*There are SPOILERS for today’s episode of Oprah, if you care.
If you’ve seen the promos for today’s episode of Oprah, you know that Oprah is going to reveal something SHOCKING. Well, the secret is out. Be prepared to be SHOCKED TO YOUR VERY CORE. Oprah has a half-sister. Her mom had a baby and gave the baby up for adoption before Oprah’s mom met her dad. UPDATE: I got that wrong. Oprah was 9 years old when her mom gave this baby up for adoption. This woman is Oprah’s only living sibling, apparently.
As promised, Oprah Winfrey spilled the beans on her shocking family secret during her show, broadcast in Chicago Monday morning.
The big reveal: Winfrey, 56, discovered a half-sister she never knew she had. Named Patricia, the sibling was given up for adoption as a child in 1963, and now lives in Milwaukee, Wisc.
The talk show guru learned about the long-lost relative in November, and they met up in November.
Patricia had long been searching for the identity of the mother who gave her up for adoption; in 2007, she discovered that world-famous Winfrey was her half-sister.
As for Oprah, she says she was 9 years old and living with her father, Vernon, when her mother gave birth to Patricia and gave her up. Winfrey didn’t even know about her mom’s pregnancy, she says.
“I thought I’d seen it all,” Winfrey teased about the discovery on Friday. “But this, my friends, is the miracle of all miracles.”
She added that the news “literally shook me to my core.” The mogul has been frank on her show about her difficult past: She was born into poverty, sexually abused at a young age and lost a baby at age 14.
[From Us Weekly]
I feel weird because although my family is strange, we never have these Jerry Springer moments of missing children given up for adoption or multiple potential baby-daddies or long-lost relatives in Wisconsin (exotic!). So… I have no frame of reference. Still, this seems like a big “meh”. Isn’t Oprah’s family really screwed up in general? Wasn’t it one of her relatives that got her pregnant when she was a kid? And now we find out that her mom had a baby and didn’t tell anyone. It’s all so Mad Men. Oprah’s mom is Peggy. Gayle is Don Draper, I think.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
in other lottery news…
her sister hit the jackpot! 🙂
The bigger surprise would have been if she had not used this for self-promotion.
That sister is sayin’ CAA CHINNNG! $$$
Eh.
I found out a have a half sister a few years ago. I know her name, where she lives etc but sadly can’t make contact. Her Mum made my Dad promise never to tell her.
She grew up believing the man who reared her was her real father. Makes me sad some days, especially as I have no siblings and her parents have now passed but I can’t devastate her world and rewrite her whole history.
Shut up Oprah.
I don’t really have anything pertinent to say the subject – but I’m going to take this window of opportunity to say. . . GO PACK GO!!!
(I flove you, Wisco.)
@Kaiser
“I feel weird because although my family is strange, we never have these Jerry Springer moments…”
Sorry, but you can not blame “IT” all on your “strange” family. Society evolves and your “strange” became the new norm decades ago…lol.
Wow, Emmy! That’s so sad 🙁
*yawn*
Let’s see, what can Oprah reveal about herself next?
She’s known this two years and conveniently reveals it now. Hmmmmm, ratings anyone?!
Mom’s is deep. I want to read HER life story. That’s who Kitty Kelley should have stalked and exposed – Oprah’s Madere, not O. Now I know why Oprah was out the box as the apple tends not to fall far from the tree Bless her heart for overcoming her gene pool. Wonder if baby Patricia was able to do the same?
Maybe I’m having a slow day or something, but can someone read the timeline and explain it to me?
Her mom gave the baby up before meeting oprah’s dad, but oprah was 9 and says her mom hid the pregnancy so she never saw it?? Good god, I need a nap and a drink.
Interesting, and hey Wisconsin is very exotic! We have lots of different types of cheese. Ha ha, thanks for the love MissyA – GO PACK GO!
One- Kaiser, you make me laugh. And two- I’m surprised Oprah didn’t tag onto the State of the Union Address tomorrow night to share her “shocking secret”. She sure thinks she’s all that.
No offense to O, but who gives shit? Why the fuck is this news that a room full of people hoping to get a free car or vacation should give a shit about?
oh I thought the secret was going to be that Oprah and Stedman were secretly married but I guess there would have been a paper trail.
Sorry, peeps, I had the timeline f-cked up. Oprah was nine years old when her mom gave Patricia up for adoption.
Ha! Photo Jojo, you are absolutely right. Frankly, this isn’t that weird. I feel like most people have that awkward spot on the family tree, or some indiscretion or something in their family. Whatever.
Oprah is such an egomaniac. Like the entire nation is waiting with bated breath to hear her family’s “shocking secret.”
@RHONYC – EXACTLY!!
Can you imagine what a mindf*ck that must be for the half-sister? Finding out that you’re related to one of the biggest celebs out there?
Emmy- Same thing in my family. Right before my dad died I found out we have another sister born the same time as my sister. No one else knows. Her parents ( and the man she beleived was her dad) died. Why disrupt everyones lives now? What good would it do? Sad. I imagine there are a lot of families that go through the same thing.
I, too, am curious about Oprah’s mother. You have a 9 year old child, but you never tell her she had a sister? She didn’t see her mom for such a long time that her mom could get pregnant, carry to term and give birth without seeing her at all? Sad. Very sad.
re: your offhand “exotic” Wisconsin comment.
I just choked on a carrot over that. You might have killed me.
Thanks for the laugh though, Kaiser. It’s an ugly day in Moscow and I needed it.
@Emmy – I would still try to contact her. This affects your life as much as everyone else’s. Her parents have passed. She probably will continue to regard the man who raised her as her real father, even in light of historical corrections.
Oh Emmy, you should rewrite your sister’s history. Maybe she wants a sister now more than ever.
My girlfriend (who was adopted) found out that she had a full sister. She also found her biological parents, who were both useless, and went against their wishes, called her sister and introduced herself. They’ve been tight ever since. Honestly, wouldn’t you want to know that you had a sister if you did? And there’s nothing wrong with not being biologically related to someone you love.
Thanks islandwalker, it helps knowing you have similar experience.
Obviously its not something I can discuss in my real life.Wasn’t really expecting to reveal family secrets on a celeb blog:)
good lord i cant stand oprah. i agree with the ego maniac statements. did anyone see this weeks soup? she could not fathom that she had never been invited to be on the daily show. no one that worked for her wanted to tell her that no, she had never been invited. sorry o, not everyone is as impressed with you as you are
Emmy, I too have a somewhat similar background. I want to tell you that I agree with Wif.
Maybe you can contact her after her mother has passed away. It’s all very delicate because you probably hate to inflict emotional turmoil on an elderly woman.
But I do think there is at least a 50-50 chance that your sister would like to know that you are out there.
Best to you.
The sister looks ALOT like O. Same body type and everything.
I find it hard to believe that the family grapevine would not have let out some hint of this little bulletin long before this year. And how interesting that Okra decides to reveal it now, at this perfect moment.
Yeah, I hear a lot of clanging cash registers on both sides of the aisle here.
Personally, Emmy, I think if you were ever going to reveal your secret to your 1/2 sister, it should have been done while her parents were still alive so that she could get questions answered.
As much as I know you would like to get to know her, I think it would be unkind to upset her life now. It would certainly change how she views her late mother and leave her with a million questions that she could never get answered. I don’t know that it would be wise to bring that sort of angst into someone’s life.
*Hijack* Zelda – Have you ever had the pleasure of eating fried cheese curds at a county/state fair? The crackly hot texture of the curd skin as you crunch down and release the piping hot gelatinous cheesy magma goodness. . . the way the smell of fresh cut grass and the barnyard full of livestock 20 ft away intermingle and tickles the back of your palate as you choke down your cheese because you’re eating it too fast. . . Follow it down with a long, cool draw of a (New Glarus) mircobrew and then you’re ready for dessert – more beer and cream puffs!
My god, it’s not just exotic. . . it’s Nirvana!
@Emmy and Islandwalker, my dad had an affair and still will not own up to being the father of his mistress’ son (even though he has the man’s childhood photos in his wallet, has undergone counseling with him, and supports him financially-at 20 y/o). I too am an “only child” and would really like for either the young man or my father to admit paternity. However, my father is financially dependent on my mother (and admitting paternity would get him “cut off”). Maybe I’ll find out for sure when he’s dead.
Whatever the case, at least I know I’m not the one responsible for his jail bird behind and I’m sure Oprah is relieved that she isn’t responsible for her new found sister. Although I’m sure she’ll be generous, if she’s a halfway decent human being.
Wisconsin may not be exotic but it has some beautiful parts. We are not all dairy farms. Visit madison or door country sometime 🙂
@MissyA
hahahaha!
There’s something altogether sexual about that description
so the half-sister found this out in 2007? 3 years ago? and oprah came out with this just now? why the 3 year wait? maybe to get a jump on the sister taking it to the tabloids first and making money off of it maybe? who knows. you’d think if this was so important to oprah, she’d have come out with this news 3 years ago. i guess it wasnt.
Well, I glad thats over, I have not slept in DAYZ
Emmy—-sorry I didn’t read the details of your situation carefully—I’m juggling a couple of things here.
But, truly, since the parents have passed away, you have absolutely no moral or ethical reason to keep this secret.
If you wish to make contact with your half sister, you really should. If she resists contact with you, then so be it. You’ll have to accept it. But if you have a desire to try, with the knowledge that you may be rebuffed, then go for it. You may be able to form a relationship with your half-sister, and that would be a very lovely thing.
Oprah is getting on my nerves and I am glad this is her last season. It seems lately that if she isn’t talkin’ about herself, then she ain’t talkin’.
@ beanie
Show me the pic of her sis! I followed the us weekly link and I don’t see a pic. I wanna seeeeeeee
i’m watching it, and i find it quite touching.
@connie: saw the soup and yes she was very annoying, I watch the daily show, good that she has never been on!
MissyA: NEW GLARUS! Oh how I love Spotted Cow, my FAVORITE beer! I have to pick up a case everytime I am in WI.
As someone who does genealogy as a hobby. Be careful about how you handle secrets about a persons biological parents.
(I have unearth many things I am sure that are not common knowledge in my own family.)
It can be devastating.
I would recommend using a middle man to approach the person. (lawyer or pastor)
And give them the opportunity to make a decision whether they want to meet the person, who is shattering their perception of their parents.
And childhood.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Oprah’s Mother has always been kind of shady. Have you never notice that Oprah has never had her on the show?
She has had her Father on the show numerous times.
But I have only seen her Mother, once, mention on the show. And it was because she was sitting in the audience.
And Oprah barely even knowledge it. It was a random “oh this is my Mother”. And moved on.
Matter of fact she had her genealogy done for the PBS series with Dr. Gates. I wonder if his researchers unearth this child back then??
I’m adopted and have found my fathers side of the family. He refuses to acknowledge me as his wife has convinced him that he’s probably not my father.
I am the splitting image of one of his sisters and talk regularly with his siblings who reached out and found me.
I have 4 half siblings and I am waiting until the last one turns 18 before I reach out to him again, and possibly to them.
They can choose not to have a relationship with me but I believe it should be their choice. His siblings fully believe that he wants to reach out to me but fears the wrath of his wife.
I guess what I’m saying is every situation like this is pretty difficult.
That’s sad, and even sadder is she’s exploiting a family tragedy for ratings.
Pet peeve: Why is she on every bloody cover of her “O” magazine. Even Martha Stewart put her chows or her horses or something else other than her face on every cover of her magazine.
How does Patricia feel about all this hoopla? Ugh, I would hate to have that “It’s all about me” woman as a half sister..
So what other secrets is Oprah hiding?
Wasn’t there a story about when Oprah was being molested by a family member (I think it was her uncle or cousin) and she finally got the nerve to tell her mom about it, and her mom didn’t believe her?
I can’t remember where I heard/read it, but it’s no wonder Oprah has such a strained relationship with her mother. Plus a whole lot of other issues.
“Be prepared to be SHOCKED TO YOUR VERY CORE.”
Lol Kaiser!
Nice of Oprah to hold this news until she could make money out of it.
I know Oprah isn’t close to her mother and she has made that clear over the years. But I feel so sad for her half-sister to have found her mother and contacted her quite a few times (through the adoption agency) over the last three years and her mother (Oprah’s mother) rejected meeting her every time. How devastating to have your mother reject you yet again. A very classy woman to hold this in these last three years because she didn’t want to hurt Oprah. Most people would have sold this story and made a lot of money.
Annie-000, Oprah didn’t know about it for three years. No one in her family knew. Her half-sister started trying to contact her mother through her records in 2007 and rejected meeting her daughter several times and told no one. She realized from the records she had after seeing her mother on the news that that was her birth mother because of info given out. She never let the info out because she did not want to hurt Oprah. Oprah didn’t know. Her sister finally met Oprah’s niece in her hometown and showed her her info and they believed her and told Oprah last October. Oprah met her sister on Thanksgiving.
As far as contacting/disrupting people’s lives: my thought is you could approach it this way-You didn’t want to intrude on their life, and while you hope that you might have the chance to get to know each other at some point, you thought they should at least have all the pertinent medical history. What if there is illness/disease/disorder that can be explained through family medical history? Doesn’t that half-sibling deserve to have that information? Wouldn’t it be good to know if high cholesterol, diabetes, heart disease, etc are on your biological father’s side?
Am watching the dvr’d show now. Probably the classiest way one could handle a situation such as this. So often, it’s the father that brings this kind of shame to a family, so this is truly a game changer. Even the specifics of this story are bizarre beyond belief (same name as the other, deceased sister).
Hats off to Oprah and, especially, Patricia (the sister). She’s a true gem. May the trials of her past be replaced with a great big old life full of Favorite Things.
Still totally in the dark about Mama Vernita, tho. That’s a strange lady in a lot of pain. I’m sure the abuse she suffered pales in comparison to what Oprah went thru. Bless her remaining days as they look like they’re dwindling fast. I hope they can now be lived in peace with a clear(er) conscious.
Thanks for that, Jayna. I was reading this and noticed the show was on so I tuned in. Apparently, Oprah’s other sister or half-sister was named Patricia, too. Oprah had a falling out with this woman, who sold Oprah’s story about having a baby at 14 to the tabloids. Then the sibling died while she and Oprah were still estranged. I suspect Oprah feels some guilt about that so when this little sister came along, also named Patricia, she may have decided it was an opportunity to make some sort of amends. I also think that, because both of Oprah’s other siblings had died, this was another opportunity to have a family again.
Just my impression, but it looks to me like the sister is genuine in her affection and motives, but both of her kids have serious $$$ signs in their eyes. Oprah said they really pushed their mom to move forward on this.
Does Oprah know how crass she has become? She used to be about “living your best life.” Now she’s closer to Jerry Springer.
I think her sense of what is real and what is showbiz have merged, so she can no longer distinguish between her private priorities and her public life. She seems to think her audience are her friends.
Same thing happened to Tom Cruise. He exploited everything in his life for public recognition until there was no longer any difference in his head between Mr. Mission Impossible and Tiny Tom.
Didn’t she say that she was sent to live with her father after she was a rebelling teen at her mother’s, now she was there at nine? Her mother Verl and father Vern never married. Their names sound like there might be another “hidden secret” and that’s why she claims he is not her father. Leave it to her to take cameras into her mother’s home to question her on this. I am sure she figures she paid for that little apartment so she can do as she pleases. She disgusts me.
I watched part of the show, and although much of it was handled with as much consideration and honesty as possible, some of Oprah’s behavior made my jaw drop.
She kept saying that this younger Patricia was “a Beloved moment” — like the return of the dead Patricia, a do-over for the whole family, a nice version of the drug-addicted now-dead Patricia. It was both a rejection of the deceased sister, and a horrible denial of the individuality and unique life experience of this younger Patricia.
Much of Oprah’s yammer had to do about how all this affected HER, and not this woman, abandoned as a child, who had finally found some of her birth family, and had to do it in this newly public way. Again, it struck me unpleasantly with regard to Oprah’s frequent clueless narcissism.
@connie: Ditto.
@Moreaces: lol.
Ole Vernita sure got around, didn’t she? The newly found 1/2 sister & her 2 children had ample opportunity to “sell the story” but didn’t. I think that shows a lot of class. I wish them well. Not everybody is out for the gold..maybe she would like to enjoy having a sister. Hell, maybe Oprah would also..I say leave ’em alone & let them work on it.
That was such a let-down! A long-lost sibling? The timing is pretty coincidential. The half-sister kept quiet for three years, my arse. She’s hit the jackpot for sure. A sister that has billions of dollars in the bank. Oh yeah, wait until the interviews and the tell-all book come out.
Oprah is human,and therefore,flawed….the way people kiss her a*se,Its bound to affect any human being,even her….and has….
Over the yrs I have watched her turn cynical about people around her.She has said she feels like an ATM machine.Can you imagine going through life having people only be nice to you for what they can get out of you??
I feel sympathy for the great O…..to suddenly discover you have a sister, all the lies,a mum who didnt believe her etc.She must feel betrayed….And,again,I may not have the most perfect life,may need money etc but I am blessed and glad I am not in her shoes.
BFD.
@Really – My parents (who happen to be recovering alcoholics) always make sure there’s a 12 pack of Spotted Cow waiting for me on the porch whenever I’m home. Best. Beer. Ever. And they always send me back to Denver with (and I’m not exaggerating ) +15lbs of cheese.
*Sigh* I miss home.
Shocking. Another story on the Oprah show about Oprah’s own life. I’ve never seen anybody find herself more fascinating than Oprah. Truly, she thinks everything about herself is actually just that fascinating.
I’ll be shocked when she does a celeb interview without making it half or more about her life. Or if she’ll understand we WANT her to retire for real now.
That’s it? Well that wasn’t core shocking, or whatever Oprah described it to be.
Unbelievable! Vernita Oprah’s mother is something else, if I was Patricia I would keep my distance from her, to be put up for adoption and end up in foster care, foster care most of the time is like hell on earth and Vernita her mother seem as if she was willing to let that child stay hidden forever. Oprah had to bring it out or else the tabloids would. But you could see the shame on Oprah’s face! Oprah you have a devious mother what kind of life did she lead, how sad. Judging from the looks of Patricia’s face she seem to be angel like. Not to get into race, but is Patricia half-white? She is two shades lighter than Oprah.
When I was about 13 I discovered that my dad had been married before and I had 2 (much) older half-siblings. I met them once.
Oh that same year I also discovered that my grandfather had been previously married and had another son. Would that make him my half-uncle?
My family loves skeletons.
#68 Well I guess my grandma was “devious” too since she put her baby up for adoption because she couldn’t afford to take care of her. Is every woman who puts their baby up for adoption rather than aborting the baby “devious”?In the 60’s birth mothers were told to forget the child there was no open adoption, there was tremendous amount of shame associated with adoption. Don’t judge. As for ratings if Oprah wanted to take advantage of this she could have aired the show doing Feb sweeps.
I don’t get it , she didn’t know she had a sister until recently?
But what about this People Mag article, it was published in 2007 :
http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20009251,00.html
47 years is a long f*cking time for the mom to be hiding the poor lady from the family dont’cha think? I think that’s a big family secret. And Oprah didn’t know for 2 years. She just found out in November. But this poor lady knew since 2007 and couldn’t get thru to anyone til recently. And didn’t tell anybody. Isn’t that a big deal?