All About Oprah Winfrey

1. Childhood of Poverty

When Oprah Winfrey was born, her teenage, single mother had to move to Wisconsin to find work. Winfrey was left to the care of her grandmother in a poor, rural, community at a Mississippi farm. Her family was extremely poor and it was a struggle to live every day with so little money.

Winfrey sometimes had to wear potato sacks because of lack of clothing and unaffordability to buy new ones.
Her family lived on welfare and her mother's wages from cleaning houses.
When grandmother fell ill, 6-year-old Winfrey was sent to live with her mother in a Milwaukee boarding house.

2. Suffering From Abuse

When she moved to her mother's place, she received very little care and supervision due to the work-intensive job her mother had. For this reason, she was left in the care of her 19-year-old cousin who raped her when she was only 9-years-old. Unfortunately, she continued to suffer sexual abuse from other relatives.

Often, Oprah Winfrey forcibly had to sleep on the porch because of the harsh treatment she received from her mother.
She recalls in one of her instagram posts, “The night I arrived in Milwaukee, the woman my mother was boarding with, Ms. Miller, took one look at me and said that I'll have to sleep on the porch." Winfrey writes that her mother said alright. Winfrey continues in her post, "As I watched my mother close the house door to go to the bed where I thought I’d sleep, I was consumed with a terrified sense of loneliness that brought me to tears.”
At 14, she became pregnant, but her baby died shortly due to complications.

3. A Turning Point

At 12-years-old, she was sent to live with her father in Nashville, Tennessee. She said that her life improved a lot as the conditions in his household were way better than the conditions at her grandmother and mother's house. Oprah’s father made education a high priority for Oprah.

Her father was strict and provided her with guidance, structure, rules, and books.
She became an excellent student. She participated in drama club, debate club, and student council. She even won a full scholarship to Tennessee State University.
She got her first job in broadcasting as a part-time newsreader for local radio station WVOL, in Nashville, while still a high school senior.

During the Ball State University interview she confessed, “I am so grateful for my years literally living in poverty because it makes the experience of creating success and building success much more rewarding.” Oprah Winfrey has continued to build on her success and popularity.

Oprah's Early Life

1. Childhood of Poverty

2. Suffering From Abuse

3. A Turning Point