Oprah Winfrey is at the centre of a row after a journalist told her $100 was too much to spend on a Christmas present.

The 68-year-old talk show host – worth $2.5billion – was videoed out and about telling TMZ worker Colin Drummond to buy a jewellery box for his mum, after he told her his mother was struggling and he needed inspiration for a festive gift to cheer her up over the holiday.

Oprah replied: “A wonderful thing is that jewellery box that I had on Favourite Things (her famous gift ideas list.) A beautiful red jewellery box with a little... .“

When Colin, who says on LinkedIn he is TMZ’s Washington Bureau Chief, said: “That’s too expensive for me” she protested “It’s really not”, adding: “It’s like 100 or some dollars”.

He stuck to his opinion it was too much to spend, with Oprah looking surprised he wouldn’t spend $100 on his mum.

When Colin told her his mother liked “sentinel gifts”, Oprah advised the “perfect gift” was to “do a list of your top ten reasons why you love her, and you make a beautiful card, and it’s your top ten.”

The clip, which has racked up nearly 1 million views on TikTok, has left social media users divided.

Some have accused Oprah of being “out of touch”, with one saying: “A billionaire doesn't understand how it is for the rest of us.”

Others said $100 wasn’t too much to spend on an ailing mother, adding her second suggestion was “incredibly thoughtful”.

Another Oprah fan added: “Bless her heart. she was trying to help. I love both her suggestions. There was no judgement in her tone or reaction. love her sentimental gift idea.”

Oprah, one of America’s wealthiest self-made women, is said to makes $300 million per year and owns $127 million worth of real estate.

A recent online post revealed her lavish lifestyle, showing the chat show host and her Thanksgiving guests sitting around an 18-person table in the dining room of her 23,000-square-foot California mansion, which was filled with flowers and candles.

Other posts have shown Oprah, who uses a private chef and owns a $75 million private Gulfstream G650 jet, sipping on wine on her huge porch and enjoying movies in her home cinema, along with her massive walk-in closet.

Her main home is a sprawling mansion in Montecito, near the $14.65 million home where the Duke and Duchess of Sussex live.