Massive Oprah Biography by Kitty Kelley Hits Stores in April

Kitty Kelley's book on Oprah, New book on Oprah

Kitty Kelley, the best-selling author known for detailed, saucy and unauthorized biographies on the Reagans, the Kennedy clan and Frank Sinatra, has now focused her literary laser beams on American icon Oprah Winfrey. Kelley claims to have conducted 850 interviews over the three years she spent working on "Oprah - A Biography." Even at 544 pages, the book's publishers, Random House imprint Crown, are seeing nothing but dollar signs, and their excitement is palpable:

"Oprah has spent years eliciting intimate confessionals from her subjects, but she herself has a carefully guarded persona," says Crown executive director of publicity David Drake. "This is the first complete portrait of her - it will reveal Oprah as she has never been seen before."

When pressed to divulge details, he would only say, "It will cover all aspects of her life...It will be evenhanded. Kelley understands Oprah's cultural importance, and that is something she covers at length." Source: Crown announces on-sale date for Kitty Kelley's Oprah bio, EW.com

We'll see. Afterall, one man's "evenhanded" is another man's "she gets slammed!" And with Oprah possessing a personal fortune in excess of $1 billion and access to the sharpest legal talent in the field, I'd be a little concerned about litigation if this was my book. Think about it; considering Oprah's ubiquitous presence, she's kept the shades down on her personal life pretty successfully. But Crown is not concerned:

Drake went on to say that the company is not worried about any kind of backlash from Oprah herself, even though the book-loving talk-show queen remains on the air another 18 months (and there's no telling how she'll cover books on her new cable network, though she surely will). "I spoke to the people at Harpo this morning, and they were gracious to me," Drake says. He pointed out that Oprah has been aware of the book for some time, and that "she even said a few years ago, something along the lines of, 'I'm not encouraging it, I'm not discouraging it; this is America.'" Source: EW.com

I've just pre-ordered my copy online. How about YOU? [Update: Just to clarify - I was just joking there, folks. Not ever gonna be on my bookshelf.]