Oprah and Barbara battle it out for Pippa

Chat show hosts Oprah Winfrey and Barbara Walters are engaged in a 300,000-pound bidding war for Pippa Middleton's first ever TV interview in the US.

The younger sister of the Duchess of Cambridge, who is about to start promoting her upcoming book about how to be the perfect hostess, is considered to be the pair's "dream guest" for 2012.

Winfrey is said to have told staff at her OWN network to "pull out all the stops" to secure the interview while Walters is reportedly pressuring bosses at ABC to offer a six-figure sum for the interview.

Both want to secure Middleton as a guest for an hour-long special.

"The big guns see Pippa as the big-name interview of 2012... Oprah and Barbara Walters are hot on the case," Fox News quoted a source as telling the Sunday Mirror.

Middleton, who will donate any fee she receives to charity, rose to fame after her show-stopping appearance at Britain's royal wedding in April, when her sister married Prince William.

Last year, the professional party planner signed a publishing deal to write a book on party etiquette, for which she reportedly received a 400,000-pound advance.

Oprah top paid woman entertainer, Gaga catches up

NEW YORK: Watch out Oprah, there's a savvy pop star and an ambitious real housewife nipping at your financial heels.

Oprah Winfrey remained the entertainment world's top woman earner, but Lady Gaga and Bethenny Frankel, one of the original housewives in the "Real Housewives of New York," are moving quickly up the ranks of the rich, according to Forbes.com.

Winfrey held on to the top spot with $290 million in earnings from May 2010 to May 2011 and an estimated net worth of $2.7 billion.

But Winfrey's daytime talk show, which she wrapped up in May, was her chief money earner and her newly launched cable network, OWN, has drawn paltry ratings since its January launch.

Lady Gaga was a distant second with $90 million in gross earnings, followed by Frankel with $55 million. Frankel, who launched her own diet and lifestyle brand, sold her Skinnygirl Margarita cocktail mix for an estimated $100 million and has been expanding her brand, which will soon include food, supplements and a possible talk show.

Four women, model Gisele Bundchen, a singer Taylor Swift, talk show host Ellen DeGeneres and Judge Judy Sheindlin, each earned $45 million last year and tied for fourth place. (Reuters)

Oprah to receive Oscars humanitarian award

LOS ANGELES: US talk show queen Oprah Winfrey is to be honored with an Oscars statuette later this year for her outstanding humanitarian work, Academy Awards officials said Wednesday.

The 57-year-old television megastar -- nominated for a best supporting actress Oscar 25 years ago for her work in "The Color Purple" -- is to receive the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award at a dinner in November, officials said.

The award has been given out intermittently by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences since 1956. Previous recipients include Bob Hope, Gregory Peck, Audrey Hepburn, Elizabeth Taylor, Paul Newman and Jerry Lewis.

Lady GaGa, Oprah, Bieber 'most powerful celebs

Lady GaGa has been declared the most powerful celebrity in the world.

The 'Judas' singer ranked top on Forbes's list of the 100 most powerful celebrities, which takes into account a celebrity's income, social media and web presence, and the amount of press and TV coverage they receive.

GaGa, who earned $90 million (£56m) over the past 12 months, topped the list due to her extensive social media coverage, which includes 32 million Facebook fans and more than 10 million Twitter followers.

Last year's winner Oprah Winfrey fell to second place in 2011. Despite earning $290 million (£180m) over the past year, she notably ended her longrunning talk show Oprah earlier this week.

Canadian pop singer Justin Bieber took third place with his $53 million (£33m) earnings and extensive YouTube and Twitter presence.

The remainder of the top ten in order consists of U2, Elton John, Tiger Woods, Taylor Swift, Bon Jovi, Simon Cowell and LeBron James.

Other notable changes include Leonardo DiCaprio's jump from 71 to 15 following the release of two highly successful films over the past year, and Britney Spears somehow managing to drop off the list entirely.

In previous years, the likes of Angelina Jolie, Tom Cruise and Mel Gibson have all been named the most powerful celebrities in the world, while Winfrey herself has won the title four times in the past.

Oprah's generous USD 250,000 gift to sextuplets, their parents

It was a picture that spoke a thousand words and one woman believed it was worth several hundred thousand. Chat show host Oprah Winfrey gave the McGhee family and their miracle sextuplets USD 250,000 credit at Walmart as well as a honeymoon in Las Vegas - despite the fact the couple got married 11 years ago.

The couple fought back tears and were clearly overwhelmed by the generosity of the chat-show host, reportsdailymail.co.uk.

Rozonno and Mia McGhee and their sextuplets - Olivia, Madison, Rozonno Jr, Josiah, Elijah and Isaac - appeared on the show after they became an internet sensation when Mia posted a family photo on her Facebook page.

As well as millions of other people all over the world, Oprah saw it and thought: "I love that picture, I have to meet them."

On the show, the couple told the chat-show queen how difficult and expensive it is raising the six babies and revealed they go through 50 diapers and 30 bottles a day.

The couple, who are both from impoverished backgrounds, started dating when they were in high school and married when they were 18 and 19 years old respectively.

They were determined to create the kind of family they never had.

Mia, whose mother was on welfare and whose two brothers were involved in criminal activities, said: "Since I didn't have a father, I've always wanted my children to have a father. I wanted, of course, to graduate from high school, go to college, get married."

While Rozonno runs a carpet-cleaning service, Mia stays at home with the sextuplets, though they said they do get some help during the week.

Oprah aims for mindful TV in OWN network gamble

LOS ANGELES: She is already the most influential woman on television, publishes a magazine, has starred in movies, opened a school in South Africa and is one of America's biggest celebrity philanthropists.

So why is Oprah Winfrey taking perhaps the biggest gamble in her life and launching a cable TV network this weekend? Because she believes people are hungry for shows that entertain, inspire and offer what she calls "mindful television."

"What I want to do is build a channel that is a respite for your mind, an oasis of stimulation that you come away from with little pieces of light.

"I'm aiming for a moment where somebody could say, 'I never thought of it that way before.' I just love that," Winfrey 56, told Parade magazine in an interview this week.

Three years in the making, the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN) kicks off on January 1 with a weekend of "sneak peeks" into the array of largely female-oriented original series, lifestyle, and advice shows that viewers can expect in the first year.

OWN, a venture between Winfrey's Harpo Inc and Discovery Communications, will be available in some 80 million homes.

The OWN launch has brought with it some uncharacteristic anxiety for Winfrey, who will end her popular U.S. daytime chat program, "The Oprah Winfrey Show" -- which airs in some 140 countries -- in May after 25 years.

She told her magazine "O" that she has "never felt such fear in all my life" than she has in launching OWN in a crowded TV market packed with hundreds of cable channels.

Winfrey will appear in only 70 hours of programs in 2011, but the OWN schedule has the unmistakable flavor of uplifting tales, self-improvement and struggles in the face of adversity that has come to be known as "Oprahfication."

The lineup includes a four-part special bringing together health, wealth and relationship experts Dr. Phil McGraw, Suze Orman and Dr. Mehmet Oz. There are two reality shows about the fractious relationships between movie stars Tatum O'Neal and her father Ryan O'Neal and country singers Wynonna Judd and her mother Naomi Judd.

There will be frank sex and relationship therapy from Dr. Laura Berman and another reality series called "Kidnapped by the Kids" in which children force their parents to ditch work for family time.

Two shows were Oprah's ideas. "Oprah Presents Master Class" features eight famous people including rapper Jay-Z, poet Maya Angelou, actor Sidney Poitier and TV entrepreneur Simon Cowell talking about their lives' lessons, triumphs and setbacks.

"Finding Sarah", featuring disgraced British royal Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York, was inspired by a confessional TV interview between the two women earlier this year.

In May, Ferguson was caught on camera appearing to ask for cash to introduce a reporter to her ex-husband, Prince Andrew.

After the scandal broke, Winfrey advised Ferguson to avoid appearing on "Dancing with the Stars" or a celebrity chef program to restore her bank balance and tarnished image.

Instead, Oprah told Ferguson to work on herself, and "Finding Sarah," a six-part documentary scheduled to air later in 2011, is one result of that conversation..

Winfrey will be seen initially in a behind-the-scenes program about her final season of her chat show. She will later appear in an OWN travel series called "Oprah's Next Chapter."

She has admitted the pressure is on to succeed, but said she was looking beyond initial audience figures.

"What will be a failure is if nobody comes and watches this network. What others will perceive as failure is if some shows don't succeed," she told Parade magazine.

"I'm concerned about the bigger overall picture: my belief that people are basically good and want to see the good in them reflected through their experiences and the shows they watch."

Oprah aims for "Mindful TV"

LOS ANGELES: She is already the most influential woman on television, publishes a magazine, has starred in movies, opened a school in South Africa and is one of America's biggest celebrity philanthropists.

So why is Oprah Winfrey taking perhaps the biggest gamble in her life and launching a cable TV network this weekend? Because she believes people are hungry for shows that entertain, inspire and offer what she calls "mindful television."

"What I want to do is build a channel that is a respite for your mind, an oasis of stimulation that you come away from with little pieces of light.

"I'm aiming for a moment where somebody could say, 'I never thought of it that way before.' I just love that," Winfrey 56, told Parade magazine in an interview this week.

Three years in the making, the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN) kicks off on January 1 with a weekend of "sneak peeks" into the array of largely female-oriented original series, lifestyle, and advice shows that viewers can expect in the first year.

OWN, a venture between Winfrey's Harpo Inc and Discovery Communications, will be available in some 80 million homes.

The OWN launch has brought with it some uncharacteristic anxiety for Winfrey, who will end her popular U.S. daytime chat program, "The Oprah Winfrey Show" -- which airs in some 140 countries -- in May after 25 years.

She told her magazine "O" that she has "never felt such fear in all my life" than she has in launching OWN in a crowded TV market packed with hundreds of cable channels.

Winfrey declared most charitable celeb

Oprah Winfrey has been declared the most charitable celebrity, having given away around $40 million to various causes.

People reports that according to a list compiled by The Giving Back Fund, Winfrey is the most generous public figure by a wide margin.

In comparison to Winfrey's $40 million, writer Nora Robert stands in second place, having given away around $4.4 million.

Winfrey's donations were mostly made through the Oprah Winfrey Foundation, which funds a wide range of causes for both women and children.

"There are many generous celebrities, but when you can top a list of celebrity philanthropists three out of four years, as Oprah has, that is saying something," The Giving Back Fund's Marc Pollick said following the announcement.

The list was compiled from contributions made by celebrities over the course of 2009.


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Oprah Winfrey eats into Aussie taxpayers' money

TV mogul Oprah Winfrey had grabbed headlines by gifting her 300-strong studio audience an all-expenses paid trip to Australia. But her gesture has caused a furore in the host country after it emerged that Australian taxpayers will foot the bill for the sojourn.

Winfrey's audience clapped, cheered and some even teared up when she kicked off the 25th and last season of The Oprah Winfrey Show by announcing a free eight-day trip to Sydney, dubbed 'Oprah's Ultimate Australian Adventure'.

But the billionaire host failed to mention that the "gift" is actually being paid for by the Australian Tourist board and the news has been met with hostile reactions in Australia.

According to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, the trip will cost local taxpayers more than USD 2.3 million.

Australia's Tourism Minister Martin Ferguson called the deal "a major coup", claiming he had received federal and state funding to convince Winfrey to come to Australia. And the government will contribute more than USD 1 million, "mostly in accommodation costs", according to the Sydney Daily Telegraph.

Ferguson insisted it was money well spent as it would put Australia in the spotlight, with the popular TV show watched by 40 million Americans and screened in 145 countries.

A finale will be shot at the Sydney Opera House, which will be renamed the 'Sydney Oprah House' for the occasion.

And John Travolta himself will be piloting the plane.
The audience also each received a Motorola Smartphone.

Celebrities and Their Odd Phobias …

Phobias aren’t as abnormal as most people think. I’m severely arachnophobic, and cannot stand spiders. They don’t scare me, as such, they terrify me. And I have a friend who is so claustrophobic that anything less than a medium sized room will induce vomiting and panic attacks, almost straight away. Phobias always seemed to be something quite secret, though, so I was surprised to learn that these ten celebs have them too!

1. Johnny Depp
The fearless pirate isn’t as fearless as he first seemed… he suffers from arachnophobia, plasmophobia and coulrophobia. Which means he is scared of spiders, ghosts and clowns! “There’s something about the painted face and the fake smile. There seems to be a real darkness lurking under the surface, a potential for real evil,” Depp explained. Well, I’m with him on the spiders, and I do my best to avoid clowns!

2. Billy Bob Thornton
Angelina Jolie’s ex Thornton has a phobia of antiques… he refuses to stay in the room with furniture made before 1950. Which sounds very unusual, but apparently 250,000 people in America suffer from this same problem. “I’ve had friends tell me that maybe I was beaten to death by an antique chair in a former life,” Billy has said, by way of explanation… well, whatever causes it, it’s not as rare a phobia as I thought!

3. Alfred Hitchcock
Film maker and produced Hitchcock has another odd phobia… the fear of eggs. Especially runny ones… people who worked with Alfred claimed that cracking an egg made him gag, and he wouldn’t eat any food containing eggs. And suddenly my fear of spiders doesn’t seem that bad… His daughter explained her dad’s fear by saying, “He just said they were so horrible-looking… that you’d cut into them and that yellow stuff would run all over. He thought it was absolutely disgusting.”

4. Christina Ricci
Christina suffers from botanaphobia, which is a fear of house plants. Sufferers find plants dirty, and can’t bring themselves to water them… Christina admitted, “If I have to touch one, after already being repulsed by the fact that there is a plant indoors, it freaks me out.” So I guess she doesn’t have green fingers… I think I’d miss my house plants if I had to put them all outside!

5. Tyra Banks
While most of us would love to swim with our intelligent friends, Tyra won’t be jumping in the pool with dolphins anytime soon. “I have dreams that I’m in a pool and there are dolphins bumping me and I am frightened.” She revealed, and she has reportedly suffered from the phobia since she was just eight years old. A pretty rare phobia!

6. Matthew McConaughey
Matthew has famously admitted to having a fear of revolving doors, and of tunnels. It’s not being underground that bothers him, but the point where you go from being above ground to underneath… and he’s also revealed that he hasn’t worn deodorant in twenty years. I’m a little anxious about revolving doors myself, especially the vicious ones…

7. Nicole Kidman
Nicole suffers from lepidopterophobia, which is a fancy word for the fear of butterflies. “It’s so bizarre. I’m not scared of snakes or spiders,” Kidman revealed, and even tried to face her fear by going through the butterfly exhibit at the American Museum of Natural History, but couldn’t make it through. I share the same fear… I can’t go outside if I can see a butterfly. I love their colours, and their patterns, but their bodies scare me and I’m terrified if they land on me.

8. Oprah Winfrey
Oprah Winfrey has a weird phobia…she’s scared of chewing gum. There is a rational explanation, however. “My grandmother used to save it (used gum) in little rows in the cabinet. I’d be scared to touch it because it was so gross, so I have a thing about gum. One guest in my home sat at the dinner table, took out some gum from her mouth and put it on the plate. After she left, I threw the plate out.” I think I’d be pretty scared of gum after that, too.

9. Madonna
Madonna has something in common with my dog… they are both utterly petrified of thunder. Named brontophobia, it’s a surprisingly common phobia! It can cause panic attacks, trembling, crying, a rapid heartbeat and a feeling of dread, even if the sufferer knows they are at no risk. I’m not particularly good during thunder storms, especially if I’m alone, so I sympathise!

10. Natalie Wood
Actress Natalie Wood suffered from hydrophobia, a fear of water, for her entire life. She died in 1981, after falling out of a boat into the water, and drowning. Her death was recorded as accidental drowning, as Wood had drank a few glasses of wine and didn’t remove her heavy coat and sweater. It makes you think, though… maybe phobias do have a purpose?
Well, now I’ve made myself look like a scaredy-cat (I’m not scared of life, I promise, but I do flinch at my own shadow)… I’m fascinated by how normal phobias are! It would appear that most people are scared of something, and that makes me feel a lot better. Have you got a phobia, or do you know of a celeb I’ve missed off? I’d love to hear about it!

Sexual Scandal?

She’s known the world over as one of the most philanthropic celebrities of her time, but Oprah Winfrey is getting hit with some pretty serious allegations in a new book.

The talk show host is accused of ‘trading sexual favors for money’ while in high school by Kitty Kelley in her new book.

Contradicting Winfrey’s claims of sexual abuse, Kelley quotes Oprah’s sister Patricia in her new book “Oprah: A Biography.”

Patricia explained, “After becoming sexually promiscuous, Oprah devised another way to make money. She invited me over during the day while my mother was working.”

"Her boyfriends were all much older than her, about 19 or in their early 20s. Whenever a guy arrived at our door, Oprah would give Popsicles to me and our younger brother Jeffrey and say, ‘You two go out on the porch and play now.’ Oprah then would go inside with her boyfriend... I didn’t’ find out what Oprah was doing until I was older and she showed me how she did ‘The Horse’-which is what she called the sex act.”