Oprah_ A Biography - Kitty Kelley [207]
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Most of “the girls” from the early days who had launched Tabloid Oprah had burned out or been kicked out to make room for the coronation crew, who carried the crown and the ermine-trimmed robe. The Oprah shows on nudists, porn stars, and prostitutes now shared the spotlight with “uplifting shows” on God, giving, and giveaways. Some people marked this as the start of Saint Oprah; others saw it as the Dawn of the Diva. Whatever it was, it signaled a sharp departure from Down-Home Oprah, especially in the newsrooms of Chicago.
“I saw it coming in 1994 when Colleen Raleigh [Oprah’s chief publicist for eight years] sued her,” said Robert Feder, TV critic for the Chicago Sun-Times from 1980 to 2008. “When I reported that lawsuit, and I had to report it because it was in the public domain, Oprah froze me out. No more Christmas cards. No calls returned. Nothing. Up to that point I had seen her at least once a week and talked to her all the time.… But as she got more powerful, she pulled back from the press and now she ignores all Chicago media because she doesn’t need us anymore.”
The change from girlfriend to goddess became obvious to those who covered television and noticed that Oprah no longer spent time with her audience after every show. In her early, eager days she shook hands with everyone as they left, hugged them, gave autographs, and posed for pictures. Now she considered such personal interaction a waste of her time and energy, and photographs were no longer permitted because she considered her image her brand. “No telling where those pictures might turn up later,” she said. “I don’t want to wind up selling Aunt Bessie’s cookies somewhere in Minnesota.”
Photojournalists also noted the change in Oprah. “I photographed her quite a few times—shot her first cover for People—but I like this one because I’d never seen a picture like that,” said Harry Benson, describing a candid shot of Oprah in 1996, wearing workout togs and looking very slim. “You can’t do pictures like this of her anymore. She lets herself be shot only by her own photographers. She was fine back then, but other people around her were closing in.… She wanted to buy my pictures so nobody would see them. Just a complete control freak. And this is not a mean picture! Now she’s hiding all her fat.”
Oprah was so adamant about protecting herself from enthusiastic fans that she insisted her studio audiences be searched by security guards before entering the building and give up their cameras, tape recorders, packages, and even pens and pencils before being seated.
In the old days it would never have occurred to her to put an R with a circle around it next to “You go, girl,” the phrase most associated with her then, but once she became a brand, she began registering her utterances and applied for trademarks on “Aha! Moment” and “Give Big or Go Home.” She also registered:
Oprah
The Oprah Winfrey Show
Oprah Radio
Make the Connection
Oprah’s Book Club
Live Your Best Life
Oprah’s Favorite Things
Oprah’s Ambassadors
Wildest Dreams with Oprah
Oprah Boutique
Harpo
The Oprah Store
Oprah.com
Oprah’s Big Give
Expert Minutes
The “Oprah” signature
The “O” design
Oprah’s Angel Network
Angel Network
Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls
O, The Oprah Magazine
O at Home
Oprah Winfrey’s Legends Ball
Oprah and Friends
The Oprah who had been open and accessible now seemed aloof and slightly haughty, especially to the press. Having appeared on twenty covers of national magazines by 1995, she was accustomed to demanding (and getting) complete control over what was written about her in exchange for being on the cover. Frequently, she was allowed to choose the writer, and she always dictated the