Is There An Oprah Curse?

For over two decades, it's seemed that whatever Oprah Winfrey touches turns to gold. But recently, some of the queen of talk's endorsements have come back to bite her in the butt.

The first major gaffe came in September 2005, when Lady O selected the "memoir" A Million Little Pieces by James Frey as a selection for her book club. Oprah loved the "honesty" of the book and dedicated an entire hour to the book, which then went on to sell almost 5 million copies and spawn a follow-up, My Friend Leonard.  Of course, the entire book turned out to be a creation of the author's mind, forcing Oprah to publicly turn on Frey for being misleading.

And though the allegations have yet to be proven, some say that another recent Oprah fave, Jessica Seinfeld, might be headed for the same fate as Frey. Jessica, wife of comedian Jerry Seinfeld, is the author of the recently published cookbook Deceptively Delicious, which many argue borrows heavily from another book, The Sneaky Chef by Missy Chase Lapine, which was released earlier in 2007 and rejected from the publisher behind Jessica's book. While Miss Oprah appears to be waiting to see how things shake out in this case, Jessica has been very thankful for the publicity she's received from her appearance on Oprah's show, sending the host 21 pairs of pricey shoes as a thank you gift.

Now comes the scandal surrounding plastic surgeon Dr. Jan Adams, the doctor who performed the surgeries on Kanye West's mother Donda West (also a previous guest on the show) before her death last weekend, and is now the focus of the media's attention. Well, Dr. Adams was a guest on Oprah's show back in 2003, and some rumors have claimed that the talk show host actually recommended Adams to Donda, a claim that Oprah is now denying. 

"The reports... are absolutely untrue. Oprah Winfrey did not personally introduce nor recommend Dr. Jan Adams to Donda West. Dr. Adams taped a segment of The Oprah Winfrey Show on Oct. 28, 2003. Donda West appeared with her son during a taping of The Oprah Winfrey Show on April 27, 2005. Oprah Winfrey has not been in touch with either Dr. Adams or Donda West since their respective appearances."

Since the scandal broke, clips from Dr. Adams' appearance on Oprah have been removed from his Web site.

By Jocelyn Vena