128 Facts About Oprah Winfrey

Oprah Gail Winfrey is an American talk show host, television producer, actress, author, and media proprietor.

Oprah Winfrey 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.

Oprah Winfrey 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.

Oprah Winfrey was then sent to live with the man she calls her father, Vernon Oprah Winfrey, a barber in Nashville, Tennessee, and landed a job in radio while still in high school.

Oprah Winfrey 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.

In 2013, Oprah Winfrey was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama, and received honorary doctorate degrees from Duke and Harvard.

Oprah Winfrey has won many accolades throughout her career which includes 18 Daytime Emmy Awards, two Primetime Emmy Awards, a Tony Award, a Peabody Award, and the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award awarded by the Academy Awards, in addition to two competitive Academy Award nominations.

Oprah Winfrey was elected as a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2021.

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.

Oprah Winfrey was born in Kosciusko, Mississippi, to an unmarried teenage mother.

Oprah Winfrey's grandmother was so poor that Winfrey often wore dresses made of potato sacks, for which other children made fun of her.

Oprah Winfrey's grandmother taught her to read before the age of three and took her to the local church, where she was nicknamed "The Preacher" for her ability to recite Bible verses.

When Oprah Winfrey was a child, her grandmother was reportedly abusive.

At age six, Oprah 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.

Oprah Winfrey did not know that she had a second half-sister until 2010.

Oprah Winfrey once commented that she had chosen not to be a mother because she had not been mothered well.

At 13, after suffering what she described as years of abuse, Oprah Winfrey ran away from home.

Oprah Winfrey later stated she felt betrayed by the family member who had sold the story of her son to the National Enquirer in 1990.

Oprah 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.

Oprah Winfrey began to rebel and steal money from her mother in an effort to keep up with her free-spending peers.

Oprah 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.

At the age of 17, Oprah Winfrey won the Miss Black Tennessee beauty pageant.

Oprah Winfrey attracted the attention of the local black radio station, WVOL, which hired her to do the news part-time.

Oprah Winfrey worked there during her senior year of high school and in her first two years of college.

Oprah Winfrey had won an oratory contest, which secured her a full scholarship to Tennessee State University, a historically black institution, where she studied communication.

Oprah 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".

Oprah Winfrey 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.

Oprah Winfrey hosted the local version of Dialing for Dollars.

In 1984, Oprah 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.

Oprah Winfrey's syndicated show brought in double Donahue's national audience, displacing Donahue as the number-one daytime talk show in America.

Oprah Winfrey interviewed celebrities on social issues they were directly involved with, such as cancer, charity work, or substance abuse, and hosted televised giveaways.

The later years of the show faced accusations that Oprah Winfrey was promoting junk science.

Multiple publications have called on Oprah Winfrey to denounce medical statements made by her former proteges long after her show ended.

Oprah Winfrey is the president of Harpo Productions, a film and TV production company behind The Oprah Winfrey Show, Dr Phil, Rachael Ray, The Dr Oz Show and many others.

Oprah Winfrey moderated three ABC Afterschool Specials from 1992 to 1994.

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

In January 2017, CBS announced that Oprah Winfrey would join 60 Minutes as a special contributor on the Sunday evening news magazine program starting in September 2017.

On December 1,2005, Oprah 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, which she produced.

On September 10,2007, Letterman made his first appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show, as its season premiere was filmed in New York City.

Oprah Winfrey said that he wasn't initially invited on the show with the rest of the cast.

Oprah 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.

Oprah Winfrey 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.

Oprah Winfrey denied the report, maintaining that there never was a discussion regarding Palin's appearing on her show.

Oprah Winfrey 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.

Oprah 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.

In 2009, Oprah Winfrey was criticized for allowing actress Suzanne Somers to appear on her show to discuss hormone treatments that are not accepted by mainstream medicine.

Critics have suggested that Oprah Winfrey is not tough enough when questioning celebrity guests or politicians whom she appears to like.

Oprah Winfrey co-starred in Steven Spielberg's The Color Purple, as distraught housewife Sofia.

Oprah Winfrey 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 Oprah Winfrey credited as a producer.

Oprah Winfrey voiced Gussie the goose in Charlotte's Web and voiced Judge Bumbleton in Bee Movie, co-starring the voices of Jerry Seinfeld and Renee Zellweger.

In 2009, Oprah 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, Oprah Winfrey starred as Mrs Which in the film adaptation of Madeleine L'Engle's novel A Wrinkle in Time.

Oprah Winfrey 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.

On February 9,2006, it was announced that Oprah 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 Winfrey's contract requires her to be on the air 30 minutes a week, 39 weeks a year.

In 2000, through her Chicago-based LLC Overground Railroad, Oprah Winfrey purchased her friend Gayle King an estate in Greenwich, Connecticut.

In 2001, Oprah Winfrey sold all five of her Fisher Island condos and purchased what would become her "main home base" she has called "The Promised Land", a 42-acre estate with ocean and mountain views in Montecito, California.

From 2003 to 2005, Oprah Winfrey acquired several properties totaling 163 acres in Kula and Hana, Hawaii as well as a penthouse apartment in Atlanta, Georgia.

In 2006, Oprah Winfrey 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.

Later that year, Oprah Winfrey came back to Telluride, Colorado to purchase a 60-acre lot with plans to build on the property.

In 2015, Oprah Winfrey 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.

In 2018, Oprah Winfrey 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.

Oprah Winfrey broke up with him on Valentine's Day of her senior year.

In 1971, several months after breaking up with Otey, Oprah Winfrey met William "Bubba" Taylor at Tennessee State University.

Oprah 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".

When WJZ-TV management criticized Oprah Winfrey for crying on air while reporting tragedies and were unhappy with her physical appearance, Oprah Winfrey turned to reporter Lloyd Kramer for comfort.

Oprah Winfrey stuck with me through the whole demoralizing experience.

Oprah 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.

Oprah Winfrey later confessed to smoking crack cocaine with a man she was romantically involved with during the same era.

Oprah Winfrey was allegedly involved in a second drug-related love affair.

In 1985, before Oprah 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 Oprah Winfrey involving romantic evenings at home, candlelit baths, and dinners with Michael Jordan and Danny Glover.

Chevalier says Oprah Winfrey ended the relationship when she met Stedman Graham.

Since 1997, when Oprah Winfrey played the therapist on an episode of the sitcom Ellen in which Ellen DeGeneres came out of the closet, Oprah Winfrey and King have been the target of persistent rumors that they were gay.

Oprah Winfrey has had a long friendship with Maria Shriver, after they met in Baltimore.

Oprah 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.

Oprah Winfrey negotiated ownership rights to the television program and started her own production company.

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

Oprah Winfrey attends The Potter's House Church, Dallas service, an Evangelical church.

Oprah Winfrey is the only person to have appeared in the latter list on ten occasions.

In 1998, Oprah 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.

Oprah Winfrey has been listed as one of the most powerful 100 women in the world by Forbes, ranking 14th in 2014.

Oprah Winfrey was the only living woman to make the list.

In 2005, Oprah Winfrey was named the greatest woman in American history as part of a public poll as part of The Greatest American.

Oprah Winfrey was ranked No 9 overall on the list of greatest Americans.

Late in 1996, Winfrey introduced the Oprah's Book Club segment to her television show.

The book club became such a powerful force that whenever Oprah 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.

In 2009, Oprah Winfrey apologized to Frey for the public confrontation.

Oprah Winfrey states she is a political independent who has "earned the right to think for myself and to vote for myself".

Oprah Winfrey endorsed presidential candidate Barack Obama in the 2008 presidential election.

On September 25,2006, Oprah Winfrey made her first endorsement of Obama for president on Larry King Live, the first time she endorsed a political candidate running for office.

Two economists estimate that Oprah Winfrey's endorsement was worth over a million votes in the Democratic primary race and that without it, Obama would have lost the nomination.

Oprah Winfrey held a fundraiser for Obama on September 8,2007, at her Santa Barbara estate.

In December 2007, Oprah Winfrey joined Obama for a series of rallies in the early primary states of Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina.

An analysis by two economists at the University of Maryland, College Park estimated that Oprah 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, Oprah Winfrey's endorsement was responsible for the difference in the popular vote between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.

Oprah Winfrey responded by stating that although she was absolutely not interested, she did feel she could be a senator.

Oprah 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.

Oprah Winfrey endorsed Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election, and referred to Republican candidate Donald Trump as a "demagogue".

In 2018, Oprah Winfrey canvassed door-to-door for Georgia gubernatorial Democratic nominee Stacey Abrams and donated $500,000 to the March for Our Lives student demonstration in favor of gun control in the United States.

Oprah 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.

Oprah Winfrey later campaigned for Joe Biden during the general election.

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

Oprah Winfrey later attended and spoke at Moore's gubernatorial inauguration on January 18,2023.

In 2022, Oprah 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.

In 2002, Christianity Today published an article called "The Church of O" in which they concluded that Oprah Winfrey had emerged as an influential spiritual leader.

Since the mid-1990s, Oprah 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.

In 1998, Oprah Winfrey began an ongoing conversation with Gary Zukav, an American spiritual teacher, who appeared on her television show 35 times.

Oprah 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.

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.

Oprah Winfrey decides what makes The New York Times Best Seller lists.

In 2007, Oprah Winfrey began to endorse the self-help program The Secret.

In 2007, skeptic and magician James Randi accused Oprah Winfrey of being deliberately deceptive and uncritical in how she handles paranormal claims on her show.

In 2008, Oprah 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.

Oprah Winfrey was named as the 2008 Person of the Year by animal-rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals for using her fame and listening audience to help the less fortunate, including animals.

PETA praised Oprah Winfrey for using her talk show to uncover horrific cases of cruelty to animals in puppy mills and on factory farms, and Oprah Winfrey even used the show to highlight the cruelty-free vegan diet that she tried.

In 2009, Oprah Winfrey filmed a series of interviews in Denmark highlighting its citizens as the happiest people in the world.

Oprah Winfrey was especially popular among women, Democrats, political moderates, Baby Boomers, Generation X, Southern Americans, and East Coast Americans.

Outside the US, Oprah Winfrey has become increasingly popular in the Arab world.

In 2008, The New York Times reported that The Oprah Winfrey Show, with Arabic subtitles, was broadcast twice each weekday on MBC 4.

In 2004, Oprah Winfrey became the first black person to rank among the 50 most generous Americans and she remained among the top 50 until 2010.

Oprah Winfrey was the recipient of the first Bob Hope Humanitarian Award at the 2002 Emmy Awards for services to television and film.

In 2013, Oprah Winfrey donated $12 million to the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture.

In 1998, Winfrey created the Oprah's Angel Network, a charity that supported charitable projects and provided grants to nonprofit organizations around the world.

In May 2010, with Oprah Winfrey's show ending, the charity stopped accepting donations and was shut down.

Nelson Mandela praised Oprah Winfrey for overcoming her own disadvantaged youth to become a benefactor for others.