Daughter of Vernon Winfrey by Vernita Lee (May 2, 1935 - November 22, 2018), a former maid. She was raised as the daughter of Vernon Winfrey, a coal miner, barber, and city councilman. However, according to Kitty Kelley, author of Oprah: A Biography, "The birth certificate for Oprah Gail Lee contained another error, naming Vernon Winfrey as her father. "We found out years later that couldn't possibly have been true, but at the time, Bunny -- that's what the family calls Vernon as the father, because he was the last of the three men she said she had laid down with. And he accepted the responsibility .... He didn't realize the truth until years later, when he checked his service records and saw for sure he couldn't have given life to a baby born in January 1954.
But by the time he found out the truth, Oprah had already called him Daddy." Since then, another Mississippi man, Noah Robinson, has claimed he is Oprah's biological father, but no DNA testing has been done. Had two half-siblings from her mother. Her half-brother passed away from AIDS in December 1988 and her half-sister, Patricia Lee, passed away under mysterious circumstances in 2003. Her niece is Chrishaunda Lee Perez, the daughter of her late half-sister Patricia. Oprah walked her niece down the aisle at Chrishaundra's wedding in 2005. Civil rights activist/poet and memoirist Maya Angelou took Winfrey under her wing, when she was 22. The friendship lasted nearly 40 years, until Angelou's passing in 2014. Winfrey frequently remembers her late mentor and friend Maya Angelou, whom she has credited for her her stardom as a television personality. Raised in abject poverty, she received her first pair of shoes at age 6 (1960).
She learned to read at age 2½. In fact, when it was time for her to start kindergarten, she wrote a note to her teacher insisting she should be in first grade. The teacher agreed and after finishing that grade she was then skipped to third grade. First Black African woman billionaire in history! A DNA test on the show African American Lives (2006) stated that Oprah's genetic ancestry is 89% Sub-Saharan African, 8% Native American, and 3% East Asian (which may be Native American markers). Her African genetic roots include Kpelle, Bamileke and Zambian. In 2006, she gave $58,300,000 to charity to the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy, Oprah's Angel Network, and other groups. In 2006, she earned an estimated $260 million in salary from her various interests including syndication, cable television, and print magazines.
That same year, she gave $58,300,000 to charity to the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy, Oprah's Angel Network, and other groups. She received an honorary doctorate from Duke University in Durham, North Carolina and was the commencement speaker. [2009] Recipient of the 2010 Kennedy Center Honors; other recipients that year were Jerry Herman, Paul McCartney, Merle Haggard and Bill T. Jones. Oprah's broadcasting career began in the late 1960s as a teenage intern at WVOL, an African-American radio station in Nashville, Tennessee. When Oprah's talk show went independent for the first time, her staff consisted of four personnel including herself, by 2011, her empire had expanded to 464 personnel. Oprah has become the first African-American woman to own a cable network. It is called OWN, which stands for Oprah Winfrey Network.
Today she can attest to owning the Oprah Winfrey Network, The Oprah Winfrey Show, O, The Oprah Magazine, Oprah Radio, Harpo Films, & Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy For Girls, in South Africa. She was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama. [2013] On January 7, 2018, she received the Cecil B. DeMille Award at the at the at the Golden Globe Award; it was presented to her by Reese Witherspoon. Her most eloquent quotes are: # "Be thankful for what you have; you will end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don't have, you will never, ever have enough." [on performing in Lee Daniels' The Butler (2013)] # I'm a historian of my own history - of African American history. I believe that when you know who you are you have the ability to move forward, not only with your own strength but with the strength of your entire ancestry. I am the daughter of a maid, and my grandmother was a maid, and her mother was a maid, and her mother was a slave. I feel validated by the war that the butler and his entire generation fought in their own way. And the fact that there's another generation of freedom writers and freedom fighters, because of evolution and growth and change, decided they weren't going to do that anymore. # Both wars were necessary for their time. # I feel I have made a living being myself. I've made a career out of my own authenticity. I don't have one face I present to the white world or to the black world. I talk to my dogs the same way I'm speaking right now. # Whatever your dreams, ideas or rejects, we plant a seed, nurture it - and then reap the fruits of our labors. # When in doubt, be bold! # The future is full of possibility, whether you make one tiny change - or a whole invigorating, thrilling, inspiring bunch of them. # What kind of woman do I want to be? One who willingly gives and receives love. One who is compassionate. Understanding. Positive. Forgiving. A woman who makes responsible choices. I want to live with a heart open to life. # Do the thing you think you cannot do. Fail at it. Try again. Do better the second time. # The only people who never tumble are those who never mount the high wire. # This is your moment. Own it! # Every day brings tremendous possibility - a chance to live more fully, love more deeply and learn something new."
She has stated that she was molested during her childhood and early teens and became pregnant at 14; her son was born prematurely and died in infancy. Canaan Born 1968, passed away after two weeks, from complications of being born two months premature.
