Media mogul Oprah Gail Winfrey turned 70-years-old on Monday.

And she took to Instagram to say her first hello as a septuagenarian to her Instagram followers: 'Celebrating 70 with a run on the beach. Thank you for all the birthday love.'

The billionaire star, who is fresh off promoting her film The Color Purple, received tributes from friends on social media.

CBS shared a post on X for Gayle King: 'Happy 70th birthday Oprah! Gayle King sends a birthday wish to her best friend - and shares some of the words Oprah herself wrote to mark the occasion.' 

Viola Davis shared a photo with Oprah as she wrote: 'Happiest of birthdays Queen @Oprah!! Continue growing, fighting, shifting..... I celebrate you today ❤️❤️❤️' 

Nate Berkus added, 'Happy Birthday to the absolute best!' 

Tyler Perry said, 'Happy 70th birthday Oprah! What a journey! What a life! You make us all so proud.'

Maria Shriver told Oprah she hoped her 70th birthday would be 'fun' as she added she 'loved' the star.

'You are on the right path,' added the former wife of Arnold Schwarzenegger. 




Oprah Winfrey is 70! Here she speaks at a podium early in her career, during her time at WJZ, Baltimore, Maryland, January 20, 1978





Winfrey poses for a portrait before the 22nd Daytime Emmy Awards in 1995 at the Marquis Hotel in New York






Winfrey was born into poverty in rural Mississippi to a single teenage mother and later raised in inner-city Milwaukee, then was sent to live with Vernon Winfrey in Nashville, Tennessee . Oprah started her climb to the top of the media world at a young age; seen earlier this month







Winfrey felt 'such pressure' from others over how to celebrate her 70th birthday.

The media mogul revealed that whilst a lot of her friends were trying to get her to do 'something big' for the occasion, she instead decided to spend her time 'reflecting' on the woman she has come to be.

Writing in an essay for her OprahDaily website, she said: 'I had such pressure from all my friends to do something big, something special; to have a dinner, a party or luncheon—or to go somewhere like a spa, a hike, a resort, or to meditate in Nepal.

'I thought about it all, took in all their suggestions, and finally did what one friend, Wintley, recommended. He said, "You're too blessed to stress. Savor the fragrances of your extraordinary life." It reminded me of the last line of Love After Love, one of my favorite poems by Derek Walcott: "Sit. Feast on your life."

'So that's what I've been doing—going through old journals, photos, memory boxes, feasting, savoring, and marveling at the discovery, pain, joy, and wonder of 70 years of growing into the woman I am.'

The former talk show host added that even though turning 70 has made her realise that she has more time behind her than in front of her, she takes 'great satisfaction' in knowing that every year so far has been 'worth it'.

She said: 'What I celebrate this birthday (and beyond) is knowing that the person I know myself to be and the work that has come straight from being has mattered. At my age, you recognize the poignancy of time passing.

'Seventy resonates, letting you know for sure that there are not as many years remaining as you've already consumed. I take great satisfaction in accepting that regardless of how many more suns are left—the rising each time has been worth it.'

Oprah seems ready to turn 70.

The superstar told People last week: 'Gratitude really is my religion,' adding that The Color Purple 'was a spiritual opening for me to see my life in a different way' at that time in her life.

She added that her lifelong purpose is to help uplift others. 'I still continue to rise, and I'm in a space now where my offering is to help other people to rise,' said Winfrey. 'The principle that is the underbelly, the cornerstone for how I operate in the world. ... Life is better when you share it.'

Winfrey was born into poverty in rural Mississippi to a single teenage mother and later raised in inner-city Milwaukee, then was sent to live with Vernon Winfrey in Nashville, Tennessee. 

 













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Gayle King is celebrating her longtime friend Oprah Winfrey on her 70th birthday with a wholesome tribute involving Gayle's grandson Luca. 

King, 69, who first met Winfrey when they both worked at a Baltimore TV station in the late 1970s, shared a video of the Queen of All Media reading to Luca.

Oprah was reading the children's book Little Blue Truck's Christmas, which King said in the caption was taken during their Christmas vacation.

'Happy to say at 70 @oprah is still a very good reader! While Favorite grandson Luca is too young to understand how special this moment was during Christmas vacation, it's not lost on me,' King began. 

She added, 'When asked how she wanted to spend her birthday, she said, "No gifts, no parties, no surprises!"

'Her preference was to sit by the fire with a good book and savor the fragrance of her life! Happy birthday Oprah!!' King concluded.

The adorable video showed Oprah reading the story to Luca, the two-year-old son of King's daughter Kirby Bumpus.

Oprah was also helping young Luca pronounce various words, adding at the end of the book, 'Auntie O really liked reading you the book... and now Auntie O is going to take some quiet time,' as King can be heard laughing behind the camera. 




Gayle King is celebrating her longtime friend Oprah Winfrey on her 70th birthday with a wholesome tribute involving Gayle's grandson Luca





King, 69, gluco slim Stiftung Warentest who first met Winfrey when they both worked at a Baltimore TV station in the late 1970s, shared a video of the Queen of All Media reading to Luca





She took to Instagram to say her first hello as a septuagenarian to her Instagram followers: 'Celebrating 70 with a run on the beach. Thank you for all the birthday love'

Oprah started her climb to the top of the media world at a young age. When in high school she learned how to have a voice on radio.

When she was only 19-years-old, the cover girl got a news co-anchoring position for the evening news. 

Next was her eponymous show, The Oprah Winfrey Show, which asked some hard questions while giving women powerful information about therapy, relationships and spirituality.

It was broadcast from Chicago and ran in national syndication for 25 years, from 1986 to 2011. 

She used an empathetic approach when interviewing that made viewers trust her.

She also acted.

Oprah's role as Sofia in the 1986 film The Color Purple, based on Alice Walker's novel, won her accolades. Now she has produced her own version.

Her current platform is Oprah Daily. 




CBS shared a post on X for Gayle King who is Oprah's close pal





'Happy 70th birthday Oprah! Gayle King sends a birthday wish to her best friend - and shares some of the words Oprah herself wrote to mark the occasion'





Viola Davis called the mogul a 'queen' as she said she would celebrate the star





Nate Berkus added, 'Happy Birthday to the absolute best!'





Tyler Perry said, 'Happy 70th birthday Oprah! What a journey! What a life! You make us all so proud'





Maria Shriver shared an image with Oprah as she said she 'loved her'







This comes a month after she opened up about the tremendous hurt she felt when she was body shamed for decades.

The star was one of the rounder personalities on television.

And haters used to troll her over been bigger, even though she carried her weight well and styled herself perfectly to show off her curves.

Now she is telling People she is plenty aware that she was being shamed all that time and had had to process that. 'It was a public sport to make fun of me for 25 years,' she told the publication.

And it was only recently that she realized she had been blaming herself all these years for being overweight. 

This comes after she finally admitted she has been using weight-loss medication for her dramatic body transformation - after previously denying she would ever take Ozempic or similar drugs to lose weight. 









Winfrey opened up in December about the tremendous hurt she felt when she was body shamed for decades. Seen in 1992






This comes after she finally admitted she has been using weight-loss medication for her dramatic body transformation - after previously denying she would ever take Ozempic or similar drugs to lose weight. Seen January 14







'The things that were said about me, said to me, around me, the jokes that were made. You could not get away with it in the slightest sense today,' said the star.

'I was on the cover of some magazine and it said, Dumpy, Frumpy and Downright Lumpy,' Winfrey said of a cruel headline written early in her career.

'I just accepted that as that's what it is, and I didn't feel angry. I felt sad. I felt hurt. I felt shame. But it didn't occur to me that I could even feel angry.

'I swallowed the shame, and I accepted that it was my fault.'

She changed the way she looked at the shaming in July during Oprah Daily's Life You Want series.

'I had the biggest aha along with many people in that audience,' she said.

'I realized I'd been blaming myself all these years for being overweight, and I have a predisposition that no amount of willpower is going to control.'

She then said: 'Obesity is a disease. It's not about willpower — it's about the brain.'








And haters used to troll her over been bigger, even though she carried her weight well and styled herself perfectly to show off her curves. Seen in 2000







Winfrey said she studied up on obesity, talked to a doctor and went on meds.

Only after that did she 'released my own shame about it.'

'I now use it as I feel I need it, as a tool to manage not yo-yoing' she said.

'The fact that there's a medically approved prescription for managing weight and staying healthier, in my lifetime, feels like relief, like redemption, like a gift, and not something to hide behind and once again be ridiculed for. 

'I'm absolutely done with the shaming from other people and particularly myself.'

The comes after Winfrey said she would not take Ozempic and similar drugs in the class of weight-loss medications because she viewed them as an 'easy way out' during a discussion with WeightWatchers CEO Sima Sistani.











And it was only recently that she realized she had been blaming herself all these years for being overweight. (seen left last week and right in 2019)



The star revealed she had taken the medication before Thanksgiving as she knew would have 'two solid weeks of eating' and credits the drug for causing her to only gain half a pound rather than eight pounds, adding it 'quiets the food noise.' 

Winfrey said she is now seven pounds away from her goal weight of 160lbs but said 'it's not about the number.'

She said undergoing knee surgery in 2021 kickstarted a journey for her to improve her health and live a 'more vital and vibrant life.' 

The broadcast icon said she now eats her last meal at 4pm, drinks a gallon of water a day and uses WeightWatchers principles of counting points, along with regular hikes.

She added that her fitness and health routine are integral to maintaining her weight loss saying: 'It's everything. I know everybody thought I was on it, but I worked so damn hard. I know that if I'm not also working out and vigilant about all the other things, it doesn't work for me.'

She said: 'I had an awareness of [weight-loss] medications, but felt I had to prove I had the willpower to do it. I now no longer feel that way.'

Winfrey said she was encouraged to use medical weight loss drugs after the taped panel conversation in July with weight loss experts and clinicians - which led to her 'biggest aha moment.' The conversation was released online in September and saw Winfrey staunchly denying she would ever take weight loss drugs.

She said: 'I realized I'd been blaming myself all these years for being overweight, and I have a predisposition that no amount of willpower is going to control. Obesity is a disease. It's not about willpower — it's about the brain.

During the discussion, the experts insisted that obesity is a metabolic disease with some bodies 'more predisposed to storing more fat' - also known as adipose tissue.









She changed the way she looked at the shaming in July during Oprah Daily's Life You Want series. 'I had the biggest aha along with many people in that audience,' she said. 'I realized I'd been blaming myself all these years for being overweight, and I have a predisposition that no amount of willpower is going to control.' She then said: 'Obesity is a disease. It's not about willpower — it's about the brain'; seen in 1992













In 1988, just two years after the launched the Oprah Winfrey Show, the TV legend revealed during an episode that she had lost 67 pounds in four months thanks to an all-liquid diet - and celebrated by wheeling out a wagon of fat onto the stage







'One of the things I carried so much shame for, and even when I first started hearing about the weight-loss drugs, at the same time I was going through knee surgery and I felt, 'I've got to do this on my own because if I take the drug, that's the easy way out.'

'There's a part of me that feels - like I think a lot of people feel with bariatric surgery - that I've got to do it the hard way, I've got to keep climbing the mountains, I've got to keep suffering and I've got to do that because otherwise I somehow cheated myself.'

She concluded: 'As a person who has been shamed for so many years [about my weight], I am just sick of it.'


Oprah WinfreyMaria ShriverArnold Schwarzenegger