Oprah Winfrey

She grew up in Mississippi and was raised in inner-city Milwaukee. She had a difficult childhood experiencing many years of abuse, including being raped at age 9. She was pregnant at 14, and her son died as an infant. Without adequate family support, she was sent to Tennessee to live with a barber, Vernon Winfrey, who she calls her father.

Career

While in high school Oprah worked in radio and co-anchored the local evening news at age 19. She was eventually transferred to the daytime talk show arena, and took a third-rated Chicago talk show to first place. She then started her own production company which became internationally syndicated.

The first national broadcast of The Oprah Winfrey Show was in 1986. In the mid 1990s she focused her show on self improvement, spirituality and literature. She has been ranked as the richest African American of the 20th century, and the greatest black philanthropist in American history. She is constantly praised for overcoming adversity to become a major person of value to others.

Oprah Winfrey co-starred in Steven Spielberg's The Color Purple in 1985 as a distraught housewife. She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance. The film went on to become a Broadway musical which opened in late 2005, and Oprah was the producer. In late 2008, her company, Harpo Films, signed an exclusive contract to develop and produce movies, scripted series, and documentaries for HBO.

She has co-authored five books including a weight loss book in 2005, with her personal trainer Bob Greene. She publishes two magazines: O, The Oprah Magazine and O at Home. The Oprah Magazine was the most successful start-up ever in the industry according to Fortune Magazine in 2002.

Committed To Causes

Oprah Winfrey is firmly committed to her beliefs and focus. She has been criticized over the years for her opinions, and some of the guests on her show. For example in 2009, actress Suzanne Somers appeared on her show to discuss hormone treatments that are not accepted by mainstream medicine. This caused quite a stir.

Oprah initiated "Oprah's Child Predator Watch List", through her show and website, to help track down accused child molesters. Healthy children are a prime focus of her philanthropic work.

Bill O'Reilly had this to say about Oprah: "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.

Oprah’s show was criticized for an anti-war sentiment during the lead up to the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. 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."

Coming to Oprah’s defense was liberal filmmaker Michael Moore, when he praised her for showing antiwar footage that no other media would run. He even encouraged her to run for President.

PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) named Oprah “2008 Person of the Year” for using her fame to help the less fortunate, including animals. Oprah was able to uncover horrific cases of cruelty to animals in puppy mills and on factory farms. She also refuses to wear fur or feature it in her magazines.

Personal Life

Oprah has been very open about the details of her life, and her mistakes. She has discussed intimate details about her weight problems, tumultuous love life, and sexual abuse.

In 1995 she confessed to smoking crack cocaine. "And I've often said over the years...in my attempts to come out and say it, I've said many times I did things in my 20s that I was ashamed of, I did things I felt guilty about, but that is my life's great big secret that's always been held over my head", 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."

Oprah Winfrey has been with her partner, Stedman Graham, since 1986. Though engaged to be married in November 1992, the ceremony never transpired.

According to Oprah, 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."

Philanthropy

Oprah created the Oprah's Angel Network in 1998. This is a charity that supports charitable projects and provides grants to nonprofit organizations around the world. It raised over $80,000,000. Jon Bon Jovi donated $1 million of that. 100% of the funds went to the program as Oprah covered all of the administrative costs. The charity was recently dissolved.

Oprah has been listed by Business Week in the Top 50 of American philanthropists. It is estimated that she has given $303 million to charity. She created the Oprah Angel Network Katrina registry which raised more than $11 million for relief efforts for people affected by Hurricane Katrina. She personally gave $10 million to the cause. She also helped 250 African-American men continue or complete their education at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia.

Oprah invested $40 million in establishing the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls near Johannesburg, South Africa. The school opened in January 2007 with an enrollment of 152 pupils. She was praised by Nelson Mandela for overcoming her own disadvantaged youth in becoming a benefactor for others and for investing in the future of South Africa.

Oprah Winfrey has displayed many of the characteristics of a positive role model. It is not so much the success she has achieved, but her courage and determination to deal with her circumstances, admit to her failings and mistakes, and then move forward to become a stunning inspiration for all to not only admire, but to learn from, in order to make a positive difference in their own lives. Click here for the Transforming Child Behavior Home Page.

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