Where Does Oprah Live And How Big Is Her House?
Oprah Winfrey is one of the most successful and wealthiest people in the world, so how did she manage to achieve such fame and success? After getting her start in talk show hosting in the late 1970s, Winfrey went on to host a morning talk show in Chicago that was eventually renamed The Oprah Winfrey Show. Since The Oprah Winfrey Show's initial airing in 1986, the TV program ran for 25 seasons until 2011. The show is still one of the most highly rated daytime talk shows ever, and it made Winfrey a household name as well as a very rich lady.
In addition to being a talk show host, Winfrey is also a philanthropist, producer, author, and actress. Her endeavors include donating millions to charities, running Harpo Productions, writing several books, and starring in critically acclaimed films like The Color Purple and Selma.
But Winfrey can also add multi-homeowner to her résumé. The self-made billionaire owns several homes. According to Variety, Winfrey purchased a $14 million ski chalet in Telluride, Colo. in 2015, and she also owns a 43-acre Orcas Island compound off the coast of Seattle, according to Architectural Digest. But wait, there's more! Winfrey also owns a sprawling 163-acre ranch in Maui, Oprah magazine reports, but even that's not the end of her property portfolio.
Winfrey also has an estate in Montecito, Calif., that's called the Promised Land.
Oprah Winfrey's Montecito estate is worth over $100 million
The Promised Land is Oprah Winfrey's homebase located in Montecito, Calif. Purchased in 2001 for $50 million, the 23,000-square-foot home occupies 42 acres between the Santa Ynez Mountains and the Pacific Ocean, per Variety. The neo-Georgian-style mansion includes a 12-tree grove called "the Apostles" and a fountain "the size of a lake that shoots water to the heavens," according to Vogue.
Since buying the Promised Land, Winfrey's made quite a few renovations, like installing a rose garden and a tea house built solely to read The New York Times while drinking her tea in the morning. As of December 2020, the Montecito estate was valued at over $100 million, according to Homes and Gardens, and has expanded to 70 contiguous acres with Winfrey's purchase of a horse ranch and another property that was owned by actor Jeff Bridges.
"I knew my house was impressive...No doubt: I owned a stately home, and I poured my heart and soul into making it perfect," Winfrey wrote in Oprah magazine in 2013.
If the home's grandiosity wasn't enough, royal neighbors Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, Duke and Duchess of Sussex, may just push it over the top, but that's just our opinion.
Oprah's Orcas Island estate is a waterfront wonderland
While there's no doubt that Oprah Winfrey's massive Montecito mansion is impressive, her other homes are just as enviable. Remember that Orcas Island abode we mentioned? Well, it's actually a stunning waterfront wonderland. The property, consisting "of two waterfront parcels measuring a collective 43 acres, features approximately 3,000 feet of west-facing shoreline," making it perfect for nightly sunset viewings," according to Architectural Digest. Velvet Ropes notes that "the larger parcel went for $7,150,000" and the smaller one cost $1,125,000, meaning that Winfrey spent over $8 million for the property.
Boasting multiple buildings like a guesthouse, teahouse, and "large barnlike structure" which "features a woodworking studio on the upper floor" as well as a gym and yoga studio, the main house is obviously the most jaw-dropping structure. With four bedrooms and various full and half bathrooms, the three-story home has a "cabinlike" feel thanks to "interior finishes made of rare reclaimed woods and wooden floorboards that were actually reclaimed from the former Sears building in Chicago." With high ceilings, a stone fireplace, a "cozy library nook," a family room that offers plenty of entertainment, and a "built-in pizza oven" in the kitchen, this place has everything you need to kick back and have a good time. And to top it all off, the home features a copper roof.
While that certainly sounds amazing, it does lack one thing that another one of the star's homes has: A wine mine!
Oprah's Telluride home has a wine mine
It shouldn't be surprising to find out that Oprah Winfrey's homes have some pretty cool features, but it might be a little unexpected to know that she has her very own wine mine. When the media mogul purchased her "high-tech ski home" in Telluride, Colo. for $14 million, per the Los Angeles Times, she found herself with "about 3.25 acres on the slope side of Mountain Village." As for the home itself, the five-bedroom, 6.5-bathroom, 8,700-square-foot residence happens to include a "56-foot-long, 1,600-bottle wine cellar" that resembles "a mining tunnel, complete with piped-in sounds of creaking wood and dripping water and an antique ore cart."
Of course, that's not the only impressive thing about this home. Along with a $70,000 limestone bathtub that keeps water at the same temperature throughout your soak and a heated driveway with sensors to tell Winfrey when guests pop up, there's also "a tower room, a theater, a seven-person hot tub," and an observation deck that can be accessed from a walkway "set up to sway in the treetops." On top of that, there's also a "fiber-optic bridge suspended above" the great room "that connects the master bedroom to an office," and a "funicular that looks [like] an old mining tram" that "leads to the ski slopes" in just one minute.
Home may be where the heart is, but for Winfrey, it's also where the super-cool (and super-pricey) luxuries are.