Oprah Winfrey’s Story

Overcoming struggles and obstacles makes a person stronger and persevere and Oprah Winfrey is a perfect example of this. Oprah Winfrey once said, Be thankful for what you have; you'll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don't have, you will never, ever have enough (BrainyQuote). Oprah Winfrey is an important person to know because she is a motivational speaker and she is an influenialist that helps motivate people and inspire them to do better. Oprah Winfrey's background, hardships and awards have helped shaped her into who she is and how she influences people.

Before Oprah Winfrey was famous, she had a very difficult childhood that helped her become who she is today. Her story started on January 29, 1954 in Mississippi. When Oprah was about 6 years old, she went to live with her mom in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She then went to live with her father when she was in her mid-teens and she saw a positive outcome. When Oprah was young, she was sexually assaulted by some of her relatives. Throughout Oprah's life she has had struggles from, her extremely rough childhood: the sexual abuse that her relatives caused, her rise to stardom and TV stardom. Her childhood had troubled her and was very rough, but it was able to shape her into the person that she is today.

Throughout Oprah's life, she has struggled with weight gain and weight loss. Everytime Oprah's weight was too high, her self confidence was really low. Oprah would set a goal and try really hard to achieve that goal but one time she was hiking and hurt her ankle, making it to where she couldn't work out for a long period of time. During the time she couldn't work out, her weight increased drastically, which decreased her self-esteem. She eventually joined onto Weight Watchers as their spokeswoman. Oprah was on the program for 17 months when she saw a drastic change in her weights. She would count her points instead of counting the calories of the food that she ate. Oprah was 62 when she was a size 12 and had lost 42.5 pounds.

Oprah had a lot of cravings during her diets but she was able to overcome those cravings in order to stay on her diets. In one of her interviews, Oprah said, 'I was really, really skinny, she recalls. I was eating every single thing I wanted, and I was still dropping weight' (Green). She was later diagnosed with hyperthyroidism which was why she was able to eat all that she wanted while still losing weight. When she found out about her hyperthyroidism, she started taking medicine which made her start gaining weight and dropped her self esteem drastically. Oprah was able to become a shareholder of Weight Watchers which helped her regain control over her weight When she regained control over her weight, she became more positive towards eating food and she had a better outlook about her weight.

Oprah Winfrey has won a lot of awards but one specific award she won is The Elie Wiesel Foundation For Humanity Honors. This award is given to people who have created programs that promote acceptance, understanding and equality. She was a recipient of this award. The award recognized Ms. Winfrey's efforts to carry on the work, message and legacy of Elie Wiesel through her commitment to humanitarian service (Elie). Elie Wiesel was a World War 2 veteran and won the nobel peace prize but passed away so his wife took over the foundation. His wife gave Oprah the award because she was good friends with her husband. Another reason why Oprah got this award was because she gives a voice to the voiceless and her dedication.

Another award that Oprah Winfrey received is the Cecil B DeMille Award. She was nominated for the award because people believed that she was an amazing actress. The article says, '""Holding titles such as Chairman, CEO and Founder, Oprah is one of the most influential women of our time, and this honor is well deserved especially in this 75th anniversary year of the Golden Globe Awards™(Oprah). Oprah Winfrey was very thankful for achieving this award. The award was given to her by Morgan Freeman and Oprah felt very honored to win that award.

Oprah Winfrey is the person that she is now because of her background, the obstacles she overcame and the awards that she has won. Oprah moved from home to home and had to deal with sexual assault from her family members. She also dealt with a lot of hardships but one specific one that she dealt with was her weight and how she always felt insecure with her weight. Oprah also won several awards but two specific ones are the Cecil B DeMille Award and The Elie Wiesel Foundation For Humanity Honors. Oprah dealt with a lot of different obstacles, struggles with her background and won several awards and all of those things shaped her into the person that she is today.

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