Comparison of Oprah Winfrey's Devleopment: Adolescent and Adult

For this assignment, I have been asked to base my evidence on a famous individual or celebrity and describe the physical, intellectual, emotional and social development that my chosen individual has experienced. I have also been asked to focus on the different factors which have had an effect on my individual throughout three, different life stages and to assess how the impact of the factors I have selected has changed over the different life stage. I have decided to base my assignment on Oprah Winfrey and I will write about the following three life stages this individual has been through; Early childhood, Adolescence and Early Adulthood. Born on January 29,1954, African American TV host, actress, and producer Oprah Gail Winfrey grew up in the small town of Kosciusko, Mississippi. She attended Tennessee State University and worked in radio and TV broadcasting at the age of 16 in Nashville. The billionaire's mother was Vernita Lee who was working as a housemaid and her father was Vernon Winfrey and he was a coal miner that soon became a barber, then the cities counsilman.

Oprah and her mother went to live with her grandmother, Hattie Mae Lee, in North Mississippi on her remote farm at the age of two and a half and was living in very poor conditions, to the point that her clothes were made out of potato sacks. While there, her grandmother taught her how to read and at the age at young age and she was reading bible verses in her church. Oprah in an interview that she sensed she was predestined for greatness. Hattie Mae was very strict and Oprah grew up very well disciplined. By the age of 6, she went to live in a poor neighbourhood in Milwaukee with her mother and her mother wasn’t so keen on her education. Her mother then gave birth to her sister Patricia, but as her mother was having a hard time raising both daughter, Oprah moved to Nashville to live with her father. While Oprah was with her father, she was under his strict rules, leading her to do book reports weekly and having new words added to her vocabulary before dinner. Vernita then gave birth to Oprah’s third sister, who unfortunately was but up to adoption and when Oprah moved back in with her mother, Vernita gave birth to her brother, Jeffrey. All of this changed at the age of 9 when she was raped by her cousin and at the age of 10, sexually abused by her uncle and a family friend of her mother's.

This continued until she was 14, when she was kicked out by her mother out of the house and was going to be sent to a detention center, but luckily it was full, leading her to move to Nashville to live with her father after being a troubled teenager in the little farming district where herself and her mother lived. At the time that all of this was going on, Oprah was 7 months pregnant and gave to a baby that sadly died not long after for being premature. Oprah said that it was like a second chance for her and by the age of 16 she was working on radio and then soon moved on to news, but was then fired due to her being so open when it came to certain things. She started the Oprah Winfrey Show internationally in 1983 under a Harpo productions. The 63-year-old now has a net worth of 3 billion dollars and is the richest African American in the world and the 36th most famous woman philanthropist. (P1) PIES

Early Childhood (3-8)

Physical Development

In Oprah’s early childhood, she quite poor growing up as her mother was moving from place to place which leads her to move in with her grandmother. This could’ve affected her diet due to her not being able to eat as much as there was a lack of money. This can lead to a lack of energy and that can affect her intellectual development as she wouldn’t have the energy to learn. But she was a healthy child growing up and was well known for being quite energetic and up-going.

Intellectual Development

In early childhood, the gross and fine motors if a child was different compared to what was shown in Oprah’s fine and gross motor skills. In a child’s fine motor you should be able to define words, but as her grandmother taught her how to read and write and by the age of 7, Oprah was able to read complicated speeches and paragraphs without a problem. Most children at the age of the 7 wouldn’t be able to read such complex sentences what Oprah was able to read. Her adaption to learning was quite quick and she practiced until she got it right which links to emotional development as she was a very enthusiastic and energetic child at her church with and her grandmother. She was very used to the sunlight and being the center of attention which is quite normal for her in this life stage, as it is for any child aged 3-8.

Emotional Development

Her emotional state was affected as her parents split up when she was an infant. She was always known for talking and was known as a bright and energetic young girl. She would always say her speeches with such great expression and such engagement, she was mostly the center of attention which always kept her talking. This links to her social development as she was always speaking.

Social Development

Oprah was always speaking at a young age which by the age of 6 she was saying Shakespeare and other complex pieces of speech. In her church, she would always be called to say a few Bible scriptures earning her position of respect in her church. She was known as gifted and every time someone told her so, she would reply sweetly and full with gladness. She wasn’t afraid to talk to different people and was a very easy person to talk to as a child, causing her to be portrayed as an innocent and lively person that some people took that for granted and that caused her adolescence to be a living nightmare.

Adolescence (9-18)

Physical Development

In Oprah’s adolescence, a lot happened which affected her development. She experienced sexual abused at the age of 9 by a few male relatives and a few family friends of her mother’s that caused her to move to her father’s home. She also experienced growth spurt at the age of 12 and this affected her physical development severely. As she was starting the stage of puberty, her body was not fitted for any sexual actions or activities, which would've caused a fault in her menstrual cycle or a fault in her puberty altogether and mentally caused her to think it was okay for this to be sexually abused at such a young age. Side effects of sexual abuse that affected Oprah was an eating disorder as it affected her weight growing into an adult which she is now supposedly over 200 pounds which can activate further health problems such as high blood pressure which can cause strokes and heart disease. Oprah now aged 14 and pregnant, was then put in a detention home by her mother and was sent to live with her father, where she gave birth to a baby boy named caan, that sadly died not long after birth.

Intellectual Development

Her intellectual development wasn't the greatest after the situation. She claimed in an interview in 1991 that she started to think that it was normal for her to be sexually abused until the age of 20, where she said to someone that she was sexually abused. This also affected her mental state because when there is a victim of sexual abuse, they usually stay quiet and become more anxious about being in relationships due to them having the thought of being manipulated again. Oprah suffers from trauma from the incident, depression, and anxiety.

Emotional Development

Her emotional state was affected as she couldn’t talk about her pain and sexual abuse, she was forced to keep quiet until a certain age and would be depressed and anxious due to the situation. She also ended up lacking courage, meaning she socially would feel out of place causing her to be a rebellious teen to others. As she lived in a home where she was mentally and physically abused household, she didn’t really have as many people to talk to as her trust issues were increasing. This caused her to socially isolate herself and keep quiet due to her thinking that sexual abuse is okay and it was a part of life. This mostly is the problem victims that have suffered from sexual abuse have.

Social Development

At the age of 16, Oprah started working on CBS's radio and moved onto working on live television. She was quiet a confident speaker which lead her to get such a confident roll in live television, which helped her to later make herself more happy in herself and more self conscious.

Early Adulthood (18-45)

Physical Development

In Oprah’s adolescence, Side effects of sexual abuse that affected Oprah was an eating disorder as it affected her weight growing into an adult which caused her is now supposedly over 200 pounds which can activate further health problems such as high blood pressure which can cause strokes and heart disease. She said she has been taking care of her weight and has given her body praise and talked on her show about her weight and how she is trying to balance her diet.

Intellectual Development

Her intellectual development has improved an excellent amount during the time between the age of 14 until now. As repeated before, she claimed in an interview in 1991 that she started to think that it was normal for her to be sexually abused until the age of 20, where she said to someone that she was sexually abused. Letting go of this fact, she finally told herself it’s not her fault and forgave her abusers for the act of shame that they cause. This links to her emotional development because she was letting go of a big weight on her shoulders which allowed her to be a little bit relieved.

Emotional Development

Her emotional state was affected as she let go of the pain and the guilt of the abuse and made herself feel more relieved in herself. As she continued with the Oprah Winfrey Show, she started to realise that even if she messed up on live TV, she really was never alone and it helped her to be the woman she is today; The first richest African American in the world and owner of HARPO PRODUCTIONS. This helped her social development as she knew she could be open with anyone and not be judged as she has learnt from her mistakes and has realised so. She sometimes gets emotional due to her experience and makes those who go on her show feel comfortable.

Social Development

At the age of 63, Oprah started working on CBS's radio and moved onto working on live television and it helped her to be the woman she is today; The first richest African American in the world and owner of HARPO PRODUCTIONS. This helped her social development as she knew she could be open with anyone and not be judged as she has learnt from her mistakes and has realised so. She sometimes gets emotional due to her experience and makes those who go on her show feel comfortable. This also links with her emotional due to her now being able to cry when she wants to, laugh when she wants to and show even more emotions than before.

Appearance

In her Adolescence stage, Oprah’s weight changed drastically due to her developing a eating disorder which lead into her adulthood, causing her to weigh over 200 Pounds between 1988 and 1922. This affected her appearance as her plethora went straight to her face as well as her thighs and her stomach. Because of this,she could’ve been a victim to bullying and harassment due to her body weight and her size. Experience of Illness and Disease Oprah experienced a Thyroid disorder in her early adulthood that can range from a meager goiter to an cancer that can be lethal to the person's health and wellness. Thyroids aren’t fully confirmed if it is a genetic disease or not, but genetics do play a part. Oprah said that her thyroid is back to their ‘normal levels’ after she was asked in an interview. Now thyroids is a illness that can only be removed by thyroidectomy or chemically destroyed. This can cause Oprah to die of this cause in the future.

Educational Experiences

Oprah never went to preschool but she did go to Nashville East High, where she was a member of the school council and took part in many after school clubs such as drama and debate. During this,she became an honors student and earned a full scholarship to Tennessee State University. She then started working at a radio station called WVOL (AM 1470) part time. In her Sophomore year, aged 19, she started working at CBS. This helped her a lot during her Adolescence stage due to her being prevented to speak because of her previous experiences with sexual assault.