Pay: $315 million
Category: Personalities
News that this coming season of The Oprah Winfrey Show will be her last helped the self-made billionaire garner more media attention than any other member of the Celebrity 100. Her Harpo production company, which spawned the careers of Dr. Phil, Rachel Ray and Dr. Oz, will introduce interior designer Nate Berkus this fall. Months later, the list's top-earner will add the lifestyle-themed Oprah Winfrey Network in partnership with Discovery Communications to her media empire. Image Credit: AP
Superstar US talkshow host, actress, director, editor, DJ, philanthropist, property mogul and pretty much any other title you fancy throwing in, Oprah Winfrey packs a lot of power. Topping US magazine Forbes' list as the world's most powerful celebrity for the fourth time, the media personality has regained this title thanks to her $315 million (Dh1.156 billion) in earnings.
Set to launch her own television channel next year, the 53-year-old bumped Angelina Jolie from the top spot with the actress slipping from last year's number one to number 18.
But whether you follow politics or not, perhaps the more interesting revelation this week is the secret recording presented in the corruption charge trial of former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich, in which, busy pumping iron, he discusses his newest idea for Illinois' next US Senator: Oprah Winfrey.
"I think that's, that's crazy," says then-chief of staff John Harris in the November 21, 2008, secretly-recorded call.
"That's where you're wrong," the then-governor says. "She's the kingmaker. She made Obama. We know she's a Democrat. We know she's for Obama... This one, she's so up there, so high, that nobody can assail this pick. This would be huge."
Indeed. tabloid! looks at some aspects of Winfrey's life, which have rocketed this woman to the top, and why she's proved she's worthy of holding on to her crown.
Her show
If Oprah is the "go-to" girl, the television programme has become the "go-on" show.
The first show aired on September 8, 1986. While The Oprah Winfrey Show has been on air for more than 22 years and is renewed through 2011, Oprah this year confirmed she will not extend her contract again.
For the first 10 years, The Oprah Winfrey Show competed with the standard trash-talk show that focused on how to find a man, hang on to a man, find out if your man was cheating, and break-up help. It wasn't until 1998 that Oprah changed the theme to stand out and vowed to deal with everyday issues with more depth and humanity.
Rare celebrity interviews started to sneak in and in the last several years Oprah has made spirituality a large theme. The celebs now take centre stage along with the usual heart-breaking and unusual tales.
Winfrey made a deal to extend her show until the 2010-2011 season, by which time it will have been on the air for twenty-five years. Her final show will air in September 2011.
Her relationships
Her half brother was gay and died of Aids; as a teenager, Winfrey gave birth to a baby who died just weeks later; and she's recently been branded a lesbian. No wonder Winfrey has never married and keeps her personal life out of the limelight.
It wasn't always the case though. Winfrey once dated movie critic Roger Ebert.
In 1986 Winfrey met current partner Stedman Graham and they were engaged to be married in November 1992, but the ceremony never took place.
Winfrey often blames the emotional ups and downs of her lovelife on her weight problems. "The reason I gained so much weight in the first place and the reason I had such a sorry history of abusive relationships with men was I just needed approval so much," she has said.
More recently, Winfrey has been linked with her best friend since their early 20s Gayle King, a former talk show host herself and now the editor of O, the Oprah Magazine.
The rumours started after Winfrey played the therapist on an episode of the sitcom Ellen in which Ellen DeGeneres came out of the closet in 1997.
"I understand why people think we're gay", Winfrey said in the August 2006 issue of O Magazine. "There isn't a definition in our culture for this kind of bond between women. So I get why people have to label it — how can you be this close without it being sexual?"
Her, the actress
Lead roles in Pulitzer Prize-winning adaptations led to Oscar nominations for Winfrey.
Whether she was tied up and blind-folded in a bid to experience slavery for her role as Sethe in Beloved, based on Toni Morrison's novel, or accepting compliments from the likes of Thandie Newton in the same film, Oprah has well and truly conquered the film world.
In 1985, Winfrey co-starred in Steven Spielberg's film adaptation of Alice Walker's The Color Purple, earning immediate acclaim as Sofia.
She voiced for the 2006 film Charlotte's Web, as Gussie the goose, as well as the voicing Judge Bumbleden in Bee Movie.
More recently, Winfrey did her turn for Disney providing the voice for the character of Eudora, Princess Tiana's mother in The Princess and the Frog.
Her magazines
Winfrey publishes two magazines — O, The Oprah Magazine and O at Home. The audience for her magazine is considerably more upscale than for her TV show, the average reader earning US $63,000 a year.
Fancying herself an author, she has co-written five books and rumour has it when she announced plans to write a weight loss book with her personal trainer Bob Greene, she was reported to have received the biggest undisclosed advance fee ever, a sum previously held by the autobiography of former US President Bill Clinton.
The Oprah Book Club can also create bestsellers with a mere mention.
Her homes
Winfrey currently lives on The Promised Land, her 42-acre estate with ocean and mountain views in Montecito, California. Winfrey uses the $50 million estate when she's not filming in Chicago.
The mansion has six bedrooms, 14 bathrooms and a driveway which stretches on forever.
Winfrey also owns a house in Lavallette, New Jersey, an apartment in Chicago, an estate on Fisher Island off the coast of Miami, a house in Douglasville, Georgia (which she bought in 2005), a ski house in Telluride, Colorado, and property on the island of Maui, Hawaii. She also owns a home on the island of Antigua.
Her charities
When it comes to celebrities and charitable giving, few give more than Oprah, who literally donates millions and millions of dollars, much of which is out of pocket to fund her interests and charities. Her charitable giving is through three foundations: The Angel Network, The Oprah Winfrey Foundation and The Oprah Winfrey Operating Foundation.
The Angel Network is a charity focused on getting people involved where 100 per cent of any donation you give goes directly towards funding a project. Winfrey pays all the overhead and operating costs. The Oprah Winfrey Foundation is run exclusively by Winfrey and provides grants for not-for-profit organisations. The foundation has more than a whopping $190 million in assets and funds.
The Oprah Winfrey Operating Foundation was set up to exclusively give money towards operating a Leadership Academy for Girls in South Africa. Plagued with controversy, the school has been the subject of numerous scandals.
Her Bollywood connection
Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan were the first Bollywood couple to have appeared on Oprah's show.
Aishwarya has been featured twice. The first time she appeared in the "Women across the globe" segment in 2005, Ash was charm personified. Barring her diplomatic (read boring) answers peppered generously with giggles, it was fun to watch Oprah attempt to drape the sensual sari — a gift from Ash.
Cut to 2009, the happily-married Aishwarya brought along her charming husband, Abhishek, and gave the West a taste of their picture-perfect married life in the series "Meet the Most Famous People in the World".
To the star couple's credit, even Oprah couldn't pluck them out of their diplomatic, utopian existence.
— Manjusha Radhakrishnan
Did you know?
Oprah Winfrey's new show, Oprah's Next Chapter, will take her to India and China.
Slated to debut in 2011, the show host is tipped to interview top newsmakers from these two countries.
Rumours are also abuzz that Oscar-winner A.R. Rahman may accompany her on one of her trips.
The Forbes list
Bootilicious singer Beyoncé Knowles jumped two positions with earnings of $87 million to take the second spot.
Whether you loved it or hated it, James Cameron's Avatar secured him third place with earnings of $210 million.
The rankings are based on income over the past 12 months, as well as web references, press clippings, broadcast mentions and major magazine covers devoted to the celebrity, Forbes said.
