Winfrey said programs already are in development but declined to discuss specifics, other than to say shows likely will revolve around such topics as money, work, health, weight, relationships, parenting and charity. The current general manager of the Health Channel is Carole Tomko, who will continue to run the outlet during the likely 8-month transition.
Winfrey has signed on to host the talk show through the season but has the option to bow out a year earlier, after which time the show could move to OWN. Winfrey said she will make any decisions about continuing the show by the fall. Discovery and Harpo will contribute advertising sales services for the channel, which will be simulcast in high definition.
Winfrey said Harpo will continue producing shows for syndication and primetime. Winfrey was born in the rural town of Kosciusko, Mississippi, on January 29, After a troubled adolescence in a small farming community, where she was sexually abused by a number of male relatives and friends of her mother, Vernita, Winfrey moved to Nashville to live with her father, Vernon, a barber and businessman. In , Winfrey entered Tennessee State University.
She began working in radio and television broadcasting in Nashville. The show became a hit and Winfrey stayed with it for eight years, after which she was recruited by a Chicago TV station to host her own morning show, A. Her major competitor in the time slot was Phil Donahue.
Within several months, Winfrey's open, warm-hearted personal style had won her , more viewers than Donahue and had taken her show from last place to first in the ratings. Winfrey launched The Oprah Winfrey Show in as a nationally syndicated program that ran for 25 years, until She soon gained ownership of the program from ABC, drawing it under the control of her new production company, Harpo Productions 'Oprah' spelled backwards and making more and more money from syndication. In , with talk shows becoming increasingly trashy and exploitative, Winfrey pledged to keep her show free of tabloid topics.
Although ratings initially fell, she earned the respect of her viewers and was soon rewarded with an upsurge in popularity. In , Winfrey signed a new contract to continue The Oprah Winfrey Show through the season. At the time, the syndicated show was seen on nearly U.
In , Winfrey announced that she would be ending her program when her contract with ABC ended, in Winfrey contributed immensely to the publishing world by launching her "Oprah's Book Club," as part of her talk show. The program propelled many unknown authors to the top of the bestseller lists and gave pleasure reading a new kind of popular prominence. Winfrey has continued her book club. In , she famously interviewed former First Lady Michelle Obama for the release of her memoir, Becoming.
In , Winfrey introduced "Oprah's Favorite Things," an annual list of holiday gifts curated by the mogul, on her talk show. Even after moving onto other projects, Winfrey continued the annual tradition.
For the 20th edition in , the list was featured on Amazon. She became the first celebrity voice behind Alexa, the company's voice-control system, allowing shoppers to hear Winfrey herself explain her top picks for the season.
In the final season of her talk show, Winfrey made ratings soar when she revealed a family secret: she has a half-sister named Patricia. Winfrey's mother, Vernita Lee, gave birth to a baby girl in At the time, Winfrey was 9 years old, and living with her father. Lee put the child up for adoption because she believed that she wouldn't be able to get off public assistance if she had another child to care for.
Patricia lived in a series of foster homes until she was seven years old. Patricia tried to connect with her birth mother through her adoption agency after she became an adult, but Lee did not want to meet her. After doing some research, she approached a niece of Winfrey's, and the two had DNA tests done, which proved they were related.
Winfrey only learned of her sister's existence a few months before she made the decision to publicize the knowledge. Winfrey has publicly struggled with her weight, and her numerous weight loss efforts have been well-documented.
In , she revealed on her talk show that she lost 67 pounds on a liquid diet and exercise. By , she had gained most of the weight back. In , she lost an estimated 90 pounds dropping to her ideal weight of around pounds. In the wake of her highly publicized success, Winfrey's personal chef, Rosie Daley, and trainer, Bob Greene, both published best-selling books.
She also became and advisor for the company and secured herself a seat on the board, and she appeared in TV ads as a spokesperson for the company. That's what I meant by that. There's no such thing as failure: it's God telling you to move in another direction… All these years I've been telling people to hang in there, to hold on to their dreams, be steadfast in their vision Winfrey also said to People of the experience, "Failure is a great teacher.
I knew this intellectually. But it's another thing if you're living it. It's gonna turn around, but you've gotta do the work. By the first quarter of , OWN's audience had grown by 30 percent over the course of two years to an average of , people a day.
So, it felt like a good time to expand the network's horizons. Winfrey appeared in 11 episodes of Greenleaf , which wrapped up its five-season run last June and has a spin-off in the works, and is an executive producer on Queen Sugar , which has been renewed for a fifth season. More importantly, the pals were on the same page about the changes they wanted to see in the entertainment industry as a whole.
Talking about the importance of real inclusion in Hollywood—rather than the ever-vague push for "diversity"—DuVernay said, "Forward-thinking people and allies of this cause within the industry have the common sense to know that this is systemic.
There needs to be more done than applauding one or two people who make it through your door. Added Winfrey, "I used to use the word 'diversity' all the time. It's to have a seat at the table where the decisions are being made.
Winfrey told Vogue in , "The real truth is that we're in the best place ever. We were able to use Tyler's audience to build a great foundation for scripted television, and now I am moving into an elevated premium scripted storytelling in a way that I have been dreaming of for a long time.
The show that helped give OWN direction, Welcome to Sweetie Pie 's, ended in after episodes—and some major drama on the home front. On March 15, , year-old Andre Montgomery Jr. Robbie knew Andre had his issues, but she had taken him under her wing in hopes of seeing him thrive, and she was so proud when he graduated high school in Her son and Andre's uncle, Tim Nelson , added, "We've lost the entire family to violence. We don't have a lot of positive examples of guys going to college and getting a job and being successful.
Robbie was seen on the show firing him in for hitting two other workers at the restaurant, including Andre. Robbie later sued her son in June to stop him from infringing on the Miss Sweetie brand to operate three other restaurants, but he most recently was co-owner of a Sweetie Pie's location in Jackson, Miss.
Talking about the widespread impact of gun violence in their community, Robbie, whose sister Linda lost a son some years back too, continued, "And what about the family? People don't realize, when the young men go to jail, it affects the family.
To pick up a gun is easy. But to take somebody's life, that you can't give and can't give it back, that's devastating.
The family tragedy turned Shakespearean in August when federal prosecutors filed murder-for-hire charges against Tim, who had visited the scene of the crime with his mother on Welcome to Sweetie Pie's , saying, "Since Andre's passing I haven't gone through this part of the city.
He has pleaded not guilty. Louis to meet him. He texted her the address of the house where ended up getting killed. A week after his nephew's murder, the complaint continued, Tim started trying to collect on the life insurance, though he ultimately never provided the documentation required to get the money.
He and Terica were charged with conspiracy to use interstate commerce facilities in commission of murder-for-hire, resulting in death.
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