Her current life as a super-rich woman and one of the most loved and successful television personalities of all time is a very far cry from how Oprah Winfrey started her life in Kosciusko, Mississippi. Winfrey was born to a single teenage mother, raised by her grandmother, and once so poor that she was sent to school in a potato sack because she didn't have any clothes. Her rise from those humble beginnings is the very embodiment of the American dream.
Oprah has spoken often of how much she valued the care of her grandmother in Mississippi, but it was when she moved to Nashville with her biological father than she began to believe in herself. She entered - and won - the Miss Black Tennessee pageant when she was 17, and won a job on a radio station thanks to her local fame. A few years later, she was on TV, and now she sits at the head of her own network.
To insure one’s house, one’s car or to underwrite a life insurance policy, that is common practice. But who would pay an insurance premium for his/her thumb, legs or smile? Stars, of course.
At the top of the ranking are the legs of Mariah Carey, worth 810 million USD: The diva became, in 2006, the Gillette brand muse for the advertising campaign «Legs of a Goddess». She then took out an insurance policy with London Lloyds to protect her legs, a decision that is far from being insignificant. Among its customers, the London insurer then included several icons of music, such as Bob Dylan or Rod Stewart.
David Beckham’s body insured for 195 million USD: European champion with Manchester United in 1999, David Beckham was in 2006 the most renowned footballer of the planet. In relation to his sporting activities, he took out an insurance cover for his legs. The huge amount paid for his insurance would reportedly exceed the 103 million USD disbursed by Real Madrid for the cover of Christiano Ronaldo in 2009. The fashion model would later extend his insurance cover to his entire body.
15 million USD in insurance for Kim Kardashian’s curves: The curves of Kim Kardashian are her number one beauty asset. The reality TV star, who is crazy about plastic surgery, has underwritten an insurance policy worth 15 million USD to protect her famous butt.
The culinary critic Egon Ronay assured his taste buds: The famous Hungarian culinary critic has insured his taste buds since 1957, for the amount of 400 000 USD. An original insurance policy which allows him to cover his sense of taste without which he will no longer be able to practice his job.