Karrine Steffans: Superhead author compares herself to Maya Angelou and Oprah Winfrey after Twitter slut-shaming

Karrine Steffans rose to notoriety after bedding some of the biggest names in hip-hop, but the author refuses to be defined by her salacious past. During a recent Twitter storm, the 37-year-old compared herself to media mogul Oprah Winfrey and the late Maya Angelou, saying that fans should not forget the two women were also promiscuous.

Lil Wayne's ex, who recently tied the knot with former Scandal star Columbus Short, launched into a tirade when she was slut-shamed and accused of sleeping her way to the top. She tweeted: "At 26, I was already a New York Times bestselling author, a millionaire, and sitting next to Oprah. Be inspired. You can do I"

In a serious of messages she reminded many of her detractors that neither Winfrey, who is worth $3 bn (1.9bn) or Angelou had squeaky-clan pasts and managed to be successful despite their reputations.

"@Oprah was a hoe. She was promiscuous after her rape, admittedly. Same story. More money doesn't erase truth.

"Oprah was promiscuous. Maya Angelou was a prostitute. A woman's sexual organs, their functions or reputation will never define or stop her.

"You revere great women but give no credit to their sexual traumas and repercussions for making them stronger, better, wiser women.

A renowned philanthropist, Winfrey was born to an unmarried teenage mother in rural Mississippi and went through a great deal of hardship during in her childhood. In 2012 she opened up about her sexual abuse at the hands of an uncle and a family friend, telling the Daily Mail: "Anybody who has been verbally abused or physically abused will spend a great deal of their life rebuilding their esteem."

When Steffans was accused of slut-shaming Winfrey, she revealed that she too was victim of rape. She hit back: "As a rape survivor who is constantly slut shamed, I can make the point boldly."

In 2005, Steffans, whose conquests earned her the nickname "SuperHead", released her book, Confessions Of A Video Vixen, a tell-all book where she describes her sexual relationships with music artists like Sean "Puffy" Combs, Jay-Z, Wyclef, Usher and many others.