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I'm trying to prepare a long post on Oprah, her mediocrity and her fabricated (to some extent) world. And the strange hold she has managed to garner over most of the female population of the world, including conservative cultures and women.
Here is something interesting Kitty Kelley's biography has revealed. I always felt that part of Oprah's mystique was her secrecy, or her attempt to hide the mundane, ungainly parts of her life. She seems extremely forthright, especially as she disclosed her childhood abuse. But what Kelley shows is that Oprah has told us parts of her stories, but covers up some aspects of those stories.
For example, she has told us that she was very promiscuous as a teenager. But Kitty revealed that she was actually a teenage prostitute, selling her body for money to compete with her financially superior highschool classmates.
Oprah also talks about the death, soon after birth, of her son. Again, Kitty writes that Oprah was trying to harm this child during her pregnancy - not going for an outright abortion, but abusing her body in order to affect the birth of the child.
I think every guru has a cultivated image. Anyone who lives for a following and for adoring crowds must be doing subtle image building (and alterations). And Oprah is no exception.