Entertainment
Oprah Learned Something Amazing After Googling Herself For The First Time
Believe it or not, world, but Oprah just Googled herself for the first time. Either the world-renowned media mogul is that modest or she's too busy building her multi-billion-dollar fortune to frequently research herself. Probably both. In an interview with British Vogue last week, Oprah reflected on her legacy and the astounding facts she learned about her own life in her recent Google search.
"I Googled myself the other day for the first time. I was like, I am so impressed with myself," she said with a laugh after putting her hand to her head in disbelief. She recounted some of the facts she learned about herself, including some of the incredible history she's made through the years, to editor-in-chief Edward Enninful. "This is what I didn’t know: that I was the first African-American self-made billionaire. Did not know that." She says it so casually, you'd think she was talking about earning an employee of the month nod.
Oprah also didn't know she had "donated more to charity in the 20th century than any other African-American." She proudly acknowledged the accomplishment. "I said, this is really good!" Oprah quipped. If this isn't the truest epitome of life goals, then what is?
According to Time, Oprah is worth about $3 billion. Of course, the bulk of her fortune and catapult to fame was The Oprah Winfrey Show, which ran from 1986 to 2011. Since then, she has built her empire with her own studio, network, magazine, book deals, and more ventures.
She's donated well over a quarter-of-a-billion dollars. In 2016, Oprah gave a $1 million surprise donation to a D.C. organization helping homeless women. Oprah's donated $13 million to the Smithsonian as well. And perhaps the effort closest to Oprah's heart is her Leadership Academy for Girls, which has been running for over 10 years for underprivileged girls in South Africa, in which she's given roughly $140 million.
In the interview, Oprah discussed what a joy it is for her to enlighten and teach young girls and to see them light up and "get it." But by working with youth, she also sees their biggest downfall and further explained what it is about today's young people that grinds her gears:
"My biggest frustration is with young people who think that, and I have a lot of this with my girls in college, they think that success is to happen like that [in the snap of a finger]. They think that there isn't a process to it... How I got to be a brand was everyday, making choices that felt like this was the right move."
Basically, it's OK if you don't have everything figured out the moment you graduate.
Her input is definitely something so many millennials can learn from. Oprah then revealed what they key to her own success has been all along: being her authentic self. "From 32, 33 on, I figured out how to be myself completely on television," she said. "All these years I have made a fortune, really, being myself. So I'm never not me."
For the most part, Oprah's usually nonchalant and absurdly modest about the iconic legacy she's built for herself. (In an interview with Bustle this spring, Oprah barely recognized compliments that were about her, which came from her Wrinkle in Time castmates.) In this wild 2014 video by OWN, Oprah reflects on her very first talk show episode and reads a journal passage from the night before the shoot. In it, Oprah is uncertain yet optimistic about the future ahead of her. Little did she know...
All these years later, she says she's most proud to have lived a life of such substance and beauty. "If you were to ask me the question: What am I most proud of? I'm most proud that I have been able to live this incredible life filled with beauty," she told Vogue. And there's all the inspiration you'll need for the day, month, and probably year.
Editor's Note: This story has been updated from the previous version.