Who would you rather…
Oprah Gail Winfrey was born January 29, 1954 in Mississippi and raised by her single mother by all accounts she was extremely poor and with little opportunities. She grew up in the inner cities of Milwaukee where she experienced a difficult youth filled with hunger, hardship and sexual assault, at 14 she became pregnant and lost her son at infancy. Oprah was sent to live with a man that she calls her father in Tennessee he was a modest Barber and living with him gave her the opportunity to get into media. She got a job at a local radio station while she was in high school and co-anchored a local evening news show at the age of 19.
Oprah exhibited all the character traits of a daytime television Diva with her emotional and empathetic personality she made the crossover to daytime television talk show arena. She took a 3rd rate local Chicago talk show and turned into a 1st place contender the Oprah Winfrey show was brought on because of this great success. Oprah began her own production company called Harpo Productions that is based in Chicago.
She has been linked romantically to Roger Ebert and has maintained a partnership with Stedman Graham since 1986. Rumors have swirled about her interesting relationship with her best friend and O magazine editor Gayle King. While they have always denied the rumors a recent expose book by Kitty Kelly has revealed the affair did occur between the two of them. Oprah has never been married nor has she had any children living. She is not without making waves in the media industry with her grand giveaways like cars to teachers or her school for girls in Africa that was recently in the news with a sex scandal.
In a jello wrestling match who would win Martha or Oprah, my bet would be on Martha I mean she did do hard time in prison for insider trading the woman can knit a sweater in under a week and lets be honest anyone who can make a doilies out of a napkin is my kind of gal. I think it's safe to say that Martha took the fall for some pretty important MEN who didn't want to get caught with their pants down. Don't forget when a woman is stepping on your coat tails you are going to want her out of the way or at least damaged in the interim.
Martha Helen Stewart was born in August 3, 1941 in Jersey City New Jersey, my stomping ground, to a middle class household with a mother and father a bit of a far cry from Oprah's poverty ridden family life. At the age of 3 her family moved to the more suburban Nutley, New Jersey and she was raised with her five siblings and graduated from Nutley High School. Martha graduated and went on to attend Barnard College in NYC but left after she met and married Andrew Stewart in 1961 but continued a modest modeling career. Martha later returned to Barnard a year later and graduated with a double major in History and Architectural History. In 1965 Martha had her only child daughter Alexis Stewart.
Martha took a massive career change in 1967 by becoming a stock broker she was successful but left that industry in 1973 to have more time with her daughter. She moved to Connecticut and took on a massive restoration of an 1805 farmhouse. It was during this project that Martha realized her talents for restoring and decoration. She started a catering business out of her basement with fellow model Norma Collier which quickly took off it was shortly after this that Norma left the venture because of problems working with Stewart and she accused Martha of taking catering jobs on the side. Using Martha's recipes and photos from parties the book Entertaining was ghostwritten by Elizabeth Hawes the book was so successful that Martha began publishing others. It was at this point that Martha began building her empire started Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia in 1997 where Martha was President, Chairwoman, and CEO. It was because of her affilitation with Omnimedia that she became the target of an insider trading scandal that left her sent to Federal Prison Camp in West Virginia for five months with a two year period of supervised release (five months of electronic monitoring). Martha has bounced back with her morning show and various new ventures such as purchasing the rights to Emeril's books, products, and name giving him a second chance at stardom.
You gotta admit the thought of these two going at it round for round as to who's nicer, smarter, funnier and has the most toys is a fantasy for any company man in a suit and tie; Martha with the background of privilege and opportunity and Oprah with the sad story of poverty, sexual abuse and broken homes. Most people would look at these two women and see completely different circumstances, of course Martha could make it big she had everything handed to her there for the taking while Oprah had to claw her way to the top. It doesn't matter how these women got here the fact is they can still purchase their own damn island and banish you to it just cause you looked at them funny. These are two of the most powerful women in existence and when Oprah talks President Obama listens some have said she had a large part to do with him election by voicing her support for him on her national television show. She did receive some slack for not picking the lone woman Hilary Clinton who would have been the first United States President had she gotten the Democratic nomination.
Let's not forget the meeting of minds that happened just last year between Warren Buffet, Bill Gates, and Oprah to discuss various educational projects and the economy. These women have the brains and brawn to take down any opponent with the slightest of moves. These two are Rush Limbaugh's worst nightmare and Glen Beck's revolution scenario they quiver at the thought of either of these two women running anything Martha and Oprah put the F in fear.
The question still remains, who would you rather, Martha or Oprah. This Chiquita doesn't want a banana but I'm not sure I could handle those peaches either!