On Boxing Day, 2005, Oprah and her longtime boyfriend, Stedman Graham, had just taken off in her private Gulfstream jet from the airport in Santa Barbara, California, near her 17-hectare estate in Montecito, when something went very wrong. The windshield cracked, and the pilot hurriedly turned the plane around for an emergency landing.
At first, it was thought the damage was due to a collision with birds, but it turned out to be fairly normal “glass fatigue”.
No way would Oprah be undone by a mere windshield! After all, “fatigue” is one word that never seems to be part of Oprah’s vocabulary. She is positively indefatigable - and proved it in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, when 240kmh winds swept through New Orleans and the Gulf Coast killing more than 1200 people, displacing a million others and causing $265billion damage.
The world’s most famous talk-show host was sitting in her home in Chicago when she heard reports outlining the awesome power of approaching Hurricane Katrina. “I'm hearing Category Five, catastrophic, biblical proportions,” she recalled. “I even heard one announcer say, ‘If you don't evacuate, then God be with you.' I mean, that was pretty scary to me, and I was nowhere near the hurricane.”
“I watched, and I felt helpless, and I wanted to do something, so I picked up the phone and I called some of my friends and said, "Let's go down there and see what we can do.”
When Oprah Winfrey calls, people listen. They listen when she talks about poverty and neglect. They listen when she talks about child abuse. They listen when she talks about emotional healing and “living one’s best life”. Or about celebrity marriage breakdowns, engagements, babies – even books they should read.

Inspirational, candid and generous, Oprah Winfrey has the ear of millions the world over. Don't miss the February 2006 issue of The Australian Women's Weekly to find out about the TV queen’s ambitions, her art of giving and the sleepless nights caused by her new family ... of puppies.