Oprah Winfrey is a media executive, TV show host, actress, philanthropist, cultural icon and more. Here's a look back at her life and career in photos.
Television talk show host Oprah Winfrey puts her feet up as she relaxes in her studio office following a morning broadcast in Chicago, Ill., on Dec. 18, 1985. The 31-year-old, whose show will be nationally syndicated next year, is making her movie debut this week in "The Color Purple," a film directed by Steven Spielberg. (AP Photo/Charlie Knoblock)
Oprah Winfrey appears at the wedding of Maria Shriver and Armold Schwarzenegger, at Hyannis, Mass., on April 26, 1986. (AP Photo)
Television talk show host Oprah Winfrey shows off her Daytime Emmy award, 1987. (AP Photo)
Comedian Robin Williams, left, reaches out as if to touch talk show host Oprah Winfrey, right, after taping of her show, "The Oprah Winfrey Show," at the Improvisation in Los Angeles, Calif., Nov. 8, 1987. (AP Photo/Lennox McLendon)
Television performer Oprah Winfrey during the broadcast from Cumming, Georgia on Feb. 9, 1987. Program officials said “we want them to explore for themselves” whether or not they are responsible for the negative image drawn to their community, what they hope to do about their public image and if they truly support segregation in this day and age. (AP Photo/Linda Schaefer)
Talk show host Oprah Winfrey at People’s Choice Awards in Los Angeles, California on March 13, 1988. (AP Photo)
A Nov. 15, 1988 file photo shows television talk show host Oprah Winfrey showing off her new figure in Chicago after she lost 67 pounds following a liquid diet and exercise. (AP Photo/Charles Bennett, File)
In this Tuesday, Nov. 16, 1988 file photo, television talk show host Oprah Winfrey shows off her new figure as she stands in front of 68 pounds of fat inside a toy wagon, in Chicago, Ill. (AP Photo/Charles Bennet, file)
Daytime talk show hostess Oprah Winfrey gestures to the crowd at the Southwestern High School in Baltimore on Nov. 29, 1988, for quiet during the taping of her show on school violence. (AP Photo/Jason Lee)
Oprah Winfrey and employees celebrate the opening of her new restaurant "the Eccentric" on Tuesday Feb. 21, 1989 in Chicago. (AP Photo/Jonathan Kirn)
Television personality Oprah Winfrey stands next to a Stairmaster exercise machine during her talk show in Chicago on Nov. 15, 1989. (AP Photo/Mark Elias)
This is a copy of the Aug. 26, Sept 1, 1989 issue of TV guide, figuring Oprah Winfrey's face Superimposed on actress Ann -Margret's classic hourglass figure. The illustration is not identified as a composite. TV guide said Monday that unsuspecting readers might think it's a real photograph. (AP Photo/Nick Ut)
FILE - In this May 22, 1990 file photo, Comedian Bob Hope laughs with television talk show host Oprah Winfrey during the taping of the Oprah Winfrey Show in Chicago. (AP Photo/Charles Bennett, File)
Oprah Winfrey clutches her Daytime Emmy Award for outstanding talk show host at the 21st Annual Daytime Emmy Awards gala, Wednesday, May 25, 1994, New York. Winfrey, winner of the last three Daytime Emmys for outstanding talk show host, also picked up a daytime Emmy for The Oprah Winfrey show. This is getting to be nice, Winfrey said as she accepted her award. (AP Photo/Luc Novovitch)
This May 25, 1994 file photo shows Oprah Winfrey clutching her Emmy for outstanding talk show host at the 21st Annual Daytime Emmy Awards gala in New York. (AP Photo/Luc Novovitch, File)
FILE--Oprah Winfrey is shown in this May 1996 file photo. Winfrey, who appeared on an episode of "Ellen" in which the main character announced she was a lesbian, says she's not gay. "I'm not coming out. I'm not gay. I have nowhere to go, nowhere to come out to," the talk show host said Wednesday, June 4, 1997 in a speech to TV promotion and marketing executives. An April 28, 1997 report by gossip columnist Liz Smith stated that "one of the biggest and longest-running TV stars is contemplating coming out of the closet.'' Winfrey, who has a longtime boyfriend, businessman Stedman Graham, said it isn't her. (AP Photo/Chris Kasson, File)
Republican presidential candidate Texas Gov. George W. Bush kisses talk show host Oprah Winfrey Tuesday Sept. 19, 2000, after appearing on her program in Chicago. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)
Talk show host Oprah Winfrey touches Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Al Gore on the foot at the conclusion of her show Monday morning Sept. 11, 2000 in Chicago. In the 15 years Oprah had been on the air, it was the first time Oprah had interviewed a presidential candidate. (AP Photo/Stephan Savoia)
In this Dec. 6, 2002 file photo, former South African President Nelson Mandela, right, and American talk show host Oprah Winfrey embrace during a ground breaking ceremony for the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls in Meyerton, South Africa. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe, File)
A Sept. 22, 2002 file photo shows talk show host Oprah Winfrey reacting backstage after accepting the Bob Hope Humanitarian Award at the 54th annual Primetime Emmy Awards in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon)
Oprah Winfrey listens to a question from the media during a press conference, Saturday, Dec. 11, 2004, in Oslo, Norway. Tom Cruise and Winfrey will be the hosts of the concert on Saturday for Nobel Peace Prize laureate Wangari Maathai. (AP Photo/John McConnico)
Quincy Jones, center, Oprah Winfrey, right, and Kimberly Hefner arrive for the 77th annual Academy Awards at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles, Sunday, Feb. 27, 2005. (AP Photo/Amy Sancetta)
Talk show host Oprah Winfrey arrives to the opening night of her new Broadway play "The Color Purple" on Thursday, Dec. 1, 2005, in New York. (AP Photo/Dima Gavrysh)
David Letterman walks hand-in-hand with Oprah Winfrey from the Ed Sullivan Theater to the premiere of Winfrey's new musical "The Color Purple" at the nearby Broadway Theater after Winfrey made her first ever appearance on "The Late Show" Thursday, Dec. 1, 2005, in New York. (AP Photo/Jason DeCrow)
Oprah Winfrey reacts during a musical tribute to Coretta Scott King at the new Ebenezer Church on Auburn Ave. in Atlanta Monday, Feb. 6, 2006. (AP Photo/POOL, John Bazemore, AP)
Oprah Winfrey pays her respects in front of the casket of Coretta Scott King as she lies in honor in the historic Ebenezer Church on Auburn Ave. in Atlanta Monday, Feb. 6, 2006. (AP Photo/POOL, Jason Reed)
Irish rocker Bono, frontman for U2, and talk show host Oprah Winfrey leave a Gap store on Chicago's "Magnificent Mile" after a shopping spree Thursday, Oct. 12, 2006. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green)
Democratic presidential hopeful, Sen. Barack Obama,D-Ill., with his wife Michelle, left, and talk-show diva Oprah Winfrey, right, take part in a campaign rally Sunday, Dec. 9, 2008, at Williams Brice Stadium in Columbia, S.C. (AP Photo/Mary Ann Chastain)
In one of his last acts before leaving office next week, Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley presents TV talk-show host Oprah Winfrey with a sign after a street was named in her honor outside her Harpo Studios in Chicago, Wednesday, May 11, 2011. Winfrey will end her 25 year-run on daytime television in Chicago on May 25. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green)
Oprah Winfrey stops to talk with members of the media after a session at the Sun Valley Inn for the 2011 Allen and Co. Sun Valley Conference, Thursday, July 7, 2011, in Sun Valley, Idaho. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson)
Oprah Winfrey talks to the Associated Press at her Leadership Academy for Girls at Henley-On-Klip. South Africa, Friday, Jan. 13, 2012 on the eve of the first graduation at her school. (AP Photo/Denis Farrell)
Oprah Winfrey attends The Third Annual DVF Awards held at the United Nations in New York, Friday, March 9, 2012. (AP Photo/Charles Sykes)
In this May 30, 2013 file photo Oprah Winfrey reacts after delivering the commencement address at Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola, File)
Oprah Winfrey reacts after receiving an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Harvard University during commencement ceremonies in Cambridge, Mass., Thursday, May 30, 2013. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)
Oprah Winfrey speaks at the Let Freedom Ring ceremony at the Lincoln Memorial Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2013, in Washington, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
Oprah Winfrey smiles before she marches Edmund Pettus Bridge in honor of Martin Luther King Jr., Sunday, Jan. 18, 2015, in Selma, Ala. Winfrey joined some of the cast to promote the movie "Selma." (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
Howard Schultz, left, chairman and CEO of Starbucks Coffee Company, welcomes Oprah Winfrey, right, to announce their partnership to offer Teavana Oprah Chai tea, Wednesday, March 19, 2014, at Starbucks' annual shareholders meeting in Seattle. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)
Actor, talk show host and philanthropist Oprah Winfrey addresses an audience after accepting the W.E.B. Du Bois medal during ceremonies, Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2014, on the campus of Harvard University, in Cambridge, Mass. The Du Bois Medal is Harvard's highest honor in the field of African and African American Studies. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
This image released by NBC shows Oprah Winfrey accepting the Cecil B. DeMille Award as presenter Reese Witherspoon looks on, right, at the 75th Annual Golden Globe Awards in Beverly Hills, Calif., on Sunday, Jan. 7, 2018. (Paul Drinkwater/NBC via AP)
This image released by NBC shows Oprah Winfrey accepting the Cecil B. DeMille Award at the 75th Annual Golden Globe Awards in Beverly Hills, Calif., on Sunday, Jan. 7, 2018. (Paul Drinkwater/NBC via AP)
Oprah Winfrey attends The Museum of Modern Art's David Rockefeller Award Luncheon honoring Oprah Winfrey at the Ziegfeld Ballroom on Tuesday, March 6, 2018, in New York. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)
Gayle King, left, Oprah Winfrey and Diane Sawyer attend The Museum of Modern Art's David Rockefeller Award Luncheon honoring Oprah Winfrey at the Ziegfeld Ballroom on Tuesday, March 6, 2018, in New York. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)
Director Ava DuVernay, from left, actresses Storm Reid, Oprah Winfrey, Mindy Kaling and Reese Witherspoon pose for photographers upon arrival at the premiere of the film 'A Wrinkle In Time' in London, Tuesday, March 13, 2018. (Photo by Joel C Ryan/Invision/AP)
ADDS IDS - Oprah Winfrey speaks to graduates at USC's Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism at the Shrine Auditorium on Friday, May 11, 2018, in Los Angeles. Also attending is Daniela Baroffio, Clinical Professor; Director, M.S. in Digital Social Media, right. (Photo by Willy Sanjuan/Invision/AP)
FILE - In this Feb. 13, 2020 file photo, Oprah Winfrey, left, and "American Dirt" author Jeanine Cummins appear in a conference room just above Modern Studios in Tucson, Ariz., where they taped an Oprah's Book Club show about Cummins' controversial book. Cummins’ novel about Mexican immigrants had been widely cited as a top seller and critical favorite for 2020 but Latino authors and critics alleged that Cummins had reinforced stereotypes about Mexico and Mexican immigrants. (AP Photo/Hillel Italie, File)
Oprah Winfrey gives her speech after paying tribute to Nelson Mandela and promoting gender equality at an event at University of Johannesburg in Soweto, South Africa, Thursday, Nov. 29, 2018. The former talk show host on Thursday joined Graca Machel, Mandela's widow and an advocate of women's and children's rights, at the Soweto campus of the University of Johannesburg. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)
Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, Executive Director of UN Women, left, with Oprah Winfrey, centre, and Graca Machel, Mandela's widow during a tribute to Nelson Mandela and promoting gender equality event at University of Johannesburg in Soweto, South Africa, Thursday, Nov. 29, 2018. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)
Former Democratic Texas congressman Beto O'Rourke, left, appears with Oprah Winfrey for "Oprah's SuperSoul Conversations from Times Square" Tuesday, Feb. 5, 2019, in New York. The lineup on Tuesday also features actors Bradley Cooper and Michael B. Jordan and philanthropist Melinda Gates, underscoring the sense of celebrity that surrounds O'Rourke. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)
Oprah Winfrey at the Steve Jobs Theater during an event to announce new products Monday, March 25, 2019, in Cupertino, Calif. (AP Photo/Tony Avelar)
Michelle Obama, left, and Oprah Winfrey participate at "Oprah's 2020 Vision: Your Life in Focus" tour at the Barclays Center on Saturday, Feb. 8, 2020, in New York. (Photo by Brad Barket/Invision/AP)
Oprah Winfrey makes opening remarks during "Oprah's 2020 Vision" tour at the Forum on Saturday, Feb. 29, 2020, in Inglewood, Calif. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP)
Jennifer Lopez, left, and Oprah Winfrey participate in "Oprah's 2020 Vision" tour at the Forum on Saturday, Feb. 29, 2020, in Inglewood, Calif. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP)
This image provided by Harpo Productions shows Prince Harry, from left, and Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex, in conversation with Oprah Winfrey. (Joe Pugliese/Harpo Productions via AP)
The series will touch on Harry and Winfrey's "personal journeys and struggles" and "aims to destigmatize a highly misunderstood subject and give hope to viewers who learn that they are not alone."
For her 100th book club pick, Oprah Winfrey relied on the same instincts she has drawn upon from the start: Does the story move her? Does she think about it for days after? In a work of fiction, do the characters seem real to her?
Oprah Winfrey is leaving WeightWatchers and donating all of her interest in the company; here’s why, and what the iconic talk show host is using for weight loss instead.
