Oprah

Oprah

2.98 of 5 stars 2.98  ·  rating details  ·  1,744 ratings  ·  446 reviews
For the past twenty-five years, no one has been better at revealing secrets than Oprah Winfrey. On what is arguably the most influential show in television history, she has gotten her guests—often the biggest celebrities in the world—to bare their love lives, explore their painful pasts, admit their transgressions, reveal their pleasures, and explore their demons. In turn,...more
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Lady
Kitty Kelley certainly does her homework. Oprah is a hypocritical narcissist, plain and simple. She is also petty, vindictive, materialistic, and paranoid. For those who defend her because of her good works, consider this: With the personal wealth she's amassed, she could have done (and could still do) so much more for the poor of the US and for the poor in South Africa than she's already done. Instead, she's given herself, among other things, a bathtub the size of a pond made of a solid block o...more
Annie
Oprah is an American icon. Kitty Kelly has produced an impressive book presenting an enormous amount of information, concerning the queen of daytime TV, Oprah Winfrey, in all her greatness along with all her contradictions.
Kelley’s book begins with a preface explaining that her biography is unauthorized and despite multiple attempts to contact Winfrey, no such request was fulfilled. Kelley poured over interviews and video clips to give Oprah a distinct voice. She also interviewed those who had...more
Ro
1. Feel a bit dirty after reading.
2. Interviews are almost from all people who were slighted by her.
3. I feel even more akin to her now that I see how her family resents her that she rose above them.
4. Appreciate the knowledge that how she wants to portray herself to fans is different than how she may behave privately.
5. Revelation: Wow. She's a real person. We all cross people in our lives. Oprah seems to cut off people the minute she has a bad experience with them. Good for her. There are so f...more
Aide Acuna
This is a biography on Oprah's life. Although we think we know her from TV you will get to know her even better after reading this book. Kelley did an amazing job on researching Oprah's life and the type of evidence she uses just goes to show her dedication to writing such a real life story of a woman many people don't exactly know. Oprah is famous for all the talk shows she's had with famous celebrities and people in the world. She always seems to get the biggest secrets out during her show and...more
Hilary
I am always hesitant to read an "unauthorized" biography, as sometimes they can be looking so hard for trash in the person's past, the events can get sort of clouded. I have to say this time, it wasn't that way. Kitty Kelly reported factually to her best ability and always was clear where the information came from.

I had no idea that Oprah was a prostitute, that she was sexually abused, or that she had a child while in high school. I had no idea of the drive that made her what she is today, start...more
Rebecca
Ahh, the unauthorized bio from Kitty Kelly! You know you are in for a good time when you pick up her shit. Oddly, I never had before and I don't really know why I picked up this one as I don't really care about Oprah all that much. Well, whatever! I am always up for learning something new that even if I don't care about, I wonder why a lot of people do. The big topics in this book were weight and race. I remember all shit that went down with her weight and stuff but maybe because I grew up in LA...more
Lynetta
Kitty Kelley presents a lot of research on the ugly side of an internationally successful woman. Her complexity, stinginess, and demands are documented. She's portrayed as a spiteful opportunist. She had on her show "a young woman so sexually addicted that one night she had twenty-five men in her bed," as well as a "Does Sexual Size Matter?"...a discussion about penis size. (p. 7) She claims to have been raped from age nine until she was being paid money for sex at age 14.

She claimed "I never h...more
Mlleelizabeth
Really 1.55 stars with one star given solely for the author's extensive work researching her subject and compiling and organizing data.

Kitty Kelley can certainly put a sentence together and the book's very well organized, but it doesn't present much information we didn't already know or a balanced point of view. Granted, Ms. Kelley did not have access to Ms. Winfrey or her inner circle and she concedes at the beginning that the only quotes she has from Ms. Winfrey came from prior interviews. How...more
Mia
I am a serious un-fan of Oprah's, but this book is so mean-spirited it made me feel dirty to read it. And I don't mean the "dirt": she was pregnant at 14! She was a prostitute! She did crack cocaine! She let men treat her like trash! Nothing wrong with Kelly reporting all that as those may be facts unknown to readers who haven't watched a lot of Oprah or read a lot of tabloids, but how many times do we need to be told about Oprah's love of fried chicken or how dark skinned she is?

Apparently Opra...more
Izetta Autumn
I should be ashamed that I read this. Not only did I read it, but I stayed up until 4 a.m. to finish it. I should be deeply, deeply ashamed to admit that I read this. But I'm not. Why you ask? Because I'm just that much of a bookworm. I have no shame. I will literally, as this has now been established, read anything. It doesn't even have to be great.

A few notable things about the book
1. I swear I wouldn't read this book, because I find it exploitative - using Oprah's name to write a biography t...more
Hydee Davis
While I thought this book was an interesting read, I struggled with the fact that most of the people who were interviewed for this unauthorized biography were those who felt they had been slighted by Oprah at some point. I thought the author made an attempt to be unbiased but, it was evident that she didn't have many 'pro-Oprah' interviewees during her research process.

Perhaps the most annoying part of the book was that the author tried to write somewhat chronologically but used examples that we...more
Carolann
I think I had expected more - more revealing insights, more details, more about things we haven't already heard about. I think it's almost a little too trite to say that Oprah has embraced the elitist, celebrity culture pervaisive in the western world. I supposed her abondonment of the underpriviledged African American and seeming inability to question the self-serving righteousness of the "American dream" is somewhat perceptive, though not remotely surprising. That Oprah has an over-inflated eg...more
Peachy
Oprah in one word? Gluttonous

I’ve been watching Oprah ever since her show went into syndication over twenty years ago. I spent countless afternoons with my grandmother, watching in amazement as the scandalous scenarios played out on Phil Donahue, Geraldo Rivera, and Oprah Winfrey. Talk TV was my lifeline to grownup happenings, and I felt like I was defying childhood by being able to watch it.

Oprah was always my favourite. There was something about seeing a fearless, heavyset, black woman on TV,...more
Beth
May 10, 2010 Beth rated it 5 of 5 stars  ·  review of another edition Recommends it for: Mom
This book irritated me. Why? Because I am really starting to dislike Oprah. Unlike some die-hard Oprah fans, I actually believe what Kelley writes because it makes sense. She has interviews to back up her claims and she is writing in such a way as not to slam but Oprah. but simply to tell the truth. That's something, it appears, that Oprah has lost the ability (or actually never had the ability) to do.

My favorite part of the book (and the part that I feel encapsulates Oprah as a person) is on pa...more
Leeanna
Oprah: A Biography, by Kitty Kelley

This book is like watching reality television. It's so bad, but you just can't stop.

I can't find one redeeming thing about this book; the author is clearly biased against her subject, writing one negative chapter after another. Anything good Oprah has done is mentioned briefly, and followed by pages of criticism on why she did it, why it wasn't good enough, etc. There are also a large amount of pages devoted to describing Oprah's lavish lifestyle, including th...more
Ellen Puccinelli
No real surprises here. Kitty Kelley is a pretty decent writer and a pretty thorough researcher. I doubt it was a real challenge to find a lot of people who were willing to criticize one of the wealthiest and most powerful women in the world, but I found it sad that the most bitter words seemed to come from Oprah's own relatives. It was also sad to me that it's likely that Oprah isn't the down-to-earth unselfish philanthropist we all like to think she is ..... it's one thing to know that somewhe...more
Kathleen Hagen
Oprah, a Biography, by Kitty Kelley, narrated by Kitty Kelley, produced by Random House Audio, downloaded from audible.com.

I always feel guilty when I give in to a good gossip read, but I do usually give in. In this case the book was worth the trouble. Kitty Kelley takes pride in writing unauthorized biographies because it keeps her from being under the thumb of the person she’s writing about. In this case, she reviewed Oprah shows and transcripts, interviewed more than 800 people, and in genera...more
Barbara Irene Carter

Ms. Kelley interviewed 850 people for her unauthorized biography of Oprah, and the majority of the people she talked to were people that Oprah has slighted over the years and thus, they did not have very flattering things to say about her. Unfortunately, one is left to wonder about their truthfulness and of course, Oprah is not given the chance to present her point of view in the situations that are presented. Nevertheless, the book is a fascinating read and we learn a lot about the "real" Oprah...more
RNOCEAN
For the past twenty-five years, no one has been better at revealing secrets than Oprah Winfrey. On what is arguably the most influential show in television history, she has gotten her guests-often the biggest celebrities in the world-to bare their love lives, explore their painful pasts, admit their transgressions, reveal their pleasures, and explore their demons. In turn, Oprah has repeatedly allowed her audience to share in her own life story, opening up about the sexual abuse in her past and...more
Michelle
Jezebel referred to this as “stuff you already knew about Oprah” and it’s true, pretty much.

I never read Kitty Kelley’s other books and the subjects of them don’t interest me, so I probably won’t. I did read that she’s well known for not citing her sources, having people she spoke say they never spoke to her or that they never said what she attribute to them, etc.

I know Oprah is upset by this biography but I can’t really see why, to be honest. A lot of it is either public knowledge or common sen...more
Diana
Not sure what to make of or how to respond to this biography. As a longstanding Oprahphile, I initially resisted reading the accounts Kelley collected from hundreds of people who know or have known Oprah well over the years. I am still not sure to what extent I believe some of it (several of her family members claim she was not sexually abused, and to me, that's just ridiculous as Oprah may be a controlling and money-hungry businesswoman, but I cannot believe that she was making up horrendous ch...more
Deb
This gets no stars from me. I can't finish this book. It irritated me from the very first chapters. I wish I'd read the reviews before I started reading this book. I never would have picked it up off the shelf. The book starts off in a negative tone and the further I got, my opinion is Kitty Kelley is racist and is nothing more than jealous of the accomplishments of Oprah. Most of what you read in this book is tabloid garbage. We all know of Oprah's troubled childhood and we don't care. No one i...more
Kathy
This book was a guilty pleasure for me. I usually can't be bothered to read celebrity biographies; I like to think that's beneath me. I've never seen a single episode of Oprah's TV program, but I love her magazine and I admire her generosity and her message of empowerment and self-improvement for women. Nevertheless, I knew she had to have a dark side - everyone does - and I was curious about it. This book gave due attention to the good things that Oprah has done and acknowledges her amazing ris...more
Tiffany
OK -- not sure why I picked up and read this book. I know, I know...Kitty Kelley is known not for her great investigative journalism, but instead for her falsified credentials, poor fact checking, badly misquoting and misuse of words. All true. BUT she does dish the dirt and I was in the mood for smut. Perhaps I've already started moving towards an anti-Oprah phase because she's refused to have me on the show and this being her last season, I'm starting to realize I will never get to bring home...more
Anita
I don't want Kitty Kelley writing about me. She will find childhood friends that tell how I lost all the birdies out of the badminton set, forgot to touch second on one of the ball games in Lee's front yard, and who knows what exaggerations I make when I tell my stories. That being said, you have to admire her for taking on Oprah. Of course Oprah tells stories that put herself in the best life; she is driven beyond all reason, and she has stepped on toes. I understand that. What is fascinating a...more
Mandy
I wasn't sure why I was drawn to this book--I quit watching Oprah years ago as I saw the drawing influence she had over women in America (and the world). We follow her like a flock of sheep to a shepherd and I wondered if this was the shepherd I wanted to be following. The main reason I wanted to read Oprah is first of all, it is an unauthorized biography, and second, maybe I could better understand why we as a country cebebratize and idolizer her. It was a very interesting read. The author was...more
Emily
I'm not really sure why I actually finished this book, especially considering how much time it took. (400+ pages) I walked away liking neither the subject nor the author. But, mostly, I came away with a serious lack of respect for the author and a disgust that she's made so much money writing books like this. Her research, though thorough, seemed biased and illogical. She begins the foreword by explaining that she purposely does not interview the subjects of her biographies because people have s...more
Mary Verdick
Mary Verdick

As Long as He Needs Me

Revealing and Interesting!

A carefully researched and well-documented book about an icon of 20th and 21st century TV, author Kelley exposes the myths and tells us the truth about this popular talk show hostess. Showing us a side of this diva you've never seen before and aren't likely to forget, the book is a real eye-opener. Although Oprah comes across as sweet and kind on TV, and is loved by millions of viewers world-wide, she can also be arrogant and mean and not a nice person. She is truly g...more
Kristina
It's no surprise that Oprah is a crazy celebrity with so much money that she doesn't live in the real world anymore. I actually skimmed (skipped) most of the first part of the book dealing with Oprah's early life and career beginnings. The second half, after she began her own show, was more interesting. Being a book whore, I found the chapters about Oprah's book club and her James Frey incident the most interesting part of the book. Kitty Kelley tends to discuss to death whatever aspect of Oprah...more
Chris
Either you will love or hate this book. If you have Oprah on a pedestal, and only want to know about her good works, then this is not a book for you. This book tells the good, the bad, and the ugly about Oprah. I personally loved this book, and couldn't put it down. I read it in only 3 days. Kelley has done much research on this book, and as a reader of biographies, this one is pretty complete. I'd say though that the emphasis of it, is more negative than positive. I did learn a few new tidbits...more
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Oprah (Paperback)
Oprah A Biography (Hardcover)
Oprah: A Biography (ebook)
Oprah: A Biography (Paperback)
Oprah: A Biography (Audio CD)

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Kitty Kelley is an American investigative journalist and author of several best-selling unauthorized biographies of celebrities and politicians. Described as a "poison pen" biographer, her profiles frequently contain unflattering personal anecdotes and details, and their accuracy is often questioned. Though many of her books have topped the best sellers list, Kelley's credibility and sources have...more
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