Comments on: Oprah isn’t ashamed of her money

By: Dship

Dship — Tue, 27 Feb 2007 17:37:39 +0000

Oprah knows poverty. She was raised poor and grew up in the projects.

By: Jake

Jake — Sat, 23 Sep 2006 11:38:18 +0000

Not only is poverty cool and happening, it is sexy.

I feel sorry for Oprah. She does not know the joy of poverty.

I was raised below poverty as one of 5 children. We never had a house to live in or steady school to go to. Three meals a day was prohibitively expensive and clothing was a joke. Fun times.

It was so sexy, I started a family of my own. Contraceptives are prohibitively expensive, so sex = kids. I know have 5 kids and my wife is pregnant with the next. We can’t really feed all of them, but it’s all good.

I would not trade this for anything.

By: Justine Kaley

Justine Kaley — Fri, 21 Apr 2006 03:42:18 +0000

I agree that wealth is not a bad thing, but what you do with it is either bad or good. I don’t believe she’s a flake thru words, she tells people who don’t have money that money is all that matters but she go around and buy $5000 bags when people are starving, need helathcare, clothes, roofs, schools people who have more money then they can handle should donate several million to charities in every part of the world. I don’t have that much money and I live below proverty by I still manage to donate what I can to others who are proably less forunate than I am.

By: Hawk

Hawk — Wed, 19 Apr 2006 18:00:59 +0000

I’m not sure why you’d want to be ashamed of being rich. Oh no, I have a lot of money, I’m sorry you don’t… ?

It’s like being ashamed of your job. I like to write porn (it’s not my job), my boyfriend’s an office max retail employee (which is a crappy job, but nothing to be ashamed of), etc etc. Why?

If I had a lot of money, I’d be happy I had money. I’d also be constantly thinking about it, so I suddenly didn’t end up with no money at all by making poor decisions (coughmchammercough).

By: Judah L.

Judah L. — Wed, 19 Apr 2006 06:46:42 +0000

Hmmm…i agree, her choice of words were not optimal. But hey, she’s up-front about how she feels and says so. I’m always a bit cynical about celebrities and their philanthropic intentions however….makes you wonder how often “charities” are set up primarily to do good versus the tax breaks associated with their nonprofit status. Why do so many athletes live in Florida?

By: JLP at AllFinancialMatters

JLP at AllFinancialMatters — Wed, 19 Apr 2006 04:14:30 +0000

I have love/hate feelings for Oprah. On the one hand, I love the fact that she believes in hard work and has made it on her own. On the other hand, I cringe when she starts bragging about what she has. We all know she’s rich. She doesn’t have to remind us.

She’s a person and she makes mistakes. At least she does give money to worthy causes.

By: penty

penty — Tue, 18 Apr 2006 18:40:41 +0000

A lot of you are saying “if I had more money than I can spend…”

I’d say “I don’t know, I can spend alot.” Go ahead try me.

By: Milind

Milind — Tue, 18 Apr 2006 17:58:42 +0000

Guilt is a bad thing, not wealth.

Her comments (edited by People, remember) do seem insensitive.

But actions speak louder than words. Oprah is not only enjoying her wealth but using it to help people in effective ways. So hurrah for her.

That said, there are many other CEOs and corporate executives who have gotten rich at the expense of people who own the companies they manage and people who work for the companies they manage. They are not leaders but looters. They deserve contempt, not respect.

By: Gagan

Gagan — Tue, 18 Apr 2006 05:42:22 +0000

I agree with the above posters. Every now and then I get in arguments with my friends who feel that CEOs, corporate execs., celebrities etc. don’t deserve their hefty paychecks, which is completely untrue. These are the true leaders who inspire everyone of us to reach the top one day.

In fact, I respect everyone who’s made it to the big leagues by working diligently. I could care less about their attitude. If they are bitter at life despite being rich, there must be a reason for it, and I don’t feel necessary to butt into their lives.

As far as pro athletes and celebrities are concerned, there’s no doubt that they’ve worked just as hard as CEOs etc., but for some reason, I just don’t feel any sympathy for them (though I should), esp. when they have nothing better to do than make sex tapes, which are then circulated around the web by bitter boyfriends/girlfriends.

By: Jonathan

Jonathan — Tue, 18 Apr 2006 04:36:59 +0000

I agree with John, her wording makes her sound very arrogant, but at the same time, she worked for it, and she shouldn’t have to feel bad about what she has worked for.