Posted on 04/13/2010 1:11:21 PM PDT by longtermmemmory
Oprah Winfrey -- who built a billion-dollar empire persuading everyone from celebs to average Joes to reveal the truth about themselves -- is a big phony when it comes to her own past, an explosive new book charges.
Winfrey's relationship with longtime "love" Stedman Graham, her reputed dirt-poor upbringing in rural Mississippi, her rumored lesbian crushes on women such as Diane Sawyer -- all are stories she has manipulated for decades in the name of sensational ratings, according to writer Kitty Kelley's latest unauthorized biography "Oprah."
The much-anticipated book details how:
* Winfrey concocted stories about sexual abuse she suffered as a child -- and grossly exaggerated the poverty she was brought up in.
* She went to great lengths to conceal her "lesbian affairs" -- including hefty payoffs -- and publicly attached herself to Graham to appear more normal to her audience of housewives.
* She lavished romantic gifts -- including a diamond toe ring -- on ABC talking head Diane Sawyer.
* Winfrey sold her body to earn extra money and has even described herself as a teen "prostitute."
* She doesn't know the true identity of her biological father.
* Her relationship with her own mother is so cold that Winfrey won't even let the older woman have her phone number.
Winfrey was born in Kosciusko, Miss., in 1954, and, the way she likes to tell it, she was so impoverished that she never had any new dresses or dolls and had to adopt two cockroaches as pets, naming them Melinda and Sandy.
But her family says that's nonsense.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
OMG! You owe me a keyboard!
Hi all:
[i]Winfrey was born in Kosciusko, Miss., in 1954, and, the way she likes to tell it, she was so impoverished that she never had any new dresses or dolls and had to adopt two cockroaches as pets, naming them Melinda and Sandy.[/i]
Never been a fan of Oprah’s, but I question the statement above. I was also born in 1954 and distinctly remember Oprah Winfrey hosting Baltimore TV’s ‘Million Dollar Movie” on WBAL or WJZ in the afternoons of the mid and late 1960s when I was a kid.
Something strange there.
Jack.
RE: “Oprah’s only useful contribution:
She drove Phil Donahue off the air;)”
***************
Oh yeah, that was probably the BEST thing she’s ever done. If anyone was more vile than Oprah, it was Phil D.
I never had much of an opinion of Oprah at all until watching her a time or two near the time of the O.J. Simpson trial, the first trial. Oprah clearly, totally supported Simpson in that horror and ranted about the corrupt LAPD. That was the END of Oprah in my book.
I’ve never watched one episode since!
The rats loved her when she wrote about Pres Bush, what changed?lol
Sweet, anything that hurts The Oprah is fine by me!
I heard it was like throwing a hot dog down a hallway.
Bravo, Spok.
You had to put that picture on this thread. It looks like what Chris Rock describes as a loaf of bread shoehorned into each shoe.
I have a theory that Michelle O is behind the book, or at least some of it.
No wonder Tesh went into therapy.
Neither does Oprah, apparently
Kosciusko was a nice town in 1954. Neighbors still helped and cared for one another. Doubt anyone suffered too much or did without.
snicker
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
lt="Image and video hosting by TinyPic">