Oprah was born on January 29, 1954 in Kosciusko, Mississippi to unmarried teen mother Vernita Lee.
Her first name is actually spelled Orpah on her birth certificate after a biblical figure in the Book of Ruth, but people mispronounced it and Oprah stuck.
She grew up believing Vernon Winfrey was her biological father
According to Oprah, she used to endure some harrowing physical punishments at the hand of Hattie Mae.
When she was six, she moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin to live with her mother, who had given birth to another daughter, Patricia
As she revealed on her talk show in 1986, Oprah was molested by a 19-year-old cousin when she was only nine years old.
She became pregnant at 14 and prematurely gave birth to a baby boy, who died shortly after being born.
While in high school, Oprah returned to Nashville for good to live with Vernon, where education at East Nashville High School became a priority.
Her first job as a teenager was working at a grocery store, where she was, ironically, forbidden from speaking with customers.
In 1972, she won Miss Black Tennessee and went on to compete in Miss Black America.