Oprah Winfrey is ending her girls’ school in South Africa after 20 years

July 30, 2026 - 08:19

Oprah Winfrey is shutting down her leadership academy for girls in South Africa after 20 years of operation. The school, which opened in 2007 in Henley-on-Klip, was designed to provide elite education for academically gifted girls from disadvantaged backgrounds. Winfrey personally invested over $40 million into the institution, which faced early controversy when a dormitory matron was accused of abuse.

The "Color Purple" star confirmed that while the physical campus is closing, her commitment to young women's education in the country is not ending. She will continue to invest through an expanded scholarship program that will send South African girls to other top schools. Winfrey described the decision as a natural evolution rather than a retreat, saying the original mission was always to create opportunity, not a permanent institution.

Over the years, the academy graduated hundreds of students, many of whom went on to attend universities in the United States and Europe. Winfrey has said that watching these young women succeed was the greatest reward of her philanthropic work. The scholarship program will now allow her to support a wider network of students without the overhead of running a full boarding school. No specific timeline for the campus closure has been announced, but current students will be helped with transfers.