Established 1961 13 Lifestyle Features Tuesday, March 9, 2021 e may be the Queen’s grandson, Neverland Ranch for a 1993 interview Hbut she is American cultural roy- with “King of Pop” Jackson which drew alty: Oprah Winfrey, whose an audience of 100 million people. In bombshell interview with Prince Harry other interviews, Sarah Ferguson told and Meghan Markle dominated head- Winfrey in 2010 that mounting debts lines, is a billionaire TV phenomenon had led her to try to sell access to her renowned for coaxing secrets and ex-husband, Britain’s Prince Andrew. tears from countless celebrities. From During a 2013 chat, disgraced cyclist Michael Jackson and Tom Cruise to Armstrong admitted for the first time Lance Armstrong and the Duchess of that he had used banned performance- York, Winfrey is responsible for some of enhancing drugs. America’s most memorable sit-down Winfrey’s use of public confession interviews over the last three decades. as therapy is not reserved for guests: In this file photo Britain’s Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and his wife Meghan, Duchess of Sussex walk down the west steps of St George’s Chapel, Harry and Meghan were the latest to she has regularly spoken of her battles Windsor Castle, in Windsor, after their wedding ceremony. — AFP open up when a tell-all interview with with fluctuating weight and of sexual the talk show queen aired by CBS on abuse she suffered as a child. “I really Sunday. Winfrey, 67, is also one of the understood that there was no differ- world’s biggest influencers, inspiring ence between me and the audience,” millions of Americans to read more, she said in 2014. Through her book buy her favorite products and even club she popularized numerous works. change how they talk, eat and vote. A stamp of approval from Winfrey She has appeared in movies, co- could turn a novel into an instant best- authored several books and presides seller, a phenomenon known as the over a vast and varied media empire, “Oprah Effect.” Her endorsement of rince Harry and his wife Meghan just hysterical,” she said. Offering royal with Forbes magazine estimating her Obama was estimated by University of had scores to settle in their tell-all fans a treat, the couple revealed the personal wealth at $2.7 billion. Maryland researchers to have brought P The multiple-award-winning inter- in a million additional votes and helped interview with Oprah Winfrey gender of their second child, chiming in Sunday-but they also offered a gener- tandem “It’s a girl!” and confirming the viewer has long promoted mindfulness him win both the Democratic nomina- ous glimpse of their “fairytale” new fami- baby was due in “summertime.” Asked and self-improvement too, becoming a tion and the presidency. He awarded ly life far from the monarchy. In a bucol- if they were “done” with two children, self-help guru for many. Her colossal her the Presidential Media of Freedom ic segment of the interview, the couple Harry replied: “done.” “To have a boy influence extends to politics: in 2008, in 2013. she endorsed Barack Obama’s presi- invited Winfrey to their home in and then a girl, I mean what more can Oscar nomination California’s oceanside celebrity enclave you ask for?” he said. “Two is it!” dential bid, the first time she had ever of Montecito, where they showed off quipped Meghan. publicly backed a candidate for office. “The Oprah Winfrey Show” also their chicken coop-and its hens rescued Meghan wrapped up with a hopeful Fans have long encouraged Winfrey to served as the foundation for an empire from a factory farm. Filmed in rubber look to the future, saying that in decid- run for president herself. In 2018, she that spans books, radio, magazines boots and a T-shirt, Harry opened up on ing to exit from royal life, Harry made a was forced to dampen speculation that and online publishing. Winfrey founded life during the pandemic lockdown, and decision that “saved my life.” “And now she would seek the Democratic nomi- her own production company in 1986, shared his joy at taking baby Archie- In this file photo Britain’s Prince Harry and his because we’re actually on the other nation to take on then-president Donald naming it Harpo-her name backwards. who will turn two in May-for long trips to then fiancee US actress Meghan Markle pose side, we’ve actually not just survived but Trump. She launched “O, The Oprah the beach. for a photograph in the Sunken Garden at are thriving.” To the question of whether Winfrey, born in 1954, rose from a Magazine” in 2000. It enjoyed a circu- “I guess the highlight for me is stick- Kensington Palace in west London. her story “does have a happy ending,” childhood of poverty and abuse in lation of more than 2.5 million in the small-town Mississippi to become the mid-noughties before its print run end- ing him on the back of a bicycle in his ‘woahhh, chatty, chatty, chatty, palm Meghan replied: “It does. Greater than little baby seat and taking him on these any fairytale you’ve ever read.”— AFP world’s first female African-American ed last December. She struggled with tree, house’ and all this sort of stuff, and billionaire in 2003. She began her the Oprah Winfrey Network though. The bike rides, something which I was never I do, I think to myself ‘wow’.” Asked to able to do when I was young,” Harry broadcasting career while she was still TV channel launched in 2011 but took name Archie’s favorite word, Meghan in high school and landed a job as a years to build an audience and is now said. “And I can see him on the back said he is “on a roll.” “In the past couple and he’s got his arms out and he’s like news anchor in Nashville at age 19. majority owned by Discovery. of weeks it has been ‘hydrate’ which is Her emotional ad-libs won her a In 2018, Winfrey signed a multi-year Chicago morning talk show in 1984, partnership with Apple to create pro- which was syndicated nationally as grams for its streaming service. She “The Oprah Winfrey Show” in 1986. The also owns a seven percent stake in show, which ran for 25 seasons until Weight Watchers. Winfrey is a noted 2011, became the most-watched talk philanthropist; last year her charity show of all time and was estimated to donated $10 million to Covid-19 relief reach 40 million US viewers a week. efforts. In 1993, former president Bill Clinton signed the “Oprah Bill” into law Book club after she helped establish a national Audiences tuned in for the emotional database of convicted child abusers. connection she made with guests and Winfrey was nominated for an viewers, with celebrities from all walks Academy Award for her supporting of life choosing her couch as a com- actress role in Steven Spielberg’s 1985 fortable place to open up. The part of film “The Color Purple.” She has never the interview where they suddenly dis- married and has kept her more than cover something about themselves 30-year relationship with businessman Tennis superstar Serena Williams In this file photo Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman speaks during the inaugura- became known as the “Oprah Stedman Graham largely out of public tion of US President Joe Biden on the West Front of the US Capitol in Washington, DC. moment.” Actor Cruise famously view.— AFP jumped up on the sofa to proclaim his racism institutions and the media use to era. They didn’t just maltreat her light- love for Katie Holmes. vilify women and people of color to mini- they missed out on it,” the 22-year-old Winfrey also took her show to the Williams, Gorman mize us, to break us down and demonize Gorman tweeted, referencing Prince us,” said Williams, hailing her “selfless Harry’s mother Diana, who was killed in a lead support friend.” “We must recognize our obliga- high-speed car crash in Paris in 1997 as tion to decry malicious, unfounded gos- she tried to escape paparazzi. “Meghan sip and tabloid journalism. The mental is living the life Diana should have, if only for Markle over health consequences of systemic those around her had been as brave as oppression and victimization are devas- she was. Meghan isn’t living a life without tating, isolating and all too often lethal.” pain, but a life without a prison. royal racism Markle told Winfrey she had contemplat- “This isn’t Meghan’s princess ‘happy’ ed taking her own life after joining the ending. But sometimes change, the deci- royal family and that she was denied sions that bring us the most hurt, aren’t ennis superstar Serena Williams help during her mental health crisis. about happiness, but healing.” Gorman Tand poet Amanda Gorman led an “Royalty is not a shield from the devasta- said it was unclear if it would change the outpouring of support for Meghan tion and despair of racism,” Bernice royal family, but Markle would inspire Markle following her explosive allega- King, daughter of civil rights leader women. “Think of the women who will be tions of racism in the British royal family. Martin Luther King Jr., tweeted in sup- inspired to stand up for their lives, the In a two-hour interview with Oprah port. “We can know racism exists in an partners who will be kinder & more Winfrey, Markle, whose mother is Black, institution and still hurt for someone who courageous than the kin they were born said her husband Prince Harry revealed was hurt by it,” she wrote.