Oprah Winfrey (born January 29th, 1954) Oprah Winfrey is an American talk show host on her show 'The Oprah Winfrey Show'.
Net Worth: Her net worth was estimated at $2.9 billion. (Forbes, 2013)
Childhood: Oprah Winfrey was born in Kosciusko, Mississippi. Her mother was Vernita Lee, a teenage housemaid, but there was much speculation as to who her father was. While she thought coal miner Vernon Winfrey was her biological father, several years later a farmer called Noah Robinson, Sr. claimed he was. She lived with her mother and grandmother as a youngster and the family were extremely poor.
Oprah learnt to read and often recited Bible verses. She and her mother than lived in Milwaukee, Wisconsin for a time, before she was sent to be taken care of by Vernon. Oprah has claimed that between the ages of 9 and 13 she was molested by various family members and subsequently ran away from home. She had a child at the age of 14 who died a short time after birth. She attended Lincoln High School before being transferred to Nicolet High School where she was frequently bullied for being poor.
She became a more popular student when she went to East Nashville High School and was known for her drama and speech skills which led her to a scholarship at Tennessee State University. Her first job was at a grocery store and she later landed a part time job as a newsreader on local radio station WVOL.
TV and film career: Oprah Winfrey's early TV career included anchor positions at Nashville's WLAC-TV and Baltimore's WJZ-TV, and host of WJZ talk show 'People Are Talking' and 'Dialling for Dollars'. In the early 80s, Oprah began hosting talk show 'AM Chicago' and was responsible for bringing the show higher ratings. The program soon became 'The Oprah Winfrey Show' and beat 'Donahue' as America's number one talk show. In 2011, Discovery Health Channel was turned into OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network.
That year saw the final episode of 'The Oprah Winfrey Show'. The show saw several high profile celebrity guests including political figures such as Barack Obama and Sarah Palin. Her most famous interview, however, was with Michael Jackson in 1993 which became the most watched interview ever recorded with 36.5 million viewers. As well as hosting, Oprah has also had various production and acting roles.
Her first TV acting job was on 1989 miniseries 'The Women of Brewster Place'. In 1985, she was nominated for an Academy Award for her appearance in Steven Spielberg's 'The Color Purple'. She subsequently went on to produce the Broadway musical adaption. She took on another production and acting venture in 1998 with the movie 'Beloved' alongside Danny Glover and Thandie Newton, but it performed poorly at the box office despite some good reviews.
Winfrey has done a lot for charity, ranking in on the 50 most generous Americans in 2004 and remaining there until 2010. As of 2012 she'd given roughly $400 million to educational causes. In the summer of 2006, Winfrey took her staff and their families (1065 people) on a trip to Hawaii to celebrate two decades on national television, as a thank you for her employee's hard work. Winfrey donated $12 million to the National Museum of African American History and Culture in 2013.
The same year she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barrack Obama. Winfrey created Oprah's Angel Network in 1998; a charity that supported charitable projects and provided grants to non-profit organizations around the world, which raised more than $80,000,000. 100% of funds raised went to charity programs as Winfrey handled all administrative costs associated with the charity. The charity stopped accepting donations in 2010 and was later dissolved. After Hurricane Katrina, Winfrey created the Oprah Angel Network Katrina registry, which raised more than $11 million and for which Winfrey gave $10 million.
Personal Life: In 1970 Winfrey dated musician John Tesh. When insecure about her appearance, Winfrey found comfort in reporter Lloyd Kramer, claiming it to be "the most fun romance I've ever had". During her life she has faced struggles with crack cocaine addiction and fluctuating weight. During these times, she has admitted to have been going through a series of difficult relationships.
Winfrey briefly dated film critic Roger Ebert, before later entering into a romance with filmmaker Reginald Chevalier. The relationship came to an end when she met Stedman Graham who she has been with since 1986. Although they were engaged once, they remain an unmarried couple. Winfrey has been best friends with 'This Morning' co-anchor Gayle King for several decades.
Their incredibly close bond has been the subject of much speculation that their relationship is romantic, though both have laughed off this suggestion as nonsense.
Biography by Contactmusic.com
