The list of Oprah Winfrey’s accomplishments is endless. Talk-show host, news anchor, producer, actress, author, businesswoman – she seems to succeed at whatever she sets her mind to. The Mississippi-born star is currently receiving critical acclaim for her role in The Butler, in which she co-stars with Forest Whitaker.HELLO! Online has compiled ten facts about one of the world’s most influential women.
1.Her real name is actually Orpah, but after people kept mispronouncing it as Oprah, the nickname stuck.
2.The best-selling author was taught to read and write by her grandmother by the age of three.
3.Oprah Winfrey has been ranked the richest African American of the 20th century, with a net worth of approximately £1.8billion. She is the first black woman billionaire in world history.
4.Born into a life of extreme poverty, money was so sparse that Oprah didn’t receive her first pair of shoes until she was six years old.
5.During the filming of her latest release The Butler, Oprah asked permission from Forest Whittaker’s wife for the two to work on their chemistry for the role.
6.In November 2010, the talk show host was left completely stunned when she discovered that she had a second half-sister, Patricia, who she had never known about.
7.Ever since she was 15 years old, Oprah has kept a diary recording every day of her life.
8.During her time as a news anchor, a bad perm meant that she had to go on-air after some of her hair fell out.
9.Oprah Winfrey was fired from her first television job because she was deemed “unfit for TV”. She has called it the “first and worst failure of my TV career”.
10.After being awarded the Lifetime Achievement award at the 1998 Daytime Emmy Awards, she permanently withdrew herself and her show from consideration for future Emmys. “After you’ve achieved it for a lifetime,” she explains, “What else is there?”