjeant Jill December 7 2008 Oprah named entertainment s most powerful woman Reuters Archived from the original on April 2 2015 Retrieved January 31 2015 The world s 100 most powerful women Forbes Retrieved August 24 2011 Life 100 people who changed the world August 20 2010 Mackensie Susie March 11 2006 Woman of mass derision The Guardian London UK Retrieved March 18 2021 Harrow Susan Inside the Book The Ultimate Guide to Getting Booked on Oprah PRSecrets com Archived from the original on September 23 2008 Retrieved March 12 2007 Westwood One s The Radio Factor with Bill O Reilly October 17 2006 Panagopoulos Costas Obama supporter Oprah takes a big dive Costas Panagopoulos Politico Retrieved January 8 2018 Obama Hillary Clinton Share Most Admired Billing Gallup com December 26 2008 Retrieved May 4 2009 Clinton Closes Gap with Bush As Nation s Most Admired Man CNN December 26 2007 Retrieved February 23 2011 38 Oprah Winfrey 50 People Who Matter 2010 New Statesman UK Retrieved October 8 2010 McDougal Dennis November 8 1989 Winfrey accepted into Hall of Fame Los Angeles Times Retrieved August 5 2016 a b The Church of O Christianity Today April 1 2002 Retrieved August 26 2010 The TV Host Time June 8 1998 Retrieved September 17 2010 Clinton as TV host The thought doesn t rate The Sydney Morning Herald May 7 2002 Darman Jonathan The Story Behind Oprah s Riveting Show Newsweek National News MSNBC Archived from the original on June 18 2006 Retrieved August 26 2010 Kelley Kitty Oprah A Biography Crown Archetype New York 2010 ISBN 978 0 307 39486 6 An interview and excerpt from Freaks Talk Back University of Chicago Press Retrieved August 25 2008 Gamson Joshua 1999 University Of Chicago Press ISBN 0 226 28065 9 Quintanilla Carlos The Oprah Effect CNBC Retrieved February 23 2011 Oprah s Book Club Archive Oprah com Retrieved August 26 2010 Oprah s Book Club to Add Contemporary Writers The New York Times article September 23 2005 Retrieved September 18 2010 Elliot Jane Jonathan Franzen and Oprah Bitchmagazine org Archived from the original on October 26 2010 Retrieved August 26 2010 Oprah Apologizes to Author James Frey TV Guide Retrieved May 14 2009 Oprah Free speech rocks CNN February 26 1998 Archived from the original on October 6 2009 Snyder Susan Roebuck Jeremy June 9 2012 Sandusky jury has strong Penn State ties The Philadelphia Inquirer Archived from the original on March 4 2016 Retrieved July 7 2014 Oprah Winfrey Net Worth From Abused Little Girl to a Powerful Woman NetWorthCity com Retrieved May 25 2014 The Oprah Effect How Oprah s Endorsement Helps Companies Access Hollywood May 27 2009 Retrieved February 23 2011 a b Baum Matthew A Jamison Angela S 2006 The Oprah Effect How Soft News Helps Inattentive Citizens Vote Consistently The Journal of Politics 68 4 946 959 doi 10 1111 j 1468 2508 2006 00482 x S2CID 32777635 Oprah Winfrey says if you don t vote you are dishonoring your family at Stacey Abrams rally USA Today Can the Oprah Effect Make Obama President ABC News September 6 2007 Retrieved February 23 2011 The Oprah Effect on Obama ABC News August 6 2008 Archived from the original on October 11 2017 Retrieved February 23 2011 The Oprah Effect One Million Votes Study Says HuffPost August 8 2008 Retrieved February 23 2011 Zeleny Jeff May 3 2007 Oprah Endorses Obama The New York Times Levitt Steven D August 6 2008 So Much for One Person One Vote The New York Times Retrieved May 7 2010 The Role of Celebrity Endorsements in Politics Oprah Obama and the 2008 Democratic Primary Archived February 5 2009 at the Wayback Machine Anburajan Aswini December 9 2007 About 30 000 see Obama Oprah In SC NBC News Archived from the original on December 10 2007 Retrieved August 26 2010 The Role of Celebrity Endorsements in Politics Oprah Obama and the 2008 Democratic Primary PDF Retrieved January 8 2018 Blagojevich on Glenn Beck Fox News Channel January 29 2009 Archived from the original on February 7 2009 Retrieved August 26 2010 I Think I Could Be Senator Too HuffPost January 26 2009 Retrieved September 17 2010 President Obama Trading Card Set Sports Collectors Daily January 20 2009 Retrieved March 29 2021 Andrews Helena Heil Emily April 7 2014 Oprah attends fundraiser for Arlington candidate Lavern Chatman The Washington Post The Reliable Source Archived from the original on April 22 2014 Retrieved April 18 2014 McCaskill Nolan October 26 2016 Oprah You don t have to like her Politico Knock Knock It s Oprah Winfrey Campaigns for Stacey Abrams as Mogul Says She Won t Run in 2020 People Stumping for Abrams Oprah makes impassioned plea for turnout CNN November 2018 Gonzalez Sandra February 21 2018 Oprah Steven Spielberg also donating to March For Our Lives following George Clooney s pledge CNN Retrieved March 29 2018 Stelter Brian January 8 2018 Sources Oprah Winfrey actively thinking about running for president CNN Elkin Elizabeth Griggs Brandon July 3 2018 Oprah Winfrey tells Vogue that a 2020 presidential run would kill me CNN The Latest Winfrey boosts Biden at get out the vote event Reuters May 1 2019 The Latest Winfrey boosts Biden at get out the vote event ABC News October 29 2020 Saudi Arabia s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman toured Hollywood Harvard and Silicon Valley on US visit The Independent April 7 2018 Ahn Ashley November 4 2022 Oprah rejects her protege Dr Oz and backs Democrat John Fetterman in Pa senate race NPR Retrieved November 5 2022 DePuyt Bruce Kurtz Josh May 31 2022 Political Notes Moore Getting the Oprah Treatment Schulz Sticks to the Script and Gansler Lays Out Crime Plan Maryland Matters Retrieved May 31 2022 Navarro Aaron July 7 2022 Oprah voices ad for Maryland Democratic candidate for governor Wes Moore CBS News Retrieved July 7 2022 Oprah among big names attending Wes Moore s historic inauguration CBS Baltimore January 18 2023 Retrieved January 18 2023 Gaskill Hannah January 18 2023 Oprah Winfrey attends Maryland Gov elect Wes Moore s inauguration The Baltimore Sun Retrieved January 18 2023 jbkatz Voter Suppression Voter Tutorial Part Amazing Black History Retrieved February 4 2023 Advancement Project National Office joins Oprah Winfrey NAACP for OWN Your Vote National Town Hall Advancement Project Retrieved February 4 2023 Kaylor Brian September 30 2020 Black Church Turnout Effort Mobilizes Against Alleged Voter Suppression Word amp Way Retrieved February 4 2023 O Connell Mikey July 31 2020 Oprah Winfrey Network Launches Election Initiative OWN Your Vote Exclusive The Hollywood Reporter Retrieved February 4 2023 Breaking News OWN Oprah Winfrey Network Announces 2020 Own Your Vote Initiative TheFutonCritic com www thefutoncritic com Retrieved February 4 2023 OWN Your Vote The Shorty Awards shortyawards com Retrieved February 4 2023 Corporate Partnerships www sgrho1922 org Retrieved February 4 2023 In the News VoteRunLead Retrieved February 4 2023 NAACP Spingarn Medal Naacp org Archived from the original on July 7 2010 Retrieved August 22 2014 Books Marcia Z Nelson The Gospel According to Oprah Cbn com Retrieved August 26 2010 From Oprah to Building a Sisterhood in Congo The New York Times February 3 2010 Retrieved September 18 2010 A positive elevating emotion The Times of India February 4 2010 Archived from the original on February 14 2010 Retrieved August 26 2010 Emaxhealth com Emaxhealth com February 4 2010 Retrieved August 26 2010 Zukav Rides Oprah s Spiritual Wave Publishers Weekly October 26 1998 Forging a Spiritual Relationship Harpo Productions January 24 2007 Pinsky Mark 2007 2003 The Gospel According to the Simpsons Bigger and possibly even Better edition Gardners Books pp 229 235 ISBN 978 0 664 23265 8 Anderson Porter September 23 2011 Prayer service We shall not be moved CNN Archived from the original on March 9 2012 Retrieved February 23 2011 Dreher Rod October 8 2001 Islam According to Oprah Is Oprah Winfrey a threat to national security National Review Archived from the original on May 28 2011 Retrieved February 23 2011 No thanks Oprah tells Bush News24 March 30 2002 Retrieved May 27 2011 Shapiro Ben March 19 2003 The Oprah schnook club Townhall com O The Oprah Magazine October 2006 pg 367 Moore 2003 pg 87 Moore 2003 pp 255 58 Fletcher Dan November 13 2009 Top 10 Oprah Controversies Time Archived from the original on November 19 2009 Retrieved August 26 2010 President Bush World Can Rise to This Moment Press release Office of the White House Press Secretary February 6 2003 Retrieved August 25 2008 Birkenhead Peter Oprah s ugly secret Salon Life March 5 2007 Retrieved May 15 2008 Randi James March 2 2007 An Oprah Fiasco Swift Randi org Retrieved August 26 2010 a b Oprah s Church Video Draws Over 5 Million to YouTube The Christian Post April 23 2008 Retrieved April 23 2008 Oprah Winfrey named PETA s Person of the Year The Times of India December 20 2008 Retrieved August 26 2010 Foxnews com Fox News Channel January 15 2010 Archived from the original on June 5 2010 Retrieved August 26 2010 Meet the SuperSoul100 The World s Biggest Trailblazers in One Room O Magazine August 1 2016 Retrieved July 5 2018 the SuperSoul 100 innovators and visionaries who are aligned on a mission to move humanity forward THE COMPLETE LIST A COLLECTION OF 100 AWAKENED LEADERS WHO ARE USING THEIR VOICES AND TALENT TO ELEVATE HUMANITY supersoul tv Harpo Productions 2018 Retrieved July 21 2018 Oprah Winfrey Forest Whitaker Talk Lee Daniels The Butler Racism and the N word Parade July 31 2013 Jane Pauley to Go Head to Head With Oprah Fox News Channel December 1 2011 Archived from the original on May 13 2013 Retrieved April 13 2012 Cockcroft Lucy May 27 2008 Oprah Winfrey Show suffers ratings slump Telegraph The Daily Telegraph UK Archived from the original on May 29 2008 Retrieved November 30 2008 Oprah throws party for U S Olympic medalists Reuters September 3 2008 Retrieved November 30 2008 MacIntyre James September 29 2007 Oprah earns 128m to lead TV earnings The Independent UK Archived from the original on May 24 2022 Retrieved November 30 2008 Oprah Regains Her Position as America s Favorite Television Personality PDF Harris Interactive Archived from the original PDF on July 17 2011 Retrieved August 26 2010 NewsMax May 2007 p 65 Zoepf Katherine September 18 2008 Dammam Journal Saudi Women Find an Unlikely Role Model Oprah The New York Times Retrieved November 30 2008 Online Extra A Talk with Oprah Winfrey Bloomberg BusinessWeek November 28 2004 Archived from the original on August 30 2012 Retrieved August 22 2014 Top 50 2010 January 11 2012 O Connor Clare The Education Of Oprah Winfrey How She Saved Her South African School Forbes Boykin Keith September 19 2006 Oprah s Back keithboykin com Archived from the original on November 1 2006 Retrieved August 25 2008 Oprah Winfrey donates 12 million to Smithsonian The Washington Post June 12 2013 Retrieved June 11 2013 Jackson David November 20 2013 Obama awards Medal of Freedom to Clinton Oprah others USA Today Retrieved November 20 2013 Oprah Winfrey s Angel Network Charity To Close Down HuffPost May 26 2010 Archived from the original on May 29 2010 Retrieved February 24 2016 How to Help Thank You to Our Donors Opera s Angel Network May 24 2010 Archived from the original on August 9 2011 Retrieved February 24 2016 Mirabella Linda Cash Donations Benefit Concerts Celebrity Auctions and Celebrity Volunteers to Benefit Victims of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita LAStarz Archived from the original on June 22 2008 Retrieved August 25 2008 Building Oprah Katrina Homes Oprah com January 15 2006 Retrieved August 26 2010 Christmas Kindness Harpo Productions Retrieved September 18 2010 a b McLaren Elsa January 2 2007 Oprah Winfrey opens school for poor South African girls The Times London a b Samuels Allison January 8 2007 Oprah goes to school Newsweek Archived from the original on September 13 2011 Retrieved May 27 2020 Koinange Jeff January 8 2007 CNN com CNN Retrieved August 26 2010 Stanhope Kate May 2 2016 Oprah Winfrey to Star in HBO Films The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks The Hollywood Reporter Retrieved May 3 2016 Studios 2017 Forecast Big Bets Franchise Fears and Executive Intrigue The Hollywood Reporter January 5 2017 Retrieved January 11 2017 Crow The Legend 2018 2018 Retrieved November 25 2018 Lauder Ed July 4 2018 The Handmaid s Tale Season Two Oprah Winfrey s cameo sparks celebrity debate Express Retrieved July 5 2018 Grobar Matt January 11 2023 Kerry Washington To Exec Produce Star In Tyler Perry s Netflix WWII Pic Six Triple Eight Sam Waterston Susan Sarandon amp Oprah Winfrey Among Others Set Deadline Hollywood Retrieved January 11 2023 An Oprah Winfrey Documentary Is Being Produced For Release On Apple TV Black Enterprise January 15 2021 Retrieved January 16 2021 Andreeva Nellie February 2 2015 Oprah Winfrey To Co Star In amp Co Create With Selma Filmmaker Ava DuVernay Queen Sugar OWN Drama Series Deadline Hollywood Retrieved February 2 2015 Golding Shenequa June 12 2018 Oprah On How Heartbreak Can Bring Joy At Love Is Premiere Vibe Retrieved June 14 2018 Malkin Marc June 12 2018 Oprah Winfrey on Wanting to Work With Mara Brock Akil on Love Is The Hollywood Reporter Retrieved June 14 2018 N Duka Amanda March 27 2019 David Oyelowo Sets The Water Man As Feature Directorial Debut With Oprah Winfrey As EP Deadline Hollywood Retrieved August 25 2020 Notes Died during infancy External linksOprah Winfrey at Wikipedia s sister projects Media from Commons Quotations from Wikiquote Data from Wikidata Official website Oprah Winfrey at IMDb NPR Oprah The Billionaire Everywoman Audio file video and biography Retrieved September 17 2010 Works by Oprah Winfrey at Open Library Oprah Winfrey Archived February 16 2013 at the Wayback Machine Video produced by Makers Women Who Make America Appearances on C SPAN Watching Oprah Archived April 17 2021 at the Wayback Machine Smithsonian exhibition on the Oprah Show and Winfrey Portal United States Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Oprah Winfrey amp oldid 1142742860, 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