Oprah’s Big Secret Revealed

In the promo ad for Monday’s show, Winfrey says “In the past 25 years, the Oprah Show has reunited a lot of people. I thought I’d seen it all, but this is the miracle of all miracles.”

Oprah Winfrey has one big secret of her very own. Winfrey promised to reveal a big secret on her show, and it’s out! This secret is about Winfrey’s family. The Associated Press reports that Winfrey has a half-sister, Patricia. Oprah opened up on the show about her mother, Vernita Lee, kept her pregnancy a secret from her family. Lee was pregnant and gave Patricia up for adoption when Oprah was nine years old, over 50 years ago.

Patricia approached Lee after watching interviews with revealing tidbits of information that were later confirmed by DNA results. On Monday’s episode, Oprah announced that she learned about her half-sister Patricia last November. When finding out about her sister, Winfrey said she was “literally shaken to the core.” The family met on Thanksgiving Day; the Patricia and Oprah (accompanied by Stedman Graham) made a “home video” of their first meeting in Milwaukee.

Winfrey’s sister, Patricia, was born in 1963 in Wisconsin. At the time, Winfrey was eight years old and living with her father in Tennessee. At birth, Patricia was given up for adoption and lived in foster homes until she was adopted when she was seven. Patricia became a mother herself at the age of 17, and later had second child six years later. She was a single mother and worked two jobs to support her two kids.

Oprah wanted to reveal the news on her show so she could prevent the media from exploiting the surprising news. On the show, Oprah got emotional and started to choke up when telling her studio audience. She revealed how she was so grateful that her half-sister was so understanding in keeping their secret as Oprah prepared to share the news to the public on her final season. Oprah stated her sister “never once thought to sell this story” to the press; Oprah has been exploited as a celebrity in the past and she is so grateful for Patricia.

Winfrey’s Monday show is aired in 145 countries around the world, the secret is out!

Images from Wikimedia Commons and wrestlingentropy via Flickr.