Oprah Winfrey Biography Life Story
Oprah Winfrey was born Oprah Gail to parents Vernita Lee, a housemaid, and Vernon Winfrey, who was serving in the army at the time, in Kosciusko, Mississippi on January 19, 1954. She was conceived after a one-night affair of her parents who were unmarried.
Oprah Winfrey was raised by her paternal grandparents in a Mississippi farm, which was basically a far cry from everything she has within her reach nowadays. At an early age, a young Oprah Winfrey was molested by family members on multiple occasions. She was then sent to live with her father in Tennessee.
The poor conditions she grew up in did not hamper Oprah Winfrey from becoming the success that she is today. Though Oprah Winfrey suffered through heart breaking experiences in her youth, she still went on believing in herself and looking forward to life with much optimism.
Oprah further improved her self-confidence after winning the Miss Black Tennessee beauty pageant when she was 18. She also took courses in speech and the performing arts and eventually found herself being the youngest and first black evening news anchor. She was offered a job in Baltimore which she graciously accepted in 1976.
Oprah Winfrey took her time gaining experience and decided to make a big jump to Chicago in 1984. She hosted a 30- minute morning show called “A.M. Chicago” and the great response from the audience led to its expansion into a one-hour show to be renamed “The Oprah Winfrey Show”. The show endured to be the most-watched daytime talk show for over 20 years and has provided viewers some of the best interviews ever aired.
That one idea – “The Oprah Winfrey Show” and having the courage to act on that one idea has changed Oprah’s life and the audiences she reached forever! On April 19, 2000, O, The Oprah Magazine was first published and was received quite well by readers. The magazine aims to inspire readers with content designed to help people to empower themselves.
Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN) then debuted in millions of homes on January 1, 2011 with several shows targeted to appeal to people of different lifestyles from all walks of life. More notable about Oprah is her generosity as a philanthropist. She was known to give members of her audience expensive gifts
such as pearl necklaces and diamond pendants, as well as giving away cars to everyone in her live audience in one of her shows episodes. She also demonstrated the same generosity to the people in the poverty-stricken areas in Africa, raising funds through her charity and donating her own money to the construction of a school in South Africa.
Oprah Winfrey successfully beat the odds in spite of all the challenges life has brought her and has become an inspiration for everyone, even helping others escape being disadvantaged – a success that sprung from simply not giving up irrespective of what life threw at her.