Oprah Gail Winfrey was born on a farm in Kosciusko, Mississippi, to parents Vernita Lee and Vernon Winfrey on January 29, 1954. She was given the biblical name Orpah, but due to spelling and pronunciation issues,
she was almost immediately referred to as Oprah. Winfrey’s biological mother raised her on the family farm while her parents, who never married, pursued their own lives.
Winfrey would entertain herself as a child by putting on plays for the farm animals. At the age of two and a half, she was able to read thanks to the strict teaching of her grandmother. At the age of 2, she gave a sermon about “when Jesus rose on Easter Day” to her church congregation.
After convincing her teacher on the first day of school that she should start in first grade instead of kindergarten, Winfrey skipped kindergarten. After that year, she moved on to the third grade.
Winfrey was six years old when she was taken from her father and raised in the ghetto with her mother and two half-brothers in Milwaukee.
She moved in with her father in Nashville, Tennessee when she was twelve years old. For a short while, she felt safe and content, so she started giving speeches at parties and churches, where she once earned $500. That’s when she decided she needed to get “paid to talk.”
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Winfrey had to leave the relative safety of her father’s house once again after being summoned back by her mother. Winfrey’s early adolescence was marred by the effects of poverty and city life, and the repeated sexual abuse she suffered from men her family trusted beginning when she was nine years old only made things worse. Her mother had to work odd jobs to make ends meet, so she was rarely around to supervise her.
Oprah Winfrey Early Life And Education
Oprah Gail Winfrey entered this world on January 29, 1954, on a farm in Kosciusko, Mississippi. Soon after she was born, her parents, Vernita Lee and Vernon Winfrey divorced. She was brought up by her grandmother.
She was reportedly an early reader, starting at the ripe old age of two and a half. Her family relocated to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, when she was six years old, and she was immediately immersed in a poor community.
At the age of 12, she relocated to Tennessee with her father, where she was brought up. As a young adult, she moved back to her mother’s house in the city of Milwaukee.
Winfrey has discussed the sexual and physical abuse she experienced as a child in Milwaukee. During her adolescence, she shuttled between her parents’ houses multiple times per year.
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Winfrey attributes her success as a responsible and well-educated young woman to her father’s strict guidance and emphasis on education. She excelled in school and was awarded a full scholarship to attend Tennessee State University.
Oprah Winfrey Honors And Awards
There are simply too many awards and honors that Oprah Winfrey has received to list them all here. In 2005, she was given the Freedom Award by the National Museum of Civil Rights.
Winfrey has been active in politics for a long time, and President Barack Obama recognized her for her efforts by awarding her the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2013. That same year, she also received honorary degrees from Duke University and Harvard University.
She received the Academy’s Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, the Tony Award, the Peabody Award, and 18 Daytime Emmys, including the Lifetime Achievement Award and the Chairman’s Award.
As part of the 75th annual Golden Globes, Winfrey received the Cecil B. DeMille Lifetime Achievement Award in 2018. Winfrey addressed sexual harassment in the entertainment industry at length during her acceptance speech.
Oprah Winfrey’s Personal Life
Oprah Winfrey had a rough childhood that included sexual abuse. Since becoming an adult, she has made it her mission to aid abused girls and women, lift impoverished children and their families out of their plight, and promote educational opportunities in the United States and abroad, particularly in South Africa.
Winfrey’s own experience with abuse motivated her to launch a campaign in 1991 calling for the creation of a national database of child abusers. A national registry of convicted child abusers was established after President Bill Clinton signed “Oprah’s Bill” (the centerpiece of the National Child Protection Act) in December 1993.
She has not tied the knot or started a family, but Oprah Winfrey has been in a committed relationship with author, educator, and successful businessman Stedman Graham for over 30 years.
Final Words
Back in 1972, Oprah won the title of Miss Black Tennessee. When her acting career took off, she stopped competing in beauty contests. She created the company Harpo Productions on her own. The name “Harpo” is just “Oprah” spelled backward.
