Oprah_ A Biography - Kitty Kelley [89]
To start AAD, Stedman sold his Mercedes and cashed in his retirement fund from the corrections system, and used the little he had accumulated from his first job as a police officer in Fort Worth, Texas, followed by three years in the army. Even without an income or a business plan, he finally felt he had a sense of purpose and a little status. He continued runway modeling to pay expenses after resigning from the Bureau of Prisons, where he claimed to have been “on track to one day become a warden in the federal corrections system.”
The tax returns for AAD indicate the organization collects an average of $275,000 a year, most of which is raised from an annual celebrity golf tournament. Contributors to AAD pay for the annual dinner gala that allows Stedman to sit at the head table with professional athletes. Being chairman of Athletes Against Drugs certainly gives him a grand title, but no longer a salary. Sometime before 2002, he had to lend his organization more than $200,000 to keep it afloat. How AAD distributes funds “to educate youth to make healthy life decisions” is not specified.
Oprah, who did not publicly admit her drug use until 1995, told Stedman about it early in their relationship. “I was concerned about how it would affect him, but he knew from the start it was one of the secrets I was having trouble dealing with and he encouraged me not to let it be a big fear,” she said. “He’s never taken a single drug and doesn’t drink alcohol.”
Stedman was intent on improving his lot, but if he needed goading, Oprah certainly provided it when she was asked if she cared what a man did for a living. She did not hesitate.
“I do care about whether or not he’s a ditch digger. I know that sounds elitist. But I have such great aspirations for myself in life—to really fulfill my human potential—that I just don’t understand people who don’t aspire to do or be anything.”
Oprah’s ambitions were gargantuan, and her craving for recognition almost insatiable. Without an Off button, her engine churned constantly as she jammed her days and nights with nonstop activity. “My schedule is very hectic, but it’s exactly the kind of life I’ve always wanted,” she said. “I’ve always said I wanted to be so busy that I wouldn’t have time to breathe.”
Every morning after doing her talk show, at least in the early years, she spent time with her audiences—shaking hands, posing for pictures, signing autographs. She met with her producers to discuss the next day’s show, and she scrutinized the overnight ratings. She pushed forward with plans to build her $10 million studio (“I’ve got to move on from millionaire to mogul”); she pursued movie roles (“I’m going to be a great, great actress”); she purchased book rights to produce her own films, the first being the biography of Madame C. J. Walker, who developed cosmetics for black women that were sold door-to-door, making her the first self-made female millionaire in America. Oprah explored developing her own clothing line for “the more substantial woman,” because she couldn’t find designer clothes to fit her. When she did find something she loved, her dresser had to buy two outfits in the largest size available and have them sewn together, which was costly and time-consuming. She met with Chicago’s Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises to discuss opening a restaurant. She agreed to be a partner but would not allow her name to be used, because if it failed, she did not want to be blamed. She wanted to establish an institute for women as “an extension of what we