Oprah auctioned off many of her personal possessions this week, netting over $600,000 for the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls in South Africa. Many buyers noticed a troubling theme as they learned more about the trusted host’s belongings.
One woman recalls trying on a chinchilla coat at the yard sale in a mirror with “You are beautiful” written across it in lipstick.
“I paid $2,000 for Oprah’s CD collection,” complains Maureen Humphrey. “It was just a CD binder with twenty copies of ‘You Are My Sunshine’. When I played one of them, it was actually just Oprah singing it over and over again while sobbing.”
One of the most talked-about items was Oprah’s diary. Disappointed new owner Marnie Loeser reveals, “The first half of the book is just the phrase, “You’re doing great” written over and over again.” Winfrey then used several pages in her diary with drawings of the letter ‘O’ in various sizes, sometimes with exclamation points.
An early draft of Oprah’s famous Favorite Things for 2013 was found in a notebook on the premises, with disturbing Christmas gift suggestions such as a one-way ticket to Moscow and a pearl-handled revolver. The notebook also contained an unsent letter to Maya Angelou in which Oprah asks if she thinks she should leave Stedman for “Deepak.”
Oprah has refused to comment on the letter.
While some were surprised about the unexpected contents of this auction, auctioneers note that, “Oprah has only gone up in value since.”
