Oprah Winfrey Net Worth

How much is Oprah Winfrey worth?

Net Worth:$2.8 Billion
Profession:Professional TV Host
Date of Birth:January 29, 1954
Country:United States of America
Height:
1.69 m

About Oprah Winfrey

From a poverty-stricken childhood marred by sexual abuse and a teenage pregnancy, there are not many personal histories like Oprah Winfrey’s. A Cinderella story to many, as Oprah went on to become one of the most successful, powerful and influential women in America.

Her life was the opposite of “The Promised Land,” the 42-acre estate she now calls home. She was born into poverty, to a single teenage mother, Vernita Lee. Oprah’s role as a cultural icon, philanthropist, media maven and outspoken political advocate have become so important to American culture that there really is no one else like her.

American talk show host, television producer, actress, author, and philanthropist Oprah Winfrey has an estimated net worth of $2.8 billion dollars, as of 2023.

She grew up living on a farm with her grandmother, Hattie Mae Lee, but she when she as six years old moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin with her mother. Vernita was often busying herself in other affairs, and left Oprah to her own devices. Soon Winfrey was cutting school, running away and had flings with boys until her mother sent her away to Nashville to live with her father, Vernon Winfrey, at age 13.  

As she grew into her teenage years, and under her father’s supervision, she began to turn her life around. The skills that she had learned in school and developed at home, she used to start a career in local news media while still in high school. Then, in1983, she had her first big break and moved to Chicago to take over as host of AM Chicago. The show soon went took the number one spot out of talk shows in Chicago. Then on the advice of her then-boyfriend movie critic Roger Ebert, she signed a deal with King World that took her program into syndication, becoming The Oprah Winfrey Show.

The Oprah Winfrey Show soon dethroned Chicago’s reigning television personality, Phil Donahue, and a rivalry was born.   Oprah leaned on her empathetic nature, getting her guests to open up and share on air. In the first season of the show, she opened up as well revealing that she had been raped and molested since the age of nine by her cousin, an other relatives. It turns out that her acting out was stemming from abuse and that she was forced her to run away when she was 13. By 14, she had become pregnant. The revelation was considered one of the most shocking moments in television history.

Oprah not only launched one of the most successul TV shows of all time, but also launched several television personalities including Dr. Phil, Dr. Oz and James Frey. During the height of her TV success, Oprah branched out to every media outlet there is, including film, publishing, producing and radio. She also conducted some of the most high profile and most well-remembered interviews on television, including with Michael Jackson in 1993, action Liberace’s final public appearance before succumbing to AIDS in 1986 and the “couch-jumping” incident with Tom Cruise in 2005.  

She also appeared in film. Acting in Steven Spielberg’s The Color Purple (1985) and Beloved (1998), she founded Harpo Productions in 1986, as well as co-authored five books, started two magazines—O, The Oprah Magazine and O at Home—and her own XM Satellite Radio channel—Oprah Radio—not to mentioned launched a TV channel with Discovery Communications, OWN, in January 2011.  

In her personal relationships, struggles and political views there have also been hot topics of discussion. She has been partnered with Stedman Graham since 1986, all the while there has been speculate that she’s really in a gay relationship with her best friend and O, The Oprah Magazine Editor-at-Large, Gayle King, an allegation that she has denied.

Her weight has also been a major source of media scrutiny. As she began to get richer she also began to pile on the pounds with her weight peaking at 237 pounds in 1992. After many failed attempts, in January 2005, she appeared on the cover of her magazine lean and toned at 160 pounds. However, three years later she was back at 200 lb. She later revealed that was suffering from a thyroid condition that slowed her metabolism, as well as made her lethargic and not in a good physical condition to diet and exercise to lose weight.  

But big or small, Oprah’s popularity and influence isn’t going anywhere. Sheila Johnson may have been the first African-American billionaire, but Oprah is far more famous. She is even credited as having positively influencing Barack Obama’s election as the first African-American president.

She has been named the “Most Powerful Celebrity” by Forbes several times and every book selected to her Oprah’s Book Club invariably becomes an immediate bestseller. She’s so powerful that a show about mad cow disease sparked lawsuits from cattlemen for sending the price of meat plummeting.

One thing is for sure, when Oprah speaks, we all listen.

“I always knew I was destined for greatness.”

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