The talk show queen is terrified her innermost secrets are about to be laid bare by infamous biographer Kitty Kelley, Honie Stevens reports.
Oprah Winfrey is rarely rattled, but with the release of an explosive unauthorised biography just weeks away, terror reigns at her company, Harpo Productions, as staff frantically try to second-guess what revelations will come to light.
And according to sources, the talk-show superstar is just as worried.
Speculation is rife that the autobiography, penned by the notorious writer Kitty Kelley, will lift the lid on Oprah’s eventful past and focus on her rumoured lesbian encounters, her troubled relationship with Stedman Graham, and the enduring talk about her intimate friendship with Gayle King.
Back in 2006, when Kitty’s literary intentions were first announced, even respected UK newspaper The Times conceded that the daytime doyenne may have cause for concern.
“It takes a lot to make Oprah Winfrey tremble, but even the chat show queen and cultural icon must be quaking in her Manolos at the news that she is in the sights of the poison pen biographer,” The Times wrote.
Kitty, an American investigative journalist, has published unflattering biographies of the British royals, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Frank Sinatra, Elizabeth Taylor and the Bush family. Her research is extensive and thorough.
For the past four years, Kitty has been travelling back and forth from her home in Washington, DC, to Chicago, where Harpo is located, collaring anyone with an Oprah connection. She’s also been spotted in Oprah’s home town of Kosciusko, Mississippi.
Finding dirt cannot have been easy, since every Harpo employee is contractually banned forever from speaking about what they have done and seen while working for Oprah. “Whatever Oprah does to her cringing underlings, she must cut out their tongues with a hot iron, because you never, ever hear them dishing dirt,” notes Chicago Sun-Times columnist Neil Steinberg.
“So it’s one of two things: Either they will line up to anonymously find an empty spot on her back to stick the [knife] in; or, and this is my bet, they’re so inculcated with fear that Kitty will come up with a dry well.”
Kitty herself, however, remains tight-lipped on details, saying only that, “Oprah Winfrey has fascinated me for many years – as a woman, she has wielded an unprecedented amount of influence over the American culture and psyche.”
Oprah’s story has more twists and turns than most – and Kitty is sure to have lots to talk about.
The rape and sexual abuse Oprah suffered as a child is believed to have been covered.
She’ll also most likely discuss the baby Oprah lost after becoming pregnant at 14, a secret she lived with for years – until her half-sister told the tabloids, leaving the star shattered.
Read the full story in Woman’s Day (on sale March 1, 2010)
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