Oprah Winfrey
- Oprah Winfrey
Oprah Gail Winfrey was born on the 29th of January 1954 in Kosciusko, Mississippi. Oprah is an American media personality, actress, producer, literary critic and a pioneer. She was born to a single teenage mother but she was raised by her grandmother on a farm. At the age of three Oprah learned to read and perform recitations. Soon after, she started to read the Bible and eventually began speaking at her church.
When Oprah was 6 years old, her grandmother became ill, and she moved to Milwaukee to live with her mother for the next 7 years. Oprah's mother worked as a maid cleaning houses, so she had little time at home with her children. At the age of 9, Oprah and her siblings were left in the care of their 19-year-old cousin. This cousin sexually abused Oprah. She was raped, and then taken out for ice cream and told to keep it a secret.
She was again abused by a family friend and an uncle a few years later. This was an ongoing abuse about which she had to keep silent. Due to this abuse, she resorted to acting out by skipping school, dating, stealing money from her mother, and running away. Her mother could not handle this behavior so she was sent to live with her father, a barber in Nashville, Tennessee.
At age of 14, Oprah discovered she was pregnant. She didn't tell her parents until she was in her 7th month. On the day she told her father the news of her pregnancy; she went into labor. Her baby was delivered on the same day. Oprah gave birth to a baby boy but unfortunately the baby died within 2 weeks of his birth. Cited: About.com, 2009.
At the age of 16, Oprah began to get her life back on track, concentrating on her education and public speaking. Her broadcasting career began at age 17, when she was hired by WVOL radio in Nashville. Two years later, she signed with WTVF-TV in Nashville as a reporter/anchor.
She attended Tennessee State University, where she majored in Speech Communications and Performing Arts. In 1976, she moved to Baltimore to join WJZ-TV news as a co-anchor, and in 1978 she discovered her talent for hosting talk shows when she became co-host of WJZ-TV's "People Are Talking," while continuing to serve as anchor and news reporter. In January 1984, she went to Chicago to host WLS-TV's "AM Chicago," a boring local talk show. In less than a year, she turned "AM Chicago" into the hottest show in town. The format was soon expanded to one hour, and in September 1985 it was renamed "The Oprah Winfrey Show." Cited: Academy of Achievement, 2009.
The Oprah Winfrey Show became one of the most successful and highest ranked television talk show programs in history. The program is viewed by more than 20 million Americans every week and broadcast internationally to more than 100 countries worldwide. Winfrey's production company Harpo Productions, Inc produces the program and she is the host.
Winfrey's business and personal interests are broad ranging and she has managed to accomplish success in several areas. Apart from being a successful talk show host, she is also a producer, successful actress, founder of the successful "O, the Oprah Magazine", co founder of "Oxygen Media", and a humanitarian. Her entrepreneurial spirit and desire to change society for the better have brought her and her numerous companies many awards and achievements. Cited: Woopidoo, 2009.
When Forbes magazine published its list of America's billionaires for the year 2003, it disclosed that Oprah Winfrey was the first African-American woman to become a billionaire. Oprah Winfrey was also named one of the 100 Most Influential People of the 20th Century by Time magazine.
Oprah extended her show for the 2010 - 2011 seasons, by which time it would have been on the air for 25 years. This was also the last season that she would host her own show: The Oprah Winfrey Show.
As of 2011, it was one of the longest-running daytime television talk shows in the United States, having run nationally since September 8, 1986 for 25 seasons and 4,561 episodes. The show's last original episode aired on May 25, 2011. -Cited Wikipedia 2011.
Oprah continues to live her dreams to the fullest and she still continues to influence and motivate people globally with her example of overcoming great obstacles to achieve great success financially, spiritually, emotionally and socially.
She says, "What material success does is provide you with the ability to concentrate on other things that really matter. And that is being able to make a difference, not only in your own life, but in other people's lives." In addition, she says "You know you are on the road to success if you would do your job, and not be paid for it. Cited: Woopidoo, 2011.
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Page Updated: 31 May 2011
