Oprah Turns 59! Dark Past Revealed...

Oprah turned 59 today! One of America's most influential and recognizable icons is a year older today. The media mogul worth a reported $2.7 billion has a seemingly fantasy life now, but her past is filled with a lot of experiences most Oprah fans or haters probably aren't even aware of.

She was apparently supposed to name Orpah, a woman mentioned with Harafa, the mother of the 4 Philistine giants, of which was Goliath, in the Book of Ruth, in the bible. After a mistake made on her birth certificate, a stroke of ironic destiny, the child born to an unwed teen mother, became known as Oprah.

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She had a child at 14 who died not long after being born. She was molested as a young girl, (assaulter unknown).

In her 20s she transformed a Chicago television talk show with last place ratings into the most watched show, basically overnight. The show obviously went on to become a national hit, launching Oprah into the stratosphere.

She instantly became the talk show with the biggest A-listers. We all remember the Tom Cruise jumping on a couch incident. But that probably has less to do with a giddy actor in love, and more to do with the fact it was all happening...on Oprah! She even had the rights to the famed, exclusive interview with Lance Armstrong where he admitted using steroids to win his 7 Tour de France victories.

She was even nominated for an Academy Award for her performance in "The Color Purple"! She's superwoman!

She's built a producing and publishing empire that has been unrivaled in the last 25 years, and will not likely be surpassed for some time.