Oprah Winfrey is one of the most successful, most influential, most powerful, and richest women in the world but does not have children and has never been married but she has been in a 27-year relationship with business man Stedman Graham.
Winfrey has no regrets saying it would have been difficult to raise children amid her busy career.
Celebrating her Sherry Lansing Leadership Award with a new interview, she discussed issues about launching her TV network OWN, her financial success, and of course family life.
‘If I had kids, my kids would hate me,’ she tells The Hollywood Reporter in its new issue. ‘They would have ended up on the equivalent of the Oprah show talking about me; because something [in my life] would have had to suffer and it would’ve probably been them.’
She said as a young girl growing up, while her contemporaries aspired to be have kids and raise a large family she aspired to be like Martin Luther King. She says her attitude about children is in stark contrast to her best friend Gayle King who is a mother of two.
Winfrey is well known for her philanthropic efforts, having opened a successful school for girls in South Africa, donating around $100 million to the institution.
Winfrey also reveals that being worth billions can cause strain among her family and friends.
“When you’re the most successful person in your family, in your neighbourhood and in your town, everybody thinks you’re the First National Bank,” she says. “And you have to figure out for yourself where those boundaries are. I got to the point where nobody ever asked me for anything less than $5,000. I felt pressured for a long time to say yes, because I thought, ‘I can’t lie and say I don’t have it. My salary is printed in the paper.’ I’ve bought more houses and cars than I can even tell you.”
Oprah is one of the richest woman in the world, with a net worth of $2.9 billion. Her empire includes the TV network OWN, two Oprah magazines (O and The Oprah Magazine), TV network OWN and the production company Harpo.
