Oprah Winfrey: Wealth Is 'A Good Thing'

Oprah Winfrey

Oprah Winfrey is a rich woman – and she's got no problem with that.

Speaking in Baltimore on Monday at a fundraiser for Beth Tfiloh Dahan Community School, Winfrey told the audience, "I have lots of things, like all these Manolo Blahniks. I have all that and I think it's great. I'm not one of those people like, 'Well, we must renounce ourselves.' No, I have a closet full of shoes and it's a good thing."

Winfrey, 52, who is reportedly worth more than $1 billion, said she doesn't feel guilty about her wealth. "I was coming back from Africa on one of my trips," she said. "I had taken one of my wealthy friends with me. She said, 'Don't you just feel guilty? Don't you just feel terrible?' I said, 'No, I don't. I do not know how me being destitute is going to help them.' Then I said when we got home, 'I'm going home to sleep on my Pratesi sheets right now and I'll feel good about it.' "

The talk-show host also discussed an academy for girls that she's building in South Africa. "I want to offer opportunities to girls who have nothing but the will to learn," she said. "I'm going to be opening my school on January 2, and it will be one of the great days of my life to see 450 girls, most of them orphans who would not have had the opportunity for education in their lives, come to school."

Winfrey was the featured speaker at the event, which helped raise more than $1.4 million for scholarships to Baltimore's largest Jewish school.