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Oprah
Winfrey has risen from poverty and a troubled youth to
become the most powerful and influential woman in television
and, according to Forbes Magazine, the world's most highly
paid entertainer. Though primarily recognized as a talk
show hostess, Winfrey also occasionally acts in television
movies and feature films.
Winfrey's
parents were teens when she was born in rural Mississippi
and never married. She was originally named Orpah after
a woman from the "Book of Ruth" but a spelling
mistake on the birth certificate changed it to Oprah.
She spent her childhood growing up in abject poverty on
her deeply religious grandmother's farm. When she was
older, Winfrey moved in with her mother in Milwaukee,
WI. This proved a difficult time as Winfrey alleges she
was repeatedly sexually molested by male relatives. Winfrey
became a bit of a wild child during her early teens, experimenting
with sex and drugs until at age 14 she gave birth to a
premature baby. It died shortly after, and upon recovering,
Winfrey chose to live with her father in Nashville. It
was under his stern guidance, that Winfrey found discipline,
stability and the inspiration to excel in school and change
her life.
When
she was 19, Winfrey became a part-time radio reporter
for station WVOL, Nashville and also began studying speech
and performing arts at Tennessee State University. She
dropped out in 1972 during her sophomore year to become
an Anchor at Nashville's WTVF-TV. She was the first black
woman to hold that position. In 1976, she moved to WJZ-TV
and after a stint as a reporter was promoted to co-anchor.
Two years after her arrival, Winfrey was slotted (with
some trepidation by producers who weren't sure how audiences
would respond to a host who was neither white nor thin)
to host their talk show People Are Talking. Their worries
were unfounded for the charming, empathetic Winfrey's
show was a hit and remained so for eight years.
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