14 DAY TRIAL // Over the weekend, the Queen of Television Oprah Winfrey announced that, come the Monday show, she’d be making public a very well kept and valued family secret. As it turns out, Oprah has a half-sister she never knew about.
On the show, Oprah revealed how she found out about Patricia in November 2009, who bears an uncanny resemblance to her late sister Pat, People magazine reports.
She also showed how Patricia, the daughter her mother had with another man, traced her down and how she found out they were all related.
As expected, it all culminated with a very emotional meeting, where Oprah and Patricia sat down for a heart to heart talk, including such topics like why Patricia waited two years before approaching her and why she didn’t want to go public with her story.
Patricia said she didn’t want to hurt Oprah, so she waited to have all necessary confirmation before approaching her or any other family member, as videos on TMZ will confirm.
“During the show, Winfrey revealed that she learned she had a sister last October, saying the discovery ‘left me speechless’,” People writes.
“She was 9-years-old and living with her father in Tennessee when her mother, Vernita Lee, became pregnant with a daughter, Patricia, who was given up for adoption. Born in 1963 in Milwaukee, Patricia would later live in a series of foster homes until the age of 7,” the mag further notes.
“She was then adopted, but said her childhood was ‘difficult.’ Tracing her roots took years of perseverance but Patricia finally discovered her mother – and her half-sister,” Says People.
Finding out she had a family came as a shock – and it had absolutely nothing to do with learning she was related to none other than Oprah.
“I received this big old package of information in the mail. And it has all of my birth information in it. I was like, ‘Oh my god. I have a family’,” Patricia told Oprah on the show.