50 Fun Facts About Oprah Winfrey

How was Oprah's first name spelled on her birth certificate?

It came from the biblical Orpah in the Book of Ruth; constant mispronunciation made 'Oprah' stick.

In which Mississippi town was Winfrey born in 1954?

Her mother Vernita Lee was a teenage housemaid; her father Vernon was a coal miner who later served on the city council.

As a small child Winfrey was mocked for wearing dresses made of what?

Her grandmother Hattie Mae was that poor, yet taught her to read before she was three.

What nickname did the young Winfrey earn at her grandmother's church?

She could recite Bible verses on demand; she also practised interviewing her corncob doll and the crows on the fence.

At six, Winfrey moved to an inner-city neighbourhood in which city?

Her mother worked long hours as a maid; by 1962 she was struggling and sent Oprah to her father in Nashville for a time.

Winfrey has said her father Vernon 'saved' her. What was his trade in Nashville?

He was strict but encouraging; she became an honours student and finished second in the nation in dramatic interpretation.

At 17, Winfrey won which beauty pageant?

The same year the black radio station WVOL hired her to read the news part-time.

Winfrey's full scholarship to Tennessee State University came from winning what?

She studied communication but did not hand in her final paper until 1987, when she was already famous.

Which future TV host covered the same Nashville stories at a rival station while Winfrey anchored at WLAC-TV?

The two also dated in the 1970s; biographer Kitty Kelley says the interracial pressure ended it.

In 1976 Winfrey moved to which city's WJZ-TV to co-anchor the six o'clock news?

She was removed from the anchor desk in 1977 and later paired with Richard Sher on the talk show People Are Talking.

Which low-rated WLS-TV morning show did Winfrey take over in January 1984?

General manager Dennis Swanson hired her; within months it had gone from last place to beating Donahue.

Which film critic persuaded Winfrey to sign a syndication deal with King World?

He predicted she would earn 40 times what his own show made; they also briefly dated.

On what date was The Oprah Winfrey Show first broadcast nationwide?

It doubled Donahue's national audience and became the number-one daytime talk show.

Whose talk show did Winfrey displace as America's number-one daytime programme?

Time called hers 'the talk show as a group therapy session'; her 'rapport talk' was contrasted with his 'report talk'.

What is the name of Winfrey's production company?

It is 'Oprah' spelled backwards and produced Dr. Phil, Rachael Ray and The Dr. Oz Show.

Winfrey co-founded which women's cable network?

It first carried Oprah After the Show from 2002 to 2006, before she sold her stake.

OWN, the Oprah Winfrey Network, was created by rebranding which existing channel?

Announced in January 2008 for a 2009 launch, it finally went on air on January 1, 2011.

When did the series finale of The Oprah Winfrey Show air?

The show ran 25 seasons in national syndication.

Winfrey's 1993 interview with which star drew 36.5 million viewers, the most-watched ever?

It ranked as the fourth most-watched event in American television history.

Winfrey's December 2005 appearance with which late-night host ended a rumoured 16-year feud?

She was promoting The Color Purple musical; Letterman drew 13.45 million viewers, his biggest audience in 11 years.

Which rapper told GQ in 2006 that Winfrey gave him a 'hard time' about his lyrics?

Winfrey said she opposed lyrics that marginalise women but enjoyed some artists, including Kanye West.

Winfrey and Prince Harry's 2021 interview was with which member of the royal family?

It was broadcast globally and became one of the most discussed interviews of the decade.

Winfrey's Oscar-nominated role in The Color Purple (1985) was which character?

She later produced the Broadway musical of Alice Walker's novel, which opened in late 2005.

To prepare for Beloved (1998), Winfrey underwent a 24-hour simulation of what?

She was tied up, blindfolded and left alone in the woods; the film lost about $30 million despite two episodes of her show devoted to it.

Winfrey voiced Eudora, the mother of Tiana, in which Disney film?

She also voiced Gussie the goose in Charlotte's Web and Judge Bumbleton in Bee Movie.

Which character did Winfrey play in the 2018 film A Wrinkle in Time?

Reese Witherspoon and Mindy Kaling played the other two Mrs. Ws.

Winfrey's advance for a 2005 weight-loss book reportedly broke the record held by whose autobiography?

The book was co-written with her personal trainer Bob Greene.

Fortune called which Winfrey venture 'the most successful start-up ever in the industry' in 2002?

The magazine's final monthly print edition was December 2020.

Winfrey's 2006 satellite radio deal with XM was worth how much over three years?

Her contract required her on air just 30 minutes a week, 39 weeks a year.

Winfrey calls her main home in Montecito, California, by what name?

Bought in 2001, the compound has grown to about 70 contiguous acres, including land bought from Jeff Bridges.

Winfrey has been with partner Stedman Graham since which year?

They were engaged in November 1992 but the wedding never took place.

Who has been Winfrey's best friend since their early twenties?

Winfrey once bought her an estate in Greenwich, Connecticut, and later a Manhattan penthouse.

Whom did Winfrey call her 'mother-sister-friend' and mentor?

Winfrey threw her a Caribbean cruise for her 70th birthday and an 80th at Mar-a-Lago.

At what age did Winfrey become a millionaire?

It came when her show went into national syndication; at 41 she replaced Bill Cosby as the only African American on the Forbes 400.

Forbes listed Winfrey as the world's only black billionaire during which years?

She had become the first black woman billionaire in 2003; by 2014 she was worth over $2.9 billion.

Which 26.2-mile race did Winfrey finish in under four and a half hours in October 1994?

Her time became a benchmark that many amateur runners set out to beat.

Which newspaper coined the term 'Oprahfication', meaning public confession as therapy?

Time credited her with inventing 'rapport talk'; Newsweek said every quivering politician's lip nods to the cult of confession she helped create.

On which sitcom did Winfrey play the therapist to whom the star came out in 1997's 'The Puppy Episode'?

Ellen DeGeneres came out both on screen and in real life that spring.

Which John Steinbeck classic shot to the top of the charts after Winfrey picked it for her Book Club?

A selection was typically worth about a million extra sales for an author.

Which author did Winfrey confront on air in 2006 over fabrications in a memoir she had championed?

A Million Little Pieces was the book; she apologised to him for the public confrontation in 2009.

Texas cattlemen sued Winfrey after she said a 1996 show on mad cow disease had stopped her eating what?

After a two-month trial in the Texas Panhandle a jury cleared her and guest Howard Lyman of liability.

In which Texas city was the 1998 beef trial held?

The cattlemen claimed her remarks cost producers $11 million; the jury found for Winfrey.

On which programme did Winfrey make her first ever political endorsement, in September 2006?

Two economists estimated the endorsement was worth over a million primary votes and swung the nomination.

Which Illinois governor said he considered offering Winfrey Obama's vacant Senate seat?

He called her 'the most instrumental person in electing the president'; she said she was not interested but could do the job.

Whom did New York mayor Rudy Giuliani ask Winfrey to host twelve days after the September 11 attacks?

Bill and Hillary Clinton attended; weeks later her 'Islam 101' show called it 'the most misunderstood of the three major religions'.

Which spiritual teacher appeared on Winfrey's show 35 times, and wrote a book she keeps at her bedside?

The book is The Seat of the Soul; she later championed Tolle's A New Earth to millions of extra sales.

Winfrey took her entire staff and their families, 1,065 people, on holiday where in 2006?

It marked two decades on national television.

Winfrey's Leadership Academy for Girls, built with a $40 million investment, is in which country?

It sits at Henley on Klip, south of Johannesburg; her 2004 'Christmas Kindness' trip there had distributed gifts to 50,000 children.

Which US president awarded Winfrey the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2013?

The same year she gave $12 million to the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture.

With which star did Winfrey set up the People's Fund of Maui after the wildfires?

She owns some 2,000 acres on Maui, including an unprofitable organic farm dedicated to restoring native species.