'Toddlers & Tiaras': Damitri'ana Wears 'African' National…
Autopsy: Trayvon Martin Died Of Single Gunshot Fired From…
(Read: 'Oprah Winfrey: Big Reveal is Long-Lost Sister.')
On the emotional episode, that the 56-year-old host called "one of the greatest surprises" of her life, Winfrey introduced the world to her younger sister Patricia.
The story goes that Patricia was given up for adoption by Winfrey's mother, Vernita Lee, at birth. Winfrey, who was 9 years old at the time, was living with other relatives and never knew her mom was pregnant.
Patricia went into the foster care system and was eventually adopted. She describes her childhood as "difficult" and decided to search for her biological family at the urging of her two children, Andre and Aquarius.
Patricia got a package from the state of Wisconsin with information on her biological family, but was told that her birth mother did not want to meet her. Patricia them saw Lee in an interview on the local news, and the information Lee shared about her deceased children was eerily similar to the results Patricia found in the family package.
In 2007, Patricia came to the realization that Lee was definitely her mother and Winfrey was her half-sister. She kept the discovery quiet while she made num
erous attempts to meet her biological family."Since I have been a person known in the public, there have been few times that I have been anywhere and not been sold out. There have been few times that you can bring anybody into your life and not have that person in some way betray you or use you or take advantage of you. What is so extraordinary about Patricia and Andre and Aquarius is that they have known this secret since 2007. She had tried and tried again to get responses from my mother and other people in the family and she never once thought to go to the press," a tearful Winfrey said.
Winfrey's two other siblings – a brother Jeffrey and a sister also named Patricia – are both deceased. She admitted that learning of the second Patricia left her "speechless."
"For the most part, my life has been an open book and on the show I think I've seen about everything, and I thought nothing could surprise me anymore, but let me tell you I was wrong," she explained.
During an untelevised post-show discussion with her audience, the Kosciusko, Miss.-bred media mogul confessed that she and Patricia have not had a lot of time to get acquainted because shortly after their initial meeting on Thanksgiving, Winfrey left to shoot her show in Australia.
"I am a strong believer at meeting people where there are, not in what you wish could happen," she said. "I don't feel like I've been reunited with a long lost sister, because I didn't know I had one. It's about building a relationship, woman to woman, out of respect -- mutual respect. First you start with friendship and then you grow to love somebody. I already love her for her character and already respect her for the person that she's shown herself to be. Relationships are about building something and not about what you have in your head. That's what I have learned from all of the people who've been on the show in past years."
The Emmy-winning talk show host confessed that discussing the family matter on camera with her mother was one of the greatest challenges of her career.
"That little interview that I did, it was one of the toughest things I've ever done! Trying to get my own mother to talk
about this was very freeing for me. I understood a lot of things just in that little time," she revealed.And though Winfrey recognizes that her mom's response to Patricia isn't the reaction akin to most TV family reunions, she understands that her mother's shame hasn't allowed her to become free of the guilt of abandoning her child in 1963.
"When I left my mother, I was thinking about my whole interview and why she was so shut down and so closed with Patricia. There's Patricia, you can feel her yearning for her mother -- our mother -- to say something. You can see her yearning for that and Vernita not giving it to her. Then I realized she can't! She can't give it to her because she has not been freed of the shame. Maybe this will do this for our mother, and maybe not. It'll take a while," she expressed.
Winfrey concluded: "My relationship with Patricia has nothing to do with how my mother chooses to react or doesn't choose to react. My mother is pretty shut down in many ways. Part of the reason she is probably shut down is because she's carried this secret and who knows how many others she's carried! But that shouldn't affect the way I behave with her or behave with Patricia and the rest of the family."
Related Articles
- Who's Got Next?: Who Could Succeed Oprah
- Oprah Winfrey: Big Reveal is Long-Lost Sister
- Talk Show Tune: Maury Povich Inspires Syleena Johnson Song
- Oprah Winfrey Relative Says Kitty Kelley Lied About Tell-All Biography
Comments: (16)
Add a comment
By: E on 1/25/2011 10:16AM
First of all, Oprah looks AMAZING in that purple dress! Second, that is of great character of Oprah's siter to have kept quiet, because family is family no matter how much money is involved. But is her sister comfortable with being in the spotlight now? Oprah must consider that too.
Reply to this Comment | Report This
By: Jamal on 1/25/2011 12:29PM
Winfrey sucks. This is what happens when you give a black woman money. Eat a salad sis.
Reply to this Comment | Report This
By: cher on 1/25/2011 2:43PM
you must be a Hater,this is what happen when a black woman earns her money, don't nobody give us anything, we work for what we have and what we want! Now you go eat a salad. Fruitty
Report This
By: Sharlene on 1/27/2011 12:44PM
Jamal, you sound like a very jealous person. She has been blessed and you should be proud of the sister.
Report This
By: wb7ptr on 1/25/2011 12:57PM
Oprah, great meeting your sister! I had the same thing happen a few years back ... followed by another sister, a brother and my birth father and mother. I met the mother first who had contact with one sister ... then the other siblings, and finally just a few years ago, my birth father. He and I were nearly identicial in our personality and interests which sort of blew both of our minds! One thing I remember was that he was a crew member in the early days of the Hurricane Hunters, the planes that fly into storms ... and when I told him I was a meteology student at the time, he just about passed out! And then I shared ham radio ... same story! He was into that also, and fishing, hunting, etc. The list goes on ...
As far as Patricia's mother ... give it time, I know for a fact (from meeting my birth mother and talking to her) that there's inexcapable emotional pain from having a child, or children taken from her. Having the kids come back may feel to her like being "haunted" by the past she wants to forget. Like I said, give it time ... she may realize eventually that is NOT the case! I was glad I met everyone, and my birth mother felt the SAME way at first!
Lynn in New Orleans, LA.
Reply to this Comment | Report This
By: "DimePiece" on 1/25/2011 1:07PM
I didn't see it on TV but, I'm happy for the BOTH OF THEM! Vernita I think, will come around. Right now, I guess she is still feelin guilty for keepin this a secret for so many years. I PRAY THAT SHE DOES! I also PRAY that the family will HEAL, GET CLOSER, and, this will be a
HAPPY ENDING!
Reply to this Comment | Report This
By: Just me on 1/25/2011 2:04PM
I've had to deal with a similar situation myself. I fathered a child outside of my marriage many years ago. The little girl was 5yrs old before I ever knew she existed. My wife learned about it shortly after I did. My wife and I, thank God and the strength of her forgiveness, survived my terrible betrayal and abhorrent behavior to have over 30yrs in our, now strong, marriage. But, we agreed to keep her a secret. I met all of my financial obligations to the child while actually raising two other daughters until her eventual emancipation. But, I had never met her. There was always a yearning to meet/know her and form a relationship but, I was afraid of what that might do to the recovery of our marriage. Yes, I was more worried about my marriage than I was my own child. It was and is selfish. As well as the shame of having done what I had done. Previously, they hadn't known her or about my affair. They never thought their daddy would do such a thing.
My other daughters met her before I did. It gets complicated but at 22yrs old, I met my daughter for the first time last year.
We met in a public restaurant where both could be comfortable. When we reached each other, we hugged and cried and held on to each other as though it were life itself.
She's married now and living out of state but there is a depth and closeness to our relationship that is different from the daughters I raised. She doesn't care or ask for explanations. Nor, is she angry or bitter. She just let's me love her while she loves me back. Bottom line, things as hardly ever as bad as you imagine them to be. Everybody survived and I feel more whole than I ever have.
Reply to this Comment | Report This
By: Happy man on 1/25/2011 3:43PM
Wow… that was an amazing story!
Reply to this Comment | Report This
By: Ann on 1/25/2011 5:37PM
I watched the show and had concerns ,why would it take 4 to 5 years to investigate to be sure Patricia was Oprah's sister or was this a season finale for Oprah's show? Family secrets do destroy family members into bad behavior and sometimes death instead of dealing with the truth.This is and still common that Parents would give their children away or place them in foster care in the past.Now,the laws have become so severe for mothers that can't handle their children for many reasons or broken relationships that children are placed in jeopardy with their lives and it becomes death,severe abuse ,sold into sex slavery or street kids.Hopefully,Oprah story will awaken all of us to stop rhetoric and really protect all children in our society.I hope Oprah will have a healthy relationship with this sister,Patricia that she could not have with the other sister and let in be the grace of God giving Oprah a second chance with all her kindness to the world.
Reply to this Comment | Report This
By: Sharlene on 1/27/2011 12:47PM
Because Oprah has a lot of money and she had to make sure that her sister was ligit. Anybody can say they are a relative so she had to do a lot of investigating to find out the truth.
Report This