Who knew that the African American woman who is a media proprietor, talk show host, actress, producer, and philanthropist, whose net worth happens to be  2.9 billion USD was actually born into poverty. Poverty 🙂 The state of being EXTREMELY poor.

Oprah Gail Winfrey Was born on January 29th,1954 on a farm in Kosciusko, Mississippi.   Her parents were Vernita Lee and Vernon Winfrey but the thing was they were not married. At a very young age, her parents separated. Because of the separation, the couple went on their own roads and started a new life. Therefore while they were living their life they had left Oprah with her VERY strict maternal grandmother.

Oprah used to get very bored in her grandmother’s house so she had started to read and play acting to amuse herself. She had also started she also began reading early, and her interest in reading eventually developed into a crusade to combat illiteracy.

A few years later at the age of six, she was sent to live with her mother and her 2 half brothers Jeffrey and Patrica who is also known as Pat in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Instead of living on a farm, she lived in a ghetto. Her mom had a lot of trouble with meeting her endpoints which meant Oprah had very little supervision and which lead to getting in lots of trouble. When her mom would scold at Oprah for bad behavior it would be like getting in one ear out of the other.

Because of all those problems Oprah’s. After graduating in 1976, Winfrey accepted an offer from the ABC affiliate in Baltimore, Maryland. The next few years were difficult. She battled with her

own emotions when reporting sad news and went through a humiliating experience when a news director decided to bill her as being Puerto Rican. When the station switched her to an early-morning talk show, she was relieved and felt that she had found her place. Winfrey spent the next few years honing her skills and was not afraid to tackle the difficult subject matter. In 1984, Winfrey and her producer, Debra DiMaio, moved to Chicago to liven up the lackluster A.M. Chicago show, which had been dominated in the ratings by Phil Donahue’s show for more than 15 years. Within months Winfrey’s show passed Donahue’s in the ratings.

By 1985 the show was going well and it was also expanding so they renamed the show to “ The Oprah Winfrey Show” Winfrey attracted scores of viewers, primarily women, who were attracted to her combination of boldness and vulnerability. A frank interviewer, Winfrey was equally honest when talking about herself. For years, she shared her uphill battle with her weight with her legions of viewers.

mother just couldn’t handle her anymore so she was sent to live with her dad and his wife Zelma in Nashville, Tennessee.  Vernon Winfrey, a barber who became a city council member, was a strict disciplinarian, but he also encouraged his daughter to read and engaged her in discussions. He demanded that his daughter add five new words to her vocabulary before she could have dinner each day. Under her father’s guidance, Vernon Winfrey, Oprah blossomed as a student.

But one day the most shocking thing and disturbing thing happened. At the age of 13, Oprah was sexually abused by a man. 9 months later Oprah was admitted to the hospital and had a baby boy but unfortunately a few minutes after he died.

After that, she went through a lot of depression and it was like the flower not getting flower and water. But her dad still gave her guidance and she blossomed back as a student, Daughter, granddaughter, and most importantly as a mother.

When Oprah was sixteen she won an oratorical contest that guaranteed her a full scholarship to the University of Tennessee. She also received an invitation to the White House Conference on Youth. At Tennessee State, Winfrey entered and won several beauty contests. She was subsequently offered a position by the local CBS affiliate television station and became Nashville’s first black female co-anchor while she was still in college. After graduating in 1976, Winfrey accepted an offer from the ABC affiliate in Baltimore, Maryland. The next few years were difficult. She battled with her own emotions when reporting sad news and went through a humiliating experience when a news director decided to bill her as being Puerto Rican. When the station switched her to an early-morning talk show, she was relieved and felt that she had found her place. Winfrey spent the next few years honing her skills and was not afraid to tackle the difficult subject matter. In 1984, Winfrey and her producer, Debra DiMaio, moved to Chicago to liven up the lackluster A.M. Chicago show, which had been dominated in the ratings by Phil Donahue’s show for more than 15 years. Within months Winfrey’s show passed Donahue’s in the ratings.

By 1985 the show was going well and it was also expanding so they renamed the show to “ The Oprah Winfrey Show” Winfrey attracted scores of viewers, primarily women, who were attracted to her combination of boldness and vulnerability. A frank interviewer, Winfrey was equally honest when

talking about herself. For years, she shared her uphill battle with her weight with her legions of viewers.

Later Oprah had started acting and writing. Some movies she was in was “ Selma, The Color Purple, The Princess and the frog, the butler, The bee movie”, and lots more. Some of her books are “ What I know for sure, Journey to beloved, Make the connection”, and a few more.

So did you know this stuff I told you about Oprah Winfrey?