TELEVISION superstar Oprah Winfrey has reportedly looked at a house in Bermuda with a view to buying it.

A source informed the Mid-Ocean News that the host of The Oprah Winfrey Show viewed a property in Tucker's Town, but has not yet made a commitment to purchasing it.

However, it is understood that the $25-million property is owned by a local. And that should rule out the possibility of Ms Winfrey being allowed to buy it.

Since February this year, when Government changed the rules on property sales, foreigners have only been allowed to buy homes which have an annual rental value (ARV) above $126,000 and which are being sold by non-Bermudians.

At the time of the change, Labour & Home Affairs Minister Randy Horton said it was time "to turn off the tap" of land falling into foreign hands.

Ms Winfrey is listed by Forbes as the 507th wealthiest person in the world and has a net worth of around $1.3 billion.

Five years ago, the-then Premier Jennifer Smith wrote to Ms Winfrey in a failed attempt to be interviewed on the show.

Brought up in humble surroundings in rural Mississippi, Ms Winfrey enjoyed a remarkable rise through the broadcasting ranks to become a media phenomenon.

Her show is produced by her own company, Harpo Productions, Inc., and is seen by an estimated 49 million viewers a week in the US. It is also broadcast internationally in 117 countries, including Bermuda.

Ms Winfrey began her broadcasting career at WVOL radio in Nashville while still in high school. At the age of 19, she became the youngest person and the first African-American woman to anchor the news at Nashville's WTVF-TV.

In 1984, Oprah moved to Chicago to host WLS-TV's morning talk show, AM Chicago, which became the number one local talk show just one month after she began.

In less than a year, the show expanded to one hour and was renamed The Oprah Winfrey Show. It entered national syndication in 1986, becoming the highest-rated talk show in television history. In 1988, she established Harpo Studios, a production facility in Chicago, making her the third woman in the American entertainment industry (after Mary Pickford and Lucille Ball) to own her own studio.