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Oprah

1.0 Biography of Oprah Gail Winfrey
Oprah Gail Winfrey is a very famous and familiar name worldwide. Born on January 29, 1954 in Kosciusko, Mississippi, United States, to unwed teenage parents was initially named Orpah based on the Book of Ruth in the Bible and later changed into Oprah for easier pronunciation. Her mother, Vernita Lee, an eighteen-year-old housemaid and her father, Vernon Winfrey was twenty and in the armed forces when Oprah was born. Initially, Oprah lived with her maternal grandmother Hattie Mae in a pig farm at Kosciusko until she was six. Oprah's grandmother taught her to read before the age of three and took her to the local church, where she was nicknamed "The Preacher" for her ability to recite Bible verses. When Oprah was a child, her grandmother would take a switch and would hit her with it when she didn't do chores or if she misbehaved in any way.

At age six and a half, Oprah moved to a Milwaukee inner city ghetto with her mother, who was less supportive and encouraging than her grandmother. Despite her dysfunctional home life, Oprah skipped two of her earliest grades, became the teacher's pet, and by the time she was 13 received a scholarship to attend a prestigious all-white high school in the suburbs. Although Winfrey was very popular, she couldn't afford to go out on the town as frequently as her better-off classmates. Furthermore, due to her mother's lack of supervision gave opportunity for several male relatives and friends to abuse Oprah sexually. Her cousin raped her when she was nine, molested by a family friend and then by her uncle.Like many teenagers at the end of the 1960's, Oprah rebelled, ran away from home and ran the streets. She even gave birth to a premature baby at the age of fourteen but the baby died shortly after birth.

Then, Oprah was given an ultimatum, either to live with her father and his wife in Nashville or be sent to a juvenile detention center. Oprah, disliking the idea of staying in a juvenile...