Oprah (74 page)

TV/DVD:
Oprah Winfrey interviewed by Fred Griffith,
The Morning Exchange
, fifteenth anniversary, WEWS-TV, aired Jan. 1987;
The
Barbara Walters Special,
ABC, aired
Apr. 11, 1988 (viewed at The Paley Center for Media, New York);
The Oprah Winfrey Show 20th Anniversary Collection
(DVD set); “A Special Presentation: Oprah and Elie Wiesel at the Auschwitz Death Camp,”
The Oprah Winfrey Show,
aired May 24, 2006.

INTERVIEWS:
Cheryl Reed, Oct. 11, 2007; confidential source, Apr. 15, 2009; confidential source, Nov. 9, 2007; Blair Sabol, July 28, 2007; confidential source, Jan. 28, 2008; confidential source, Mar. 13, 2009, and Apr. 24, 2009; correspondence with Daniel Ruth, Apr. 13, 2009.

REAL ESTATE HOLDINGS:
In addition to her Harpo properties cited in this chapter, Oprah also owns real estate in:

• California:
  Oprah purchased her forty-two-acre estate in Montecito in July 2001 through The Promised Land LLC for a reported $50 million. The
  Santa Barbara News-Press
  (5/10/2006) estimated that improvements to the property raised its value to $64.2 million.
  
• Connecticut:
  Oprah’s Overground Railroad LLC bought Gayle King’s house at 37 Richmond Road, Greenwich, in 2000 for $3.6 million. The assessed value in 2008 was $4.8 million. In 2009 the house went on the market for $7.45 million, and later the price was dropped to $6.95 million.
  
• Georgia:
  Oprah’s Overground Railroad LLC bought a five-bedroom house in Douglasville, in 2005 for $825,000. She had purchased a penthouse condo for Coretta Scott King in Atlanta’s Buckhead area for $1,515,000 in 2003. After Mrs. King’s death, Oprah sold the property for $1,800,000 in 2008.
  
• Hawaii:
  Oprah’s Yellow Brick Road LLC, Kingdom Come LLC, and O.W. Ranch LLC paid a total of approximately $23 million in 2002 and 2003 for properties on the island of Maui, including a vacation home in Hana and a twelve-bedroom vacation rental in Kula.
  
• Illinois:
  Her Chicago residence consists of three condominiums in the Water Tower, 180 E. Pearson Street, purchased through Restoration LLC. According to Cook County assessment documents of 2008, the market value is between $2.7 million and $3.5 million. Oprah’s Overground Railroad LLC also purchased a house in the Chicago suburb of Elmwood Park in 2001 for $298,000.
  
• Indiana:
  Oprah’s Overground Railroad LLC purchased a house at 5585 Jackson Street, Merrillville, appraised at $133,500. The occupant is Joni Jacques, the woman who appeared on
  The Oprah Winfrey Show
  in 1997 after buying a pair of Oprah’s shoes that were too big for her, saying it gave her hope just to stand in them.
  
• New York:
  Oprah bought Penthouse 36 at 270 East Fifty-seventh Street, New York City, through Sophie’s Penthouse LLC in 2008 for $7.1 million.
  
• Tennessee:
  The Oprah Winfrey Trust bought Vernon Winfrey a home in Franklin, in 2000, including an empty lot next door, for $1.5 million. Overground Railroad purchased a house at 9219 Sawyer Brown Road, Nashville, for $191,500 for Calvin and Roslind Eddins, whom Oprah calls her godparents.
  
• Wisconsin:
  Oprah bought her mother, Vernita Lee, a condo in Milwaukee, at 1522 N. Prospect Avenue, through Overground Railroad LLC. In 2004, the condo was valued at $450,600.
  

T
HIRTEEN

RECORDS:
Transcript, testimony of Paul Natkin, on Aug. 15, 2000, in the case of
Paul Natkin and Stephen Green v. Oprah Winfrey
et al., case no. 1:99-cv-05367, United States District Court, Northern District of Illinois; death certificate, Patricia Lloyd, Wisconsin Department of Health and Family Services.

BOOKS:
Robert Waldron,
Oprah!
(St. Martin’s Press, 1987); Bob Greene and Oprah Winfrey,
Make the Connection
(Hyperion, 1996); Bill Adler, ed.,
The Uncommon Wisdom of Oprah Winfrey
(Citadel Press, 1997).

ARTICLES:
John Stratford, “Sex: The Three-Letter Word that Kept Oprah on Her Diet,”
Star,
Nov. 22, 1988; Judy Markey, “Opinionated Oprah!”
Woman’s Day,
Oct. 4, 1988; “Is That You, Oprah?”
Tennessean,
Nov. 16, 1988; Irene Sax, “The Once Fat Lady Sings,”
Newsday,
Nov. 16, 1988; Oprah Winfrey, “The Wind Beneath My Wings,”
Essence,
June 1989; “Oprah to Wait, Relate Weight’s Fate,”
Nashville Banner,
Nov. 16, 1988; Robin Abcarian, “Oh-Oh Oprah, Let’s Get a Little Perspective,”
Chicago Tribune,
Dec. 7, 1988; Janet Sutter, “Oprah Pulls a Fast One, Tells How,”
San Diego Union,
Nov. 16, 1988; Bob Kerr, “Oprah Unveils Herself Free of Former Fat,”
Providence Journal,
Nov. 16, 1988; Dan Sperling and Lorrie Lynch, “Oprah’s Diet Rings Up Calls,”
USA Today,
Nov. 17, 1988; Clarissa Cruz, “Worth the Weight,”
Entertainment Weekly,
Nov. 17, 2000; “Big Gain, No Pain,”
People Weekly,
Jan. 14, 1991; Betsy A. Lehman, “Oprah Winfrey Shed Pounds but Fed a Weight-Loss Myth,”
Boston Globe,
Nov. 28, 1988; “Winfrey Wants Kids,”
Baltimore
Evening Sun,
June 2, 1989; “An Oprah Show with Her Beau,”
USA Today,
Jan. 26, 1989; John Carmody, “The TV Column,”
Washington Post,
Nov. 17, 1988; Pat Colander, “Oprah Winfrey’s Odyssey: Talk Show Host to Mogul,”
New York Times,
Mar. 12, 1989; “Shedding Pounds with Liquids,”
San Francisco Chronicle,
Feb. 15, 1989; Lorenzo Benet, “Sure Oprah Slimmed Down Fast, but Liquid Diets Aren’t Right for Everyone,”
Los Angeles Daily News,
Dec. 28, 1988; Stephanie Young, “Liquid Diets,”
Glamour,
Apr. 1989; Marcia Ann Gillespie, “Winfrey Takes All,”
Ms.,
Nov. 1988; Princess Simmons, “Oprah Loses Weight but Causes Concern,”
Tennessean,
Dec. 1, 1988; “New Woman,”
Boston Herald,
Dec. 19, 1988; Allan Johnson, “Oprah, Watch Out,”
Chicago Tribune,
May 12, 1989; “Phlabe Phobia,”
New York Post,
Nov. 12, 1988; Liz Smith, “Ackroyd Advises Bush on B-1,”
San Francisco Chronicle,
Dec. 14, 1988; Karen G. Jackovich, “Take One,”
People Weekly,
Dec. 12, 1988; Irv Kupcinet, “Kup’s Column,”
Chicago Sun-Times,
Nov. 14, 1989; “Conventional Wisdom Watch,”
Newsweek,
Apr. 2, 1990; “Oprah! The Richest Woman on TV? How She Amassed Her $250 Million Fortune,” cover,
TV Guide,
Aug. 26–Sept. 1, 1989; Mark Shwed, “Where’s the Rest of Me?”
Los Angeles Herald Examiner,
Aug. 29, 1989; Leslie Marshall, “The Intentional Oprah,”
InStyle,
Nov. 1998; “Oprah Splurges $10G in 2 Hours on Oversize Outfits,”
Star,
July 16, 1991; “Ask the Insider,”
Star,
Nov. 21, 1989; Ann Trebbe and Linda Stahl, “Despite Gains, Oprah Won’t End Flab Fight,”
USA Today,
Nov. 16, 1989; Monica Collins, “ ‘Real’ Is Oprah’s Appeal,”
Boston Herald,
Nov. 21, 1989; Richard Phillips, “Oprah’s Optifade,”
Chicago Tribune,
Nov. 16, 1989; Irv Kupcinet, “Kup’s Column,”
Chicago Sun-Times,
Nov. 7, 1990; Robert Feder, “ ‘If You Believe,’ Oprah Can
Help,”
Chicago Sun-Times,
Sept. 29, 1997; “Oprah Proves It’s Not Funny When You’re Fat,”
National Enquirer,
Mar. 8, 1994; Catherine McEvily Harris, “Ultimate Success Story,”
Shape,
Dec. 1996; Audrey Edwards, “Stealing the Show,”
Essence,
Oct. 1986; Charles Whitaker, “The Most Talked About TV Show Host,”
Ebony,
Mar. 1987; Julia Lawlor, “The Other Oprah,”
USA Weekend,
June 2–4, 1989; Abiola Sinclair, “The New Women of Brewster Place,”
New York Amsterdam News,
May 12, 1990; Norma Langly, “Oprah: I’ve Done It,”
Star,
Nov. 6, 1988; Luchina Fisher et al., “In Full Stride,”
People Weekly,
Sept. 14, 1994; Jim Nelson and Barbara Sternig, “Talk Show Star’s Wild and Wicked Childhood—Sister Reveals the Shocking Truth at Last,”
National Enquirer,
Mar. 20, 1990; Joe Mullins and Brian Williams, “Oprah Saves Cocaine Addicted Sister,”
National Enquirer,
Dec. 12, 1989; Oprah Winfrey, “What I Know for Sure,”
O, The Oprah Magazine,
Feb. 2007; Honie Stevens, “From Rags to Riches,”
Saga,
May 2002; Nancy Griffin, “Oprah (Lite),”
Us,
Mar. 20, 1989; Barbara Sternig and Jim Nelson, “Oprah’s Shameful Secret Past—the Sister Who Saw It All,”
National Enquirer,
Mar. 27, 1990; Jacquelyn Mitchard, “Maybe We Know Now What Makes Oprah Run,”
Milwaukee Journal,
May 20, 1990; “Walter Scott’s Personality Parade,”
Parade,
May 6, 1990; Karen Ridgeway, “Winfrey Says She Had a Baby at 14,”
USA Today,
May 4, 1990; Peter Kent, “How I Blew Oprah’s $1M and Lost Her Love Forever,”
Globe,
Oct. 28, 1997; Ian Woodward, “The World of Oprah,”
OK!,
June 29, 1994; Laura B. Randolph, “Oprah Opens Up About Her Weight, Her Wedding, and Why She Withheld the Book,”
Ebony,
Oct. 1993; “Oprah Gave Me $1 Million and I Blew It,”
Now,
Nov. 20, 1997; Andrew Duncan, “The Andrew Duncan Interview,”
Radio Times,
Feb. 27–Mar. 5, 1999; Jacqueline Siebel, “Overdose Killed Winfrey’s Half Sister,”
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel,
Sept. 25, 2003; Chrissy Iley, “The Power of Oprah,”
Daily Mail,
Oct. 14, 1989; Dana Skrebneski, “Oprah Act Two,”
Entertainment Weekly,
Sept. 9, 1994; Tom Shales, “Talk Is Cheap,”
Washington Post,
Nov. 18, 1988; Erma Bombeck, “Digging Up the Deviants,”
Chicago Sun-Times,
Jan. 23, 1991; Diana Maychick, “Oprah, Inc.,”
New York Post,
Oct. 30, 1989; Andrew Duncan, “Grand Oprah,” London
Sunday Express,
Dec. 10, 1989; Martha Bayles, “Oprah vs. Phil,”
Wall Street Journal,
Jan. 26, 1987; Paige Albiniak, “Syndication Ratings: Pregnant Man Sends Oprah Back to the Stratosphere,”
Broadcasting and Cable,
Apr. 15, 2008; David Rensin, “The Prime Time of Ms. Oprah Winfrey,”
TV Guide,
May 16, 1992; Katherine Seigenthaler, “Oprah, Judges Aim at Drunk Drivers,”
Chicago Tribune,
Dec. 13, 1989; “Dot’s All,” New York
Daily News,
Oct. 5, 1989; Trudy S. Moore, “How ‘The Oprah Winfrey Show’ Helps People Live Better Lives,”
Jet,
Apr. 18, 1994; “Memorable Guests Followup,”
www.oprah.com
, May 2, 2007; Janice Peck, “Talk About Racism,”
Cultural Critique,
Spring 1994; Howard Rosenberg, “It’s Time for More Heart, Less Heat on TV,”
Los Angeles Times,
May 6, 1992; Richard Corliss, “Peter Pan Speaks,”
Time,
Feb. 22, 1993; Tom Shales, “A Night in Neverland with the President and the King of Pop,”
Washington Post,
Feb. 11, 1993; transcript, “Michael Jackson Talks to Oprah,”
www.allmichaeljackson.com
; John Carmody, “The TV Column,”
Washington Post,
Feb. 12, 1993.

TV/DVDS:
The Oprah Winfrey Show 20th Anniversary Collection
(DVD set); “Oprah on Eating,”
In Living Color,
Fox, aired 1990 (viewed at
www.blackbottom.com
).

INTERVIEWS:
Candy Miles Cocker, Apr. 20, 2007; James van Sweden, Dec. 12, 2007 and Dec. 27, 2007; Bob Jones, May 2, 2007.

F
OURTEEN

RECORDS:
State of Connecticut Judicial Branch,
Gayle King Bumpus v. William G. Bumpus,
docket no. HHD-FA-92-0518354-S; documents in the case of
Colleen M. Raleigh v. Harpo, Inc., and Oprah Winfrey,
case no. 94L-13511, Circuit Court of Cook County; decision in the case of
Elizabeth Coady v. Harpo, Inc.,
case no. 1-99-0481, 1st District, Illinois Appellate Court; documents in the case of
Lerato Numvuyo Mzamane v. Oprah Winfrey
et al., case no. 2:08-CV-4884 (BWK), U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

BOOKS:
Henry Louis Gates, Jr.,
Finding Oprah’s Roots
(Crown Publishers, 2007); Eva Illouz,
Oprah Winfrey and the Glamour of Misery
(Columbia University Press, 2003); Vicki and Leonard Mustazza,
Coming After Oprah: Cultural Fallout in the Age of the TV Talk Show
(Bowling Green State University Popular Press, 1997).

ARTICLES:
Paul D. Colford, “American Booksellers Convention,”
Newsday,
June 1, 1993; Tim Warren, “By the Book?”
Baltimore Sun,
May 31, 1993; Jocelyn McClurg, “Booksellers Sold on Oprah Winfrey’s Story,”
Hartford Courant,
June 1, 1993; Deidre Donahue, “Oprah’s Life to Be Open Book,”
USA Today,
June 2, 1993; David Streitfeld, “Oprah Pulls Bio from Publication,”
Washington Post,
May 16, 1993; “Why Oprah’s Banning Her Sexy Tell-All Book,”
Star,
July 6, 1993; Paul D. Colford, “Book Pullout a Case of Cold Feet,”
Newsday,
June 24, 1993; “Backing Off from the Book,”
People Weekly,
July 5, 1993; John Blades, “They’re Celebrities of Few Words,”
Chicago Tribune,
June 25, 1993; Laura B. Randolph, “Oprah Opens Up About Her Weight, Her Wedding, and Why She Withheld the Book,”
Ebony,
Oct. 1993; Robert Feder, “Oprah Wanted Book to Be More Than ‘Recitation,’ ”
Chicago Sun-Times,
June 18, 1993; “Rumors Still Swirl as Oprah Remains Silent,”
Los Angeles Sentinel,
June 24, 1993; Deidre Donahue and Ann Trebbe, “Oprah’s Book Delay Leaves World Guessing,”
USA Today,
June 17, 1993; Sarah Lyall, “Book Notes,”
New York Times,
June 9, 1993; transcript,
Larry King Live,
Sept. 4, 2001,
www.transcripts.cnn.com
; Sarah Lyall, “More Lessons to Learn Before Oprah Tells All,”
New York Times,
June 16, 1993; Karen Freifeld, “Oprah Pulls Plug on Autobiography,”
Newsday,
June 17, 1993; Linda Kramer, “Marathon Woman,”
People Weekly,
Nov. 7, 1994; Gretchen Reynolds, “Oprah Unbound,”
Chicago,
Nov. 1993; Jill Brook Coiner, “Oprah Sets the Record Straight,”
McCall’s,
Nov. 1993; Miriam Kanner, “Oprah at 40,”
Ladies’ Home Journal,
Feb. 1994; Jonathan Van Meter, “Oprah’s Moment,”
Vogue,
Oct. 1998; Chrissy Iley, “The Power of Oprah,”
Daily Mail,
Oct. 14, 1989; Maya Jaggi, “The Power of One,”
Guardian Weekend,
Feb. 11, 1999; Ian Woodward, “The World of Oprah,”
OK!,
June 29, 1994; Dana Kennedy, “Oprah Act Two,”
Entertainment Weekly,
Sept. 9, 1994; Ginny Dougary, “Soul Queen,” London
Times Magazine,
Mar. 4, 1995; Academy of Achievement, “Oprah Winfrey Interview,” Feb. 21, 1991,
www.achievement.org
; Richard Zoglin, “Lady with a Calling,”
Time,
Aug. 8, 1988; Jeff Jarvis, “Top Ten Oprahs,”
People Weekly,
Sept. 5, 1988; Robert Feder, “Oprah Opens Road Show in Search of Big Ratings,”
Chicago Sun-Times,
Oct. 29,
1987; “Oprah Off-Broadway,
Chicago Reader,
Nov. 1, 1991; Jeff Strickler, “How Success Changes Attitudes Irks Actress,” Minneapolis
StarTribune,
Apr. 25, 1986; Judy Markey, “Brassy, Sassy Oprah Winfrey,”
Cosmopolitan,
Sept. 1986; William Sullivan, “Div Grad Bares All in Callgirl Biography,”
Yale Daily News,
Sept. 3, 2004; “Oprah Glad She Booked from Autobiography,”
New York Post,
Dec. 26, 1997; Steven Pratt, “Oprah’s Favorites,”
Chicago Tribune,
Apr. 21, 1994; Janet Kidd Stewart, “Oh, Rosie,”
Chicago Sun-Times,
May 9, 1994; Daisy Maryles, “Behind the Bestsellers,”
Publishers Weekly,
May 15, 1995; “Ready for Prime Time,”
People Weekly,
Feb. 14, 1994; Gayle King, “What I Learned from Dad,”
Good Housekeeping,
June 2005; Aaron Barnhart, “KCTV Goes to Hartford for New Anchor,”
www.blogs.kansascity.com/tvbarn
, Mar. 24, 2001; Samantha Miller, “Gayle Force,”
People Weekly,
Feb. 23, 1998; Lisa Kogan, “Oprah and Gayle Uncensored,”
O, The Oprah Magazine,
Aug. 2006; George Rush and Joanna Molloy, “Gayle Airs Her Story: Ex-Hubby a ‘Cheater,’ ” New York
Daily News,
Nov. 14, 2006; “Oprah Winfrey Tribute: Gayle King,”
TelevisionWeek,
Apr. 19, 2004; Ed Susman and Jeffrey Rodack, “Oprah Wrecks Best Friend’s Marriage,”
National Enquirer,
Dec. 29, 1992; Jim Calio, “If You Knew Oprah Like I Know Oprah…,”
Redbook,
Feb. 1998; Bill Zwecker, “Oprah’s Hitting 40 with Flair,”
Chicago Sun-Times,
Jan. 26, 1994; “40th Birthday Slumber Party,”
Star,
Feb. 15, 1994; Eric Munoz et al., “Wow! Super-Sexy Oprah Turns 40,”
National Enquirer,
Feb. 15, 1994; “Are You There, God? It’s Me, Oprah,”
Esquire,
Apr. 1994; Martin Townsend, “Oprah Winfrey,”
Sunday Mail,
July 2, 1995; Gretchen Reynolds, “A Year to Remember: Oprah Grows Up,”
TV Guide,
Jan. 7, 1995; Oprah Winfrey, “What We Can All Do to Change TV,”
TV Guide,
Nov. 11, 1995; Howard Kurtz, “Morality Guru Takes on Talk TV,”
Washington Post,
Oct. 26, 1995; Joshua Green, “The Bookie of Virtue,”
Washington Monthly,
June 2003; Jim Kirk, “Putting Talk Shows on Notice,”
Chicago Sun-Times,
Nov. 15, 1995; Jae-Ha Kim, “Behind the Scenes at ‘Oprah,’ ”
Chicago Sun-Times,
Dec. 4, 1994; “Rack Race,” July 4, 1994; Dana Kennedy, “A New Soap Oprah,”
Entertainment Weekly,
Nov. 11, 1994; Gretchen Reynolds, “The Oprah Myth,”
TV Guide,
July 23, 1994; Robert Feder, “Oprah’s Ex-Producer Lands NBC Online Gig,”
Chicago Sun-Times,
May 2, 2000; Bill Zwecker, “United Front Ousted Oprah Aide,”
Chicago Sun-Times,
June 29, 1994; “Oprah Wins Two Emmys,”
Chicago Tribune,
May 20, 1995; “Oprah’s Secretary Quits,”
National Enquirer,
Sept. 20, 1994; Mike Kerrigan, “Oprah Studio ‘Big Happy Family’ Is a Sham,”
Globe,
Nov. 15, 1994; Robert Feder, “Publicist Claims Oprah in ‘Chaos,’ ”
Chicago Sun-Times,
Oct. 26, 1994; Irv Kupcinet, “Kup’s Column,”
Chicago Sun-Times,
Oct. 30, 1994; Ellen Warren and Terry Armour, “Oh, No: Oprah Faces Tribulation of Another Trial,”
Chicago Tribune,
Apr. 20, 2000; Susan Crabtree, “Trash TV Pulls America Down the Tubes,”
Insight,
Dec. 4, 1995; Dan Santow, “Christmas at Oprah’s,”
Redbook,
Dec. 1994.