Oprah Winfrey was born in 1954 in rural Mississippi to an unmarried teenage mother and raised in poverty, shuttled between relatives. By her own account, she was sexually abused by multiple family members and family friends starting around age 9, became pregnant at 14, and lost the baby shortly after giving birth.
She was sent to live with her father in Nashville as a teenager, who enforced strict rules and insisted on education — a structure she has credited with turning her life around. She won a scholarship, started working in local radio and television news while still a teenager, and in 1984 was given a shot at hosting a struggling Chicago morning talk show.
She turned it into the highest-rated program in the market within months, and by 1986 it was syndicated nationally as The Oprah Winfrey Show.
The show ran for 25 seasons and built a media empire around it — Harpo Productions, O magazine, a stake in Weight Watchers, and the OWN television network. In 2003 she became the first Black woman billionaire in history, and her net worth is now estimated at roughly $3 billion.
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