Oprah Winfrey was born into poverty in rural Mississippi to a single teenage mother and later raised in inner-city Milwaukee. She has spoken openly about being molested during her childhood and early teens. At 14, she became pregnant, but her son was born prematurely and died in infancy.

Afterward, Oprah moved to live with Vernon Winfrey, a barber in Nashville whom she considers her father. While still in high school, she secured a job in radio. By age 19, she was a co-anchor for a local evening news program.

Her emotional and spontaneous style of delivery eventually led to a shift to daytime talk shows. She famously helped transform a struggling Chicago talk show from third place to first and went on to establish her own production company…