Interesting facts about Oprah Winfrey

Today I'm sharing some surprising facts about the "Queen of Media." From her dirt poor upbringing to her celebrity stardom, we all know Oprah Winfrey has had an exceptional career, but wait until you here these unexpected Oprah facts!

1.Winfrey was named "Orpah" after the biblical character in the Book of Ruth on her birth certificate, but people mispronounced it regularly and "Oprah" stuck

2.As a child, Oprah Winfrey was nicknamed "The Preacher" for her ability to recite Bible verses as her grandmother often took her to church

3.Winfrey was born the daughter of an unwed teen.

4.At age 17, Winfrey won the Miss Black Tennessee beauty pageant.

5.Oprah Winfrey's family was so poor growing up that, as a child, Winfrey was teased at school for wearing dresses made of potato sacks.

6.Oprah Winfrey is at least 8% Native American--something she discovered when undergoing a DNA test for the PBS show African American Lives.

7.Winfrey had a son when she was 14 years old who died as an infant.

8.Oprah Winfrey openly discussed her childhood sexual abuse suffered at the hands of male relatives and her mother's friends on a special episode of her show focusing on sexual abuse in 1986.

9.Oprah was anchoring the news at Nashville's WTVF-TV when she was just 19, making her the youngest person and the first African-American woman to hold the position.

10.Winfrey has donated her voice for an array cartoon characters, voicing Gussie the goose for Charlotte's Web, and Eudora, the mother of Princess Tiana in Disney'sThe Princess and the Frog, among others.