A SHOCK new biography claims Oprah Winfrey had secret lesbian affairs and her production company is run like a cult.

Winfrey - who built a billion-dollar empire persuading celebrities down to members of the public to reveal the truth about themselves - is a "big phony:" when it comes to her own past, an explosive new book charges.

Fox news reports that Kitty Kelley's latest unauthorised biography "Oprah" details how:



Winfrey concocted stories about sexual abuse she suffered as a child - and grossly exaggerated the poverty she was brought up in.



She went to great lengths to conceal her "lesbian affairs" - including hefty payouts - and publicly attached herself to Graham to appear more normal to her audience of housewives.



She lavished romantic gifts - including a diamond toe ring - on ABC talking head Diane Sawyer.



Winfrey sold her body to earn extra money and has even described herself as a teen "prostitute."



She doesn't know the true identity of her biological father.



Her relationship with her own mother is so cold that Winfrey won't even let the older woman have her phone number.



Winfrey was born in Kosciusko, Miss., in 1954, and, the way she likes to tell it, she was so impoverished that she never had any new dresses or dolls and had to adopt two cockroaches as pets, naming them Melinda and Sandy.



But her family says that's nonsense.



She may not have been well off, but Oprah was relatively "spoiled" as a little girl, her cousin said.

Read more: Oprah's fantasy childhood

Originally published as Oprah Winfrey's 'lesbian affairs'