Oprah Winfrey is a multimedia executive, actress, writer, producer, talk show host, philanthropist, and member of several other media-related professions. Winfrey is a self-made success story that has won numerous awards, including the Freedom Award from the National Civil Rights Museum in 2005 and The People’s Choice Award for her talk show. She also appeared on TIME magazine’s Top 100 list of the Year’s most essential individuals in 2002.
Table of Contents
- Oprah Winfrey’s Appearance (Height, Hair, Eyes & More)
- Facts About Oprah Winfrey
- Oprah Winfrey’s Net Worth
- Oprah Winfrey’s Early Life and Education
- Oprah Winfrey’s Personal Life
- Oprah Winfrey’s Career
- Oprah Winfrey’s Controversies
- Oprah Winfrey’s Humanitarian Works and Activism
- Oprah Winfrey’s Real Estate and Other Properties
Oprah Winfrey’s Appearance (Height, Hair, Eyes & More)
| Height | 5 ft 6 in 1.69 m |
|---|---|
| Weight | 169.4 pounds 77 kg |
| Hair Color | Black |
| Eye Color | Black |
| Body Type | Average |
| Sexual Orientation | Straight |
Facts About Oprah Winfrey
| Nationality | American |
|---|---|
| Estimate Net Worth | $3.5 Billion |
| Religion | Christianity |
| Zodiac Sign | Aquarius |
| Birthplace | Kosciusko, Mississippi |
| Birthday | January 29, 1954 |
Oprah Winfrey’s Net Worth
American media tycoon, TV personality, and novelist Oprah Winfrey have a $3.5 billion net worth. She makes about $315 million a year because of her highly profitable, multifaceted media company.
Premiered in 1986, the “Oprah Winfrey Show” aired over 25 seasons and 4,561 episodes before ending on May 25, 2011, and is mainly responsible for Oprah’s initial rise to fame. Oprah is a multi-billionaire now rather than merely a multi-millionaire like many of her contemporary television hosts can be attributed to a straightforward yet clever professional choice she made in the middle of the 1980s.
Oprah started Harpo, Inc. in 1986 after leaving her lucrative contract with a $1 million yearly salary. Media ran Harpo Productions and Harpo Studios. Oprah began by producing her show and later sold it to distributors. Due to this, Oprah earned $200–300 million annually while her program was on, a significant increase over the $5–6 million annually that her fellow superstar daytime hosts were earning at the time.
See the net worth of other famous actors and actresses here.
Oprah Winfrey’s Early Life
Oprah Winfrey overcame prejudice, oppression, and poverty to become one of the most influential people on the planet. On January 29, 1954, Orpah Gail Winfrey was born. Her given name, “Orpah,” was a play on the name of a character in the Book of Ruth. When she was a baby, her name was frequently mispronounced as “Oprah,” which eventually stuck. At Kosciusko, Mississippi, she was born. Vernita Lee, her mother, was an unmarried teenage housekeeper.
When Oprah was born, her biological father, Vernon Winfrey, served in the military. Afterward, he worked as a coal miner, barber, and city politician. There have been rumors that another Noah Robinson may have been her biological father. When Oprah was a baby, her mother and grandmother moved in with them. The family was notably made to wear potato sacks to school because of the family’s extreme poverty. She thereby progressed from poverty to wealth.
Oprah and her mother relocated to Milwaukee when she was six years old so that her mother could work as a maid. Oprah’s mother gave birth to Patricia, her second daughter, at this time. Patricia passed away from cocaine consumption in 2003 at the age of 43. Another half-brother, Jeffrey, born to father Vernon, passed away from AIDS in 1989.
Oprah was transferred to live with her father, Vernon, in Nashville when she was 12. When she was 13 years old, she left her house to avoid the abuse she had to endure. She became pregnant at 14, but the child died shortly after birth. At age 17, Oprah placed first in the Miss Black Beauty Tennessee pageant, which led to a part-time position as a news anchor at the WVOL local black radio station.
Oprah Winfrey’s Education
After excelling in a particular Lincoln High School in Milwaukee program, she was granted a transfer to Nicolet High School in a wealthy suburb. She returned to Nashville after facing some problems and resumed her education at East Nashville High School.
She received financial aid and attended Tennessee State University to study communication. Oprah quit school at 19 to focus solely on her media career.
At university, she received numerous honors, including an invitation to a White House youth conference, the title of Miss Fire Prevention, a job reading newscasts at a nearby radio station, and markers of Miss Tennesse and Miss Black Nashville.
Oprah Winfrey’s Personal Life
Oprah Winfrey and Stedman Graham did not fall in love at first sight, but their once-upon-a-time relationship started in 1986. Before they ever became close, she had seen Stedman and his girlfriend around town and even caught his attention at a charity event in Chicago. (1)
Before meeting Winfrey, Graham was wed to Glenda, whom he had known for many years. They had a daughter named Wendy together. Although Graham and his first wife divorced, it doesn’t appear they are still close, but Graham and Winfrey’s daughter has spent much time with them. Wendy has worked for Winfrey’s Harpo Productions and Graham’s marketing firm.
In 1993, Oprah Winfrey and Stedman Graham intended to wed. They didn’t pick a specific day that year and didn’t appear to be in a rush. Oprah Winfrey and Stedman Graham did not consider getting married in 1993 and never will.
Oprah Winfrey’s entire life is in the public eye, so she prefers to keep her relationship with Stedman Graham private – and there’s a good reason for that. Whenever they are mentioned, rumors spread like wildfire, and stressed-out admirers have even contacted them on social media.
Oprah Winfrey’s Career
Winfrey began her career in television at WLAC-TV (now WTVF), a CBS station in Nashville, Tennessee, when she was 19 years old. She moved to Baltimore, Maryland’s ABC station WJZ-TV in 1976. But, she migrated to a brand-new morning chat program called People Are Talking in 1977 after finding it difficult to retain the objectivity needed to present news. Winfrey established a relationship with her guests because of her informal, impromptu approach, which made it easy for them to share their tales. At the end of the decade, the program outperformed Phil Donahue’s show in the local ratings.
The ABC affiliate in Chicago, WLS-TV, offered Winfrey a 30-minute morning chat show called AM Chicago in January 1984. The show went from last to first in the ratings in just one year. Winfrey was urged to license her program for syndication in 1986 by renowned film critic Roger Ebert. Her show was given the new name The Oprah Winfrey Show and was given one hour. (2)
Winfrey became the first African American host of a nationally syndicated television show at 32. For her part in the movie The Color Purple, Winfrey was nominated for an Oscar Award that year for Best Supporting Actress. Being the first Black woman and third woman to run a major studio, she founded the television production company Harpo Inc.
Winfrey could extend her commercial ventures because she kept control of her television program. She co-founded the women’s programming firm Oxygen Media in 1998. She also established the groundwork for O, The Oprah Magazine’s 2000 launch, co-authored several books on diet and fitness and started her well-known Book Club in 1996.
Winfrey grew into a billionaire thanks to her continuing popularity in the twenty-first century. She launched the Oprah.com website, co-produced a Broadway musical adaptation of “The Color Purple,” and started a 24-hour Oprah Radio channel on XM Satellite Radio. Before launching her network named “Oprah Winfrey Network,” of which she is the CEO, she continued hosting her talk program until 2011. Oprah acquired a 10% financial share in Weight Watchers International (WTW) in 2015 and started serving as the program’s spokesperson.
Oprah Winfrey’s Controversies
Winfrey is simultaneously dealing with the “American Dirt” incident and growing backlash over her decision to back out of a documentary about Russell Simmons’ alleged sexual assault, which was supposed to be released on Apple TV Plus as part of her arrangement there (the film eventually was bought to be distributed on HBO Max). The two incidents have put an independent-minded celebrity on the back foot. But Winfrey pushes forward, garnering the support of her closest media pals, Gayle King of CBS News foremost.
The documentary “On the Record” was co-directed by Amy Ziering and Kirby Dick and lost Winfrey’s support very late. She also lost her producer credit when, just before the movie’s Sundance premiere, Winfrey found “inconsistencies” in the accounts of Simmons’ accusers that the film didn’t address. Winfrey confirmed that Simmons had pushed her both publicly and privately to leave the movie, but in a January 21 CBS News interview with King and her “This Morning” co-hosts, she said she believed she had done “the right thing” despite the pressure and not as a result of it. (Simmons refutes every charge made in the movie.)
The movie lost its Apple distribution, becoming the second Winfrey-branded product under her Apple arrangement after an “Oprah’s Book Club” episode that featured “American Dirt,” giving the tech company more trouble than goodwill.
There is no shortage of proof that Winfrey was committed to the movie before she abruptly stopped. According to numerous insiders involved in the project, Winfrey submitted a version of “On the Record” to musician John Legend a month before Harpo executives viewed the finished product in October in the hopes that he would provide an end credits song.
Legend wholeheartedly supported the accusers in the film but passed on the opportunity, two individuals familiar with his thoughts said, considering it was more fitting for a woman of color to produce the song, given the film’s message.
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Oprah Winfrey’s Humanitarian Works
Oprah has donated more than $400 million to charity, primarily supporting initiatives related to education. She has funded more than 400 scholarships to Morehouse College in Atlanta.
She founded Oprah’s Angel Network, a nonprofit organization that aids nonprofits worldwide, in 1998. Oprah’s Angel Network has helped numerous charities by raising over $80 million. 100% of the Network’s administrative expenses are covered by Oprah personally, allowing 100% of all donations to benefit nonprofit organizations.
The Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls was founded by Oprah in South Africa in 2007. She has directly donated $40 million to the school thus far. The school now has 322 students enrolled, with aspirations to grow to 450.
With Oprah contributing an additional $10 million, Oprah’s Angel Network generated $11 million for Hurricane Katrina relief. She gave the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture $12 million in 2013. The same year, Oprah won the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama.
Oprah Winfrey’s Real Estate and Other Properties
Oprah has donated more than $400 million to charity, primarily supporting initiatives related to education. She has funded more than 400 scholarships to Morehouse College in Atlanta. (3)
She founded Oprah’s Angel Network, a nonprofit organization that aids nonprofits worldwide, in 1998. Oprah’s Angel Network has helped numerous charities by raising over $80 million. 100% of the Network’s administrative expenses are covered by Oprah personally, allowing 100% of all donations to benefit nonprofit organizations.
The Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls was founded by Oprah in South Africa in 2007. She has directly donated $40 million to the school thus far. The school now has 322 students enrolled, with aspirations to grow to 450.
With Oprah contributing an additional $10 million, Oprah’s Angel Network generated $11 million for Hurricane Katrina relief.
She gave the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture $12 million in 2013. The same year, Oprah won the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama.
References
- Kelsoe Calderon, The Truth About Oprah Winfrey And Stedman’s Relationship, retrieved from https://www.thelist.com/346458/the-truth-about-oprah-winfrey-and-stedmans-relationship/
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Andrew Bloomenthal, Who Is Oprah Winfrey?, retrieved from https://www.investopedia.com/articles/insights/072816/how-did-oprah-winfrey-get-rich.asp
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Jami Farkas, How Much Is Oprah Worth?, retrieved from https://www.gobankingrates.com/net-worth/celebrities/oprah-net-worth/