I just got done reading most of Wiki on Oprah, and what struck me mostly is that overwhelming influence she has over north American women and culture. Not only is she the richest black american woman, she is considered a spiritual leader for many. Also I felt as I was reading that in a way Michael and her have so much in common, with the suffering as children, the searching for love and affirmation from others, the very high sharp intelligence, the philanthropic efforts she has made (in 2005 at over 300 millions) apparently just over Michael's amount. She was also accused of being gay, and has had many men romances, but has been living with a man for many years now. Reading about the horrific sexual abuse and teen pregnancy and baby that died, I feel compassion for her, in her distrust of Michael. I honestly think we should cut her some slack, perhaps she is warming to the idea that MJ might be completely innocent, and just maybe Michael has given some forgiveness to her, possibly giving her some heads-up with some of the hoax, possibly not. IDK
Michael has grown and matured in his understanding of people, that people don't just suddenly do things but are conditioned because of their past. I think we should have a wait and see attitude. Again, Oprah is extremely influencial and may yet be an important help or use to Michael.
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I have been reading some articles about Oprah and in a book entitled "Oprah: A Biography" (unauthorized of course) her story is supposedly different than Oprah has portrayed; Oprah emellished the stories. I don't know how much of this is true but the author Kitty Kelley wrote it after interviewing friends, relatives and taking material from Oprah's own writings and interviews.Oprah: A BiographyBased on three years of research and reporting as well as 850 interviews with sources, many of whom have never before spoken for publication, Oprah is the first comprehensive biography of one of the most influential, powerful, and admired public figures of our time. Anyone who is a fan of Oprah Winfrey or who has followed her extraordinary life and career will be fascinated and newly informed by the closely observed, detailed, and well-rounded portrait of her provided by Kitty Kelley's exhaustively researched book. Readers will come away with a greater appreciation of who Oprah really is beyond her public persona and a fuller understanding of her important place in American cultural history.
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LoginReal dad, fake poverty in new Oprah biographyApril 14, 2010, London
Many a family secrets have been unravelled on her super-hit talk show, but a biographer claims to have unearthed the well-guarded truths about the life of media mogul Oprah Winfrey. From revelations by a relative that the billionaire concocted stories about sexual abuse and poverty, to the identity of her biological father, Winfrey's unauthorized biographer Kitty Kelley claims to have got it all.
The talk show queen, who was born out of wedlock to a teenage mother, has never known her father but Kelley claims to have traced down the man, reported Daily Mail online. In news that will be unpleasant for Winfrey to accept, the American biographer says that Winfrey's cousin Katharine Carr Esters, who is known to the billionaire as 'Aunt Katharine' confided the name of her father. But Esters, 81, refused to give permission for Kelley to publish his name in her book, saying Winfrey needs to find out the truth from her mother Vernita Lee. "You'll know when that happens because Oprah will probably have a show on Finding Your Real Father. As I said, the girl wastes nothing," Esters is quoted as saying in the book titled 'Oprah: A Biography by Kitty Kelley'.
In the book, Esters also accuses Winfrey of embellishing her impoverished upbringing, to gain audience sympathy and TRP's. Despite the TV host's recollections of wearing potato sacks as dresses and keeping cockroaches as pets, Esters disputes times were that hard. "Where Oprah got that nonsense about growing up in filth and roaches I have no idea. I've confronted her and asked, 'Why do you tell such lies?' Oprah told me, 'That's what people want to hear. The truth is boring'," Esters is quoted as saying.
At 13, Oprah ran away from her mother's home and went to live with her stepfather after becoming pregnant at 14. Her son tragically died soon after birth. The man Oprah does call 'dad' is former city councilman Vernon Winfrey, whose attempt to write his own book on his stepdaughter was blocked by the talk show queen three years ago. He also backs the claims made by Esters saying that he is disappointed with Oprah's description of her upbringing. "She may be admired by the world, but I know the truth. So does god and so does Oprah. Two of us remain ashamed," he said.
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LoginKitty Kelley's 'Oprah: A Biography' By Sherryl Connelly April 12th 2010
Today two queens are vying to rule Oprah nation. There’s the reigning monarch herself and the contender, Kitty Kelley, whose tattle-tale tome "Oprah: A Biography" just hit bookstore shelves.
Oprah keeps her crown. Kelley reveals little in 445 pages. But she does have one bit of pertinent info that will mess with Oprah’s mind. Kelley claims to know who Oprah’s biological father is while the talk show diva doesn’t.
Oprah’s elderly cousin, the irascible Katharine Carr Esters, tells the author who the daddy is, but then swears her to secrecy until the time when Oprah’s mother, Vernita Lee, chooses to inform her daughter. The cranky cousin hilariously adds "you’ll know when that happens because Oprah will probably have a show on Finding Your Real Father. As I said, the girl wastes nothing."
Vernon Winfrey, the man who didn’t spare the rod raising Oprah for many years, has already declared that he wasn’t the sire.
As for the anticipated disclosure that Oprah and her best friend, Gayle King, share a love that dare not speak it’s name, at least in Oprahland, Kelley retreats. She quotes others, such as Erica Jong and Rosie O’Donnell, speculating that Oprah is gay, but concludes that Oprah is "asexual."
And so the author has it both ways, so to speak. Unfortunately for Kelley, Oprah has harvested most of the salacious material from her own life, even if she’s been sparing with some details. She’s openly discussed her teenage "promiscuity." Kelley reports that in a proposal for a planned autobiography that was shelved, she referred to herself as a "prostitute." Even so her now deceased sister, Patricia, sold details of a barely pubescent Oprah trading favors with young men for cash to a supermarket tabloid years ago.
Kelley says that Oprah also wrote about doing crack during her Baltimore days with a boyfriend and cocaine in Chicago. Meanwhile, Oprah admitted to illicit drug use as far back as 1995 on her show and the boyfriend peddled his own seedier recollections of that time a while back.
So what’s left? Not much. Oprah’s mother doesn’t have her phone number, but Verita Lee has unquestionably benefited from her daughter’s largess. As a young woman she lived with John Tesh in Nashville but was abandoned by the former host of "Entertainment Tonight" because he couldn’t take the heat that came with an interracial relationship.
Oprah’s close friendship with Diane Sawyer gets a bit of a going over. The two shared "giggly" late night phone calls and Oprah sent the now anchorwoman expensive gifts. Kelley writes that women at ABC-TV winked at each other as if to say "Guess who’s got a crush on Diane?" "As if to say..." That’s silly phrasing for someone who claims to have interviewed 850 Oprah-ites and boasts of her credentials as the crackerjack reporter whose bios of Nancy Reagan and Frank Sinatra made headlines.
Only every now and then does Kelley comes up with a gem, but they’re small and not high grade. For instance, an art dealer tells of how annoyed he became after she kept him waiting and then refused to ascend to the gallery’s second floor saying: "Stairs? Stairs? Oprah does not do stairs," she announced. He claims to have snapped at her "Well, maybe you should try them, sister. You certainly could use the exercise." Funny if true and one of the few stories in the book that Oprah hasn’t already told on herself.
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LoginWe also know about the book that she has had issues with the girl's school in Africa. October 2007In October 2007, a female school staffer was accused of physically and sexually abusing students. Winfrey flew to South Africa to meet with school officials and parents on October 12.
According to the Afrikaans-language newspaper Rapport, the "dorm matron" allegedly grabbed a student by the throat and threw her against a wall. The unidentified woman is also alleged to have screamed at and assaulted her wards, as well as fondled at least one girl. The staffer has been put on probation pending an investigation.
On November 1, 2007, Police Superintendent Lunge Dlamini announced that the 27 year old dorm matron had been arrested after seven students submitted statements alleging assault and various abuse at the hands of the employee.
March 2009In March 2009 seven students were suspended for reportedly sexually harassing other students and for other sexual experimentation involving one another. Though no formal trial or hearing was held, a letter sent to one of the suspended girls' parents reportedly read: "You have been found guilty of physical contact of a sexual nature with another pupil on campus, harassment, bullying other girls on campus and of being dishonest by not telling investigators the whole truth.
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LoginShe has also had several issues with books and authors she has endorsed. James Frey's supposed drug memoir "A Million Little Pieces." Even when she discovered that it was false she still endorsed it and defended the author, before retracting her statements due to public outcry.Oprah Winfrey - Winfrey Defends Book Club Author Over Fake Claims12 January 2006
Chat show host OPRAH WINFREY has defended author JAMES FREY over allegations his autobiographical account of drug addiction, A MILLION LITTLE PIECES, is greatly exaggerated. The book became a million-seller when it was selected for Winfrey's TV book club last year (05), but a story posted on website TheSmokingGun.Com on Sunday (08JAN06) claims Frey faked many aspects of his past in the book, including his criminal record.
But, in a telephone interview with US TV's LARRY KING, Winfrey dismissed the allegations as unimportant. She said, "What is relevant is that he was a drug addict and stepped out of that history to be the man he is today and to take that message to save other people and allow them to save themselves." Frey has admitted elements of A Million Little Pieces are exaggerated: "The book is about drug addiction and alcoholism. The emotional truth is there."
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LoginAnother book was called "Angel at the Fence: The True Story of a Love that Survived"Oprah Fooled AgainByRoger Catlin December 29, 2008
The man who said he met his wife of 50 years when he was a child in a Nazi concentration camp and she, disguised as a Christian girl, tossed apples over the fence to him, was the subject of two episodes of the Oprah Winfrey Show.
The publishing of a book on the love story, titled "Angel at the Fence: The True Story of a Love that Survived," on an imprint of Penguin Books, would have no doubt brought on Herman Rosenblat and his wife Roma Radzicki Rosenblat onto the popular daytime talk show a third time.
But over the weekend, after the publisher looked into some inaccuracies raised by scholars and the New Republic (the chief one: there was no fence at Buchenwald where this could have happened), Rosenblat confessed the story was a hoax. The book was cancelled, though a movie based on it will be produced, now as fiction.
Part of the reason Rosenblat's literary agent believed him, she told the New York Times Sunday, was because "he was in so many magazines and books and on 'Oprah.'" For Oprah, it's the biggest bamboozle since she praised James Frey's supposed drug memoir "A Million Little Pieces." When that one turned out to be fiction, she had the author back on the show and scolded him. It hasn't been announced whether she will do that with the Rosenblats as well.
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LoginAnd AnotherOprah Winfrey Pulls White Supremacist's Hoax From Book List; Blames ErrorWednesday, November 07, 2007
NEW YORK — Oprah Winfrey has pulled a discredited children's book, Forrest Carter's "The Education of Little Tree," from a list of recommended titles on her Web site, blaming an archival "error" for including a work considered the literary hoax of a white supremacist.
"The archived listing was posted in error and has been removed," Winfrey spokeswoman Angela DePaul told The Associated Press on Tuesday, adding that she did not know long "Little Tree" had been on the site.
The AP had inquired last week about "The Education of Little Tree," which was featured on You are not allowed to view links.
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Login with "The Color Purple," "The Grapes of Wrath" and other "guaranteed page-turners from Oprah's personal collection." The list can also be linked to in-store computer searches at Barnes & Noble.
First published in 1976, "The Education of Little Tree" was supposedly the real-life story of an orphaned boy raised by his Cherokee grandparents; the book became a million seller and sentimental favorite. In 1991, the American Booksellers Association gave "Little Tree" its first ever ABBY award, established "to honor the `hidden treasures' that ABA bookstore members most enjoyed recommending."
But suspicions about Carter, who died in 1979, began in his lifetime, and were raised significantly in the early 1990s, not long after the book won the ABBY. Carter was identified as Asa Earl Carter, a member of the Ku Klux Klan and speechwriter for former Alabama governor George Wallace who wrote Wallace's infamous vow: "Segregation today! Segregation tomorrow! Segregation forever!"
"`Little Tree' is a lovely little book, and I sometimes wonder if it is an act of romantic atonement by a guilt-ridden white supremacist, but ultimately I think it is the racial hypocrisy of a white supremacist," says author Sherman Alexie, whose books include "Ten Little Indians" and the young adult novel "The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian," a nominee this year for a National Book Award.
"I am surprised, of course, that Winfrey would recommend it," says Lorene Roy, president of the American Library Association. "Besides the questions about the author's identity, the book is known for a simplistic plot that used a lot of stereotypical imagery."
Winfrey had long been aware of the book's background and has acknowledged she once was a fan. She discussed "Little Tree" on her TV show in 1994, recalling a "loving story about a boy growing up with his grandfather and learning about nature and speaking to the trees. And it's very spiritual."
When Winfrey learned the truth about Carter, she felt she "had to take the book off my shelf."
"I no longer — even though I had been moved by the story — felt the same about this book," she said in 1994. "There's a part of me that said, `Well, OK, if a person has two sides of them and can write this wonderful story and also write the segregation forever speech, maybe that's OK.' But I couldn't — I couldn't live with that."
According to Nielsen BookScan, which tracks about 70 percent of industry sales, "Little Tree" has sold about 11,000 copies in 2007. It was originally released by the Delacorte Press, then reissued a decade later by the University of New Mexico Press, which still publishes the book.
Winfrey has endorsed at least one other work that was eventually disputed: James Frey's "A Million Little Pieces," a memoir of addiction and recovery that she chose for her book club in 2005. After learning the book contained extensive fabrications, Winfrey chewed out the author on her show, but never withdrew her pick. "A Million Little Pieces" is still listed on her Web site.
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LoginShe also endorsed and promoted James Arthur Ray Oprah Winfrey Should Apologize for Promoting Dangerous Fraud James Arthur RayBy Dr. Al Carroll Oct 14th, 2009
Two people died in a distorted New Age version of a Native sweatlodge in Sedona. Dozens more were badly injured. They each paid over $9000 for a bastardized version of a ceremony which by tradition must never be charged for. Natives don't believe in "pay to pray," but apparently the New Age movement does. It is far more of a consumerist phenomena than a genuine spiritual movement. Many lost, misguided, and genuinely sincere seekers get caught up in the idea of paying cash for shortcuts to salvation, and Oprah Winfrey seems to be among them.
Winfrey promoted New Age leader James Arthur Ray on her program a number of times. It was Ray who jammed over sixty people into a "sweatbox." Traditionally perhaps a dozen people are in a sweatlodge. The lodge is made from natural materials so the heat will not be too intense. But not Ray's "sweatbox." It was sealed with heavy plastic tarp to deliberately make the heat as intense as possible. People even competed to see who could withstand the highest temperatures, making it a bizarre contest rather than a ceremony to heal. Traditionally most of those in a sweatlodge have been through it before so they could guide novices, but seemingly the clients/victims of Ray's outnumbered those conducting it by at least twenty to one.
For her part in promoting the dangerous fraud James Arthur Ray, Oprah Winfrey should publicly apologize and vow to be more careful about who she endorses in the future. How many of the victims in Sedona would never have gone there had they not seen Winfrey's program? How wealthy did Ray become off of his victims because of Winfrey's repeated endorsement of Ray, both on her show and online? Why didn't her shows researchers take the time to look carefully and see what they should have known, that Ray was potentially dangerous to his followers?
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LoginNewsweek also did an article and cover story on Oprah and her show.![]()
Why Health Advice on 'Oprah' Could Make You Sick - Newsweek30 May 2009
Because the truth is, some of what Oprah promotes isn't good, and a lot of the advice her guests dispense on the show is just bad.
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LoginPlus I have previously posted the following article:Secret billionaire club seeks population controlMay 24, 2009
Gates, Rockefeller, Turner, Oprah, Buffett, Soros, Bloomberg attend meetingWASHINGTON – Some of the richest men and women in the world met secretly recently in New York to conspire on using their vast wealth to bring the world's population growth under control.
The meeting included some of the biggest names in the "billionaires club," according to the London Times – Bill Gates, David Rockefeller, Ted Turner, Oprah Winfrey, Warren Buffett, George Soros and Michael Bloomberg. The meeting at the home of Sir Paul Nurse, a British Nobel Prize-winning biochemist and president of Rockefeller University, was the inspiration of Gates and took place three weeks ago. "The informal afternoon session was so discreet that some of the billionaires' aides were told they were at 'security briefings,'" the Times reported today.
Stacy Palmer, editor of the Chronicle of Philanthropy, speculated that the secrecy surrounding the meeting may have been due to concern that "they don’t want to be seen as a global cabal." According to the Times, the billionaires were each given 15 minutes to present their favorite cause. Over dinner they discussed how they might settle on an "umbrella cause" that could harness their interests. Taking their cue from Gates, the report said, they agreed population control was the No. 1 issue.
In February, Gates, 53, outlined an ambitious plan to cap global population at 8.3 billion – about one billion fewer than currently projected. Patricia Stonesifer, former chief executive of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, said the billionaires would continue to meet over the next few months. A guest at the meeting told the Times population growth would be addressed as a potentially disastrous environmental, social and industrial threat. "This is something so nightmarish that everyone in this group agreed it needs big-brain answers," said the guest. "They need to be independent of government agencies, which are unable to head off the disaster we all see looming."
As to secrecy, the guest said, "They wanted to speak rich to rich without worrying anything they said would end up in the newspapers, painting them as an alternative world government."
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LoginSo IDK just be careful in whom you put your faith in.