Oprah Winfrey Net Worth – $2.9 Billion
Oprah Winfrey is a Mississippi-born, businesswoman, former talk-show host, actress and media maven. She has an estimated net worth of $2.9 Billion, up from $2.7 billion recently. She made her rise to fame when she was a young adult, launching herself into stardom with The Oprah Winfrey Show. She’s since retired from her talk show, and she’s more hands on than ever before with her major media empire.
Born on January 29, 1954 in Mississippi, Oprah Winfrey was raised in complete poverty. Her mother was a single teenager when she welcomed Winfrey in the projects of Mississippi. She was raised in an inner-city Milwaukee neighborhood where she was reportedly sexually abused. She became pregnant at the age of 14, but her newborn son died in infancy. Her mother sent her to Tennessee to live with a barber, whom she calls her father. Her first job in media was at a radio station while she was in high school. She worked hard enough to begin a career as an even news co-anchor when she was just 19-years-old.
Winfrey’s career really began when she was given her own local talk show in Chicago thanks to her powerful personality on the local news station. The half-hour talk show was rated last in Chicago. When Winfrey first appeared on the show, it took her only months to make it the highest-rated show in the city. The show was quickly renamed The Oprah Winfrey Show and began nationally broadcasting in 1986, just three years after her media career began. This show made her more famous than Phil Donahue, and overtook his show for the number one spot.
For nearly a decade, Oprah’s show was a tabloid show, talking celebrities, gossip and anything related to Hollywood. It was in the mid-90s that she decided to revamp her career and turn the show into something more serious and useful to viewers. She began hosting shows with topics such as health and relationships, inviting guests who are considered experts in their field. She launched the popular Oprah’s book club – and the careers of many authors – as well as the careers of many other famous faces, including Rachel Ray and Dr. Phil.
Oprah’s next career move was to go bigger. She helped to cofound Oxygen, a women’s network television channel. She also resides as president of her own production company, Harpo Productions, which is cleverly named after her own name, only backwards. In 2008, Discovery Communications made a major media announcement. Their Discovery Health Channel would cease to exist and the channel would be renamed OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network. The channel launched in 2011, just five months before the series finale of her talk show, The Oprah Winfrey Show.
In addition to her roles as talk show host and media empire president, Oprah made appearances in movies and on television shows. She was a guest star on shows such The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, Home Improvement, Ellen and even The Hughleys as well as Desperate Housewives. She’s the voice of Eudora – Tiana’s mother in Disney’s The Princess and the Frog. She was nominated for Best Actress in a Supporting role at the Golden Globes and the Academy Awards for her performance in The Color Purple as Sofia. Her long career also includes producing dozens of shows, including her own as well as several others. Oprah also owns O Magazine, which is edited by her best friend, Gayle King.
Oprah’s personal life is just as fascinating to fans as her professional life. She was a victim of sexual abuse as a teen, became pregnant and lost her newborn son at the age of 14. She was in a series of self-described codependent relationships with men who just weren’t good for her. She admitted she became involved in two relationships in which she tried hardcore drugs because that’s what her boyfriends wanted her to do. She famously dated John Tesh and had a brief romance with movie critic Roger Ebert before meeting her current boyfriend, Stedman Graham, in 1986. The couple have been together since 1986 and briefly appeared to be getting married in 1992, but a wedding never occurred. However, they’re still together.
Oprah’s fortune began to grow when she was 32 and her talk show went national. She began making millions then, and continued to earn more as her business grew. In 1995, at the age of 41, it was estimated that Oprah’s net worth was more than $340 million and she became the only African American on the Forbes 400 list. Bill Cosby was previously on the list, but fell off when Oprah landed on it.
In less than five years, Winfrey’s wealth grew to $800 million, making her the richest African American of the previous century. As of 2006, Oprah was the highest-paid entertainer in the country, earning an annual salary of $260 million. In terms of wealth that’s self-made, Oprah is the wealthiest woman in the country. She’s also the first and only black female billionaire in the world. In 2013, the former talk show host earned $82 million in revenue from her syndicated talk show and the shows she produces as well as OWN, which finally became cash positive in 2013. Some of that income comes from O! Magazine and her Sirius XM talk show.
Oprah is a classic example of how one can accomplish anything, no matter how bad they have it. She brought herself up from the throes of poverty, abuse and adversity to become one of the wealthiest women in the world with a net worth of more than $2.9 billion.
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