Oprah Winfrey Reveals Surprise Half-Sister

By PopEater Staff Posted Jan 24th 2011 10:14AM

Oprah Winfrey's big family secret? The talk-show queen announced on 'The Oprah Winfrey Show' Monday that she has discovered a half-sister, named Patricia, who was secretly given up for adoption in 1963. Patricia, who lives in Milwaukee, said that she discovered Oprah was her half-sister while searching for her birth mother in 2007. She spent the next three years trying to contact Winfrey with the news and finally reached her late last year. They met on Thanksgiving Day.

Winfrey was 9 and living with her father, Vernon Winfrey, in 1963 and said she had no idea her mother, Vernita Lee, was even pregnant. According to Winfrey, her mother could not afford to keep Patricia.

In a confusing twist, Winfrey's previously known half-sister, who passed away in 2003, was also named Patricia and lived in Milwaukee. Oprah said that her mom did not name the daughter she gave away and that it was just a coincidence.

Patricia is believed to be 48 and has two adult children, a son and a daughter, meaning Winfrey has a niece and nephew to add to the family as well. Patricia said that she continued her quest to contact Winfrey so her children could know their aunt.

Winfrey praised her half-sister for not going to the press with the story.

It's been a revelatory year for Oprah Winfrey, who, as her legendary talk show winds down its 25th and final year on the air, has stepped out of her comfort zone to address a number of rumors about herself, including talk that her friendship with Gayle King is actually a romantic relationship and her thoughts of suicide as a teenager after she learned of an unwanted pregnancy.

"I was given some news that literally shook me to my core. This time, I'm the one being reunited," Winfrey said in advertisements for today's episode of 'Oprah.' "I was keeping a family secret for months, and on Monday you're going to hear it straight from me."

Earlier Monday, BlackVoices.com reported that Winfrey learned sometime around Thanksgiving of last year that her mother had another daughter. Winfrey, 56, believed for years that she was her parents' only surviving child after her two younger siblings, Jeffrey and Patricia, passed away.

As soon as Winfrey announced that she would reveal "news that literally shook me to my core" about "a family secret," the Internet lit up with speculation. "There has been speculation in the past that Vernon Winfrey is not her biological father," In Touch Weekly Senior Editor Amy Palmer told CBS News, "so this is something people are saying it could be."

Others -- including Kitty Kelley, who famously wrote an unauthorized biography of Winfrey last year -- had been correctly claiming that Winfrey would reveal a long-lost family member.

Tags: oprah winfrey

Comments

(69)

Tuesday 25 January

By cathyc13211

Vote down Vote up Report this

Also you have to take into account she had a "Father" too. Who knows how many more siblings she has through him. I bet she has a hugh extended family. Wait ... does she even know who her father was?

By amonte takumba

This news show and that even our most beloved stars can't always anticipate the new path life shows us.

By Deb

Isn’t it so amazing how so many ppl can express so much hate towards one black person? Racists never cease to amaze me. These ppl hate as naturally as the sun arise and then sets. They have so much evil in them, they just can’t help it. …so much hate for black ppl. Today the hate is directed at Oprah, yesterday it was Michael Jackson, tomorrow it will be Obama…in a few years their evil children will have no problem finding another black person to hate…and they wonder why they are called the blue eyed devil.

By Kerry

Oprah is a phony, She will do anything to get her ratings up. As if she is the first person in the world to have a secret half sister, and she exploited her mother by shaming her. I'm disgusted with how Oprah used to her family for ratings.

Wednesday 26 January

By Donna

OH WANDA SHUT THE HECK UP. QUIT KISSING OPRAH'S BUTT.

By James

Leave it to Oprah. She will turn even THIS story into a way to make money.

Friday 28 January

By thoseclaw

good for you that you have a sister everone deserves to have one. have a good time get to know each other. family is a good thing. god bless you both.

Thursday 27 January

By Maria Yohari

I think it's either a ratings crock- since she's falling off the radar- or I strongly suspect she's known about this a lot longer than she's let on. Remember her movie "BELOVED", isn't there some similarity in this whole story? And think about when that movies was made. I think she might have known since that time and just decided to release this info at a time when she realizes she's losing popularity. Haven't there been other farces aired on her show. I'm sorry but this one is really suspicious. SHOW ME THE DNA RESULTS THAT VERIFY HER KINSHIP TO THIS WOMAN.

Monday 28 March

By Carolyn

What difference does it make on how many baby daddies u have. It has always been mommas baby and daddy maybe. Just take care of them if they make it in this world. God Bless us all!

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