OPRAH WINFREY CRIED FOR THREE DAYS

Talk Show Queen Oprah

Oprah Winfrey says in the February issue of her magazine that she cried for three days when a relative told the National Enquirer that Winfrey became pregnant at 14 and lost the baby after birth. Winfrey already had confirmed the Enquirer's 1990 report that she got pregnant as a teenager, telling Parade magazine later that year that the baby was born prematurely and died shortly after birth. Her half-sister, Patricia Lloyd, sold the story to the tabloid, according to news reports at the time. Winfrey, who did not name Lloyd in her column, wrote in O, The Oprah Magazine that the relative "sat in a room, told them the story of my hidden shame and left their offices $19,000 richer." "I felt devastated. Wounded. Betrayed. How could this person do this to me?" she wrote. Winfrey now says she learned something from what she calls "that first betrayal." Having the secret out was "liberating" and it allowed her to begin to heal from the sexual abuse she said she experienced as a girl. She says she hasn't let more recent betrayals in her life bother her as much, although they still feel like "a kick in the gut."

OPRAH AND JK ROWLING ARE RICHEST WOMAN IN ENTERTAINMENT

Oprah Winfrey is the richest woman in entertainment with a staggering $1.5 billion fortune.The US chat show host topped the Top 20 Richest Women in Entertainment list, compiled by Forbes magazine, leaving 'Harry Potter' author JK Rowling, who is worth an estimated $1 billion, in second place. US TV domestic goddess Martha Stewart came third with $638 million, followed by Madonna's $325 million fortune. Singer Celine Dion claimed fifth spot with $250 million, closely followed by Mariah Carey, who reportedly is worth $225 million. Janet Jackson, Julia Roberts and Jennifer Lopez took the seventh, eighth and ninth positions respectively. Jennifer Aniston rounded off the top ten with a fortune of $110 million. No one with a fortune below $45 million qualified for a position on the rich list, which doesn't take into account non-working celebrities who essentially live off their royalties.The youngest stars on the list are the Olsen twins, Mary-Kate and Ashley, who came in at number 11 with a combined fortune of $100 million.The richest actress is the eighth placed Julia Roberts, followed by Cameron Diaz, who was placed at number 15, and Nicole Kidman, who claimed 18th spot.

Harry Potter's JK Rowling

ATLANTA MAN ARRESTED FOR TRYING TO BLACKMAIL OPRAH

A man allegedly tried to extort $1.5 million from Oprah Winfrey by threatening to release taped telephone conversations that he claimed would hurt her reputation, according to a federal complaint. Keifer Bonvillain, 36, allegedly demanded that a Winfrey representative pay him the money in exchange for 12 hours of recorded telephone conversations he'd had with a Winfrey employee he met two years earlier at a party, according to the criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court. Bonvillain targeted "Individual A," who was "a public figure and the owner of a Chicago-based company," the complaint said. The Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Sun-Times, citing unnamed sources, reported Saturday that 'Individual A' was Winfrey. Bonvillain was arrested Dec. 15 in the parking lot of an Atlanta hotel and released on $20,000 bond. He was scheduled for a preliminary hearing in Chicago on Monday. According to the complaint, Bonvillain asked a California-based Winfrey employee questions about Winfrey and her business. In mid-October he allegedly sent Winfrey an e-mail, telling her an employee said awful things about her. In mid-November, Bonvillain allegedly sent a letter, saying he had tapes of the conversations. In response, another Winfrey associate called Bonvillain and learned he had taped 12 hours of those discussions. Over the next few weeks, Bonvillain allegedly told the associate that he wanted to publish a book based on the "shocking" and "newsworthy" tapes and claimed he had received offers of $500,000 to $3 million from tabloids and book publishers. Bonvillain allegedly said " ... there are a lot of people who would want these tapes and those people would not be ' ... concerned about the truth,'" the complaint said. The second associate, who was secretly in contact with the FBI, allegedly agreed to a $1.5 million price, wired Bonvillain $3,000 in earnest money and arranged to meet him in the hotel parking lot. He was arrested the next day. Bonvillain's attorney, Kent Carlson, told the Tribune and Sun-Times he could neither confirm nor deny details in the complaint.