What Will New Oprah Book Reveal

The author who's infamous for exposing too much about Jackie Kennedy, Nancy Reagan, the British royal family and Frank Sinatra may have done it again. Kitty Kelley's newest book, "Oprah: a Biography isn't due out until April, but already the showbiz buzz is that Oprah Winfrey won't be thrilled by this unauthorized look into the TV megastar's very private life.

Oprah is certainly one of the most respected people in the world, as well as one of the wealthiest. Her afternoon program broadcast daily from her Chicago stuido is the highest-rated show in TV history. Her real estate and financial holdings are estimated to be worth nearly $3 billion. Oprah's annual income from TV, O magazine, movie productions, investments and all other sources may be well over $400 million.

Her enormous personal influence had become so widespread by 2007, that her support for a little-known Chicago social worker turned politician helped Barack Obama become President of the United States. Oprah has also been a generous donor to social causes, including establishing a girls' orphanage in Africa. So, how could muckraking author Kitty Kelley find anything scandalous about Oprah to reveal in her new tell-all biography?

Actually, there aren't too many never-before-told secrets Kelley will find about Oprah's rise from bitter childhood poverty to her present status of enormous wealth and influence. Over the past 20 years, many writers have tried to sensationalize the facts and myths about Oprah's life. All Kelley could do was try to make it sound as if she alone has exposed what she may consider the more troublesome aspects of the famous woman's life, including:

1. Her birth name is Orpah, not Oprah. She was named for a companion of Ruth, the ancient Biblical heroine. The child's teenage unmarried mother was illiterate and registered the girl as Oprah.

2. Oprah was born in Mississippi, but was put in care of her grandmother, a housemaid in Milwaukee. They were so poor that when Oprah started school, her dresses were made of potato sacks, and other kids made fun of her.

3. Oprah was often left alone when her grandmother was out working, and endured constant abuse from neighborhood men and boys. At age 14, she became pregnant, but the infant, a boy, died.

4. Oprah then left Milwaukee and lived in Tennessee with a man who may have been her birth father. She says he influenced her to make the most of her natural intelligence and speaking talent. At age 19, she moved to Chicago and got a job as a talk-show host on a small radio station. This was the beginning of her spectacular career.

5. Oprah at one time thought she may be distantly related to Elvis because her maternal grandmother's maiden name was Presley. In 2006, Oprah underwent DNA tests, and they revealed no Caucasian genes, but mostly African, with some Native American and East Asian bloodlines.

6. Kitty Kelley's book may have made the most of the rumors that the never-married Oprah has had a 30-year lesbian relationship with long-time friend and business partner, Gayle King. Actually, Oprah has been in a 25-year live-in and break-up and get-together-again relationship with Stedman Graham, a prominent management and marketing consultant. They became officially engaged and set a wedding ceremony eight years ago, but cancelled at the last minute.

It isn't likely that Kitty Kelley's book will reveal anything about Oprah that isn't already known. Considering Kelley's past tell-all biographies, what she's written will attempt to sensationalize and snicker about some of the troubled aspects of the internationally beloved and respected Oprah's life. The book will undoubtedly be a best seller, but you can be very sure it will never be promoted by Oprah's Book Club.