Why Oprah Winfrey Left Rev. Wright's Church | Newsweek Scope

Live Your Best Life Ever!
Weston Kosova 5/30/2009 12:00:00 AM
Next come the pills. She swallows 60 vitamins and other preparations every day. "I take about 40 supplements in the morning," she told Oprah, "and then, before I go to bed, I try to remember … to start taking the last 20." She didn't go into it on the show, but in her books she says that she also starts each day by giving herself injections of human growth hormone, vitamin B12 and vitamin B complex. In addition, she wears "nanotechnology patches" to help her sleep, lose weight and promote "overall detoxification." If she drinks wine, she goes to her doctor to rejuvenate her liver with an intravenous drip of vitamin C. If she's exposed to cigarette smoke, she has her blood chemically cleaned with chelation therapy. In the time that's left over, she eats right and exercises, and relieves stress by standing on her head. Somers makes astounding claims about the ability of hormones to treat almost anything that ails the female body. She believes they block disease and will double her life span. "I know I look like some kind of freak and fanatic," she said. "But I want to be there until I'm 110, and I'm going to do what I have to do to get there."
NEWSMAKERS
Rimes Has No Reason
3/21/2009 12:00:00 AM
Do you ever wonder how boring life would be without the Internet? For example: we wouldn't have been able to watch security-camera footage showing (apparently) country singer LeAnn Rimes (married) making out with her "Lifetime" movie costar Eddie Cibrian (also married) at a southern California restaurant. We wouldn't have been able to read Rimes's nondenial on her blog: "This is a difficult time … not everything in our lives is black and white." And we would have missed the almost pleading response from Dean Sheremet, Rimes's husband, on Twitter: "I love my wife!!!" How nice. And nuts.
THE GLOBAL ELITE
47: Oprah Winfrey
12/20/2008 12:00:00 AM
You can look at Oprah's year in two ways. On the business side, she proved—at last—that she's mortal. Her empire (the talk show, the magazine, etc.) has taken a hit in the pocketbook, though whose hasn't? But she's flexing her muscles in a much bigger arena: politics. Pundits are still debating what impact she had on Obama's victory, but when she endorsed him in late 2007 Hillary was the front runner—and he won the Iowa caucuses. Whatever the Oprah effect, she was front and center in Chicago on election night and will be again for the Inauguration. She's denied that Obama is giving her a job, but we know she already has his ear. (Story continued below...)
GADGETS
Gadget of the Stars
N’Gai Croal 12/6/2008 12:00:00 AM
If the measure of a gadget's success is its ability to win over the rich and famous, Pure Digital's Flip line of pocket-size camcorders has arrived. As with the Palm Pilot, the Motorola Razr, the BlackBerry and the iPod before it, a host of boldfaced names—Tyra Banks, Paris Hilton, Jessica Alba, Dr. Phil and Ellen DeGeneres—have either sung its praises or been photographed wielding the device. But as grateful as Pure Digital CEO Jonathan Kaplan may be for their attention, there's one celebrity whose endorsement meant the most: Oprah Winfrey. "When you invent a product and you have Oprah hold it up and tell the world that it's one of her favorite things, it's hard to beat," he says. "The actual change on the business has been greater from other things. But I will say that Oprah holding the product has been one of our greatest accomplishments."
Q&A
Even Sinatra Took Some Cues From Q
Allison Samuels 11/22/2008 12:00:00 AM
Quincy Jones—musician, producer, Oprah's BFF—has put his life (including his school report cards) into a coffee-table book: "The Complete Quincy Jones: My Journey and Passions.'' He spoke to Allison Samuels:
CHARITY
Oprah’s Big Enough Give
Kurt Soller
When the Oprah store debuted in Chicago last month, shoppers snapped up affordable cosmetic cases, dog leashes and other items emblazoned with the mogul's signature "O." But the best bargains were in "Oprah's Closet," a small, unadvertised section of the store that sells her previously worn designer clothes at cut-rate prices to raise money for her charity, the Angel Network. Oprah's red Manolo Blahnik heels, for instance, are just $300, about half the retail price for similar shoes at Neiman Marcus and a fraction of what other Oprah-touched items have fetched at open auctions. Nice—but the gambit does raise a tiny ethical quandary: if she's doing it for charity, is she obliged to maximize the return? Or is it OK for her to engage in charity-lite if it helps less-affluent fans get a piece of the action? Don Halcombe, a spokesman for Winfrey's Harpo Inc., says it was "important to Oprah" that her castoffs be accessibly priced. And according to Noah Pickus, director of Duke's Kenan Institute for Ethics, Oprah's in the clear. "She's seeking a balance between two things she sees as valuable: charity and a form of democratic experience," he says. "There isn't a contradiction here." Good to know. Still, it's too bad. At a 2004 charity auction, Oprah's Fendi sunglasses alone netted $2,000.