TALK show icon Oprah Winfrey had a difficult and turbulent childhood.
Her mother passed away in 2018, but her father has been a barber for more than five decades.
3
Who are Oprah’s parents?
Oprah was born to Vernita Lee and Vernon Winfrey, who were together for a short time but never married.
Oprah, who was born in 1954, was initially raised on the Mississippi pig farm of her maternal grandmother, according to the New York Post.
As a young child she was sent to live with her mother, her half-sister and her half-brother in Milwaukee.
Oprah has said that she was sexually abused starting when she was nine years old.
She admitted to being a “promiscuous” and “wild” girl and became pregnant when she was 14, according to the Post.
3
Oprah was sent to live with her father in Tennessee when she was pregnant.
“I was so ashamed, I hid the pregnancy until my swollen ankles and belly gave me away. The baby died in the hospital weeks later,” Oprah would write in her magazine years later.
She added: “I went back to school and told no one. My fear was that if I were found out, I would be expelled.
3
“Even when I found the courage to publicly reveal the [sexual] abuse, I still carried the shame and kept the pregnancy a secret.”
Dad Vernon, who was born on January 31, 1933, is a member of the National Barber Museum and Hall of Fame.
He still cuts hair in Nashville.
HOOKED ON CRYSTAL
Hefner’s widow on marriage, inheriting £8.5m & being called ‘gold-digger’
THE VEX FACTOR
Simon Cowell ‘has heated row in the street’ with partner Lauren Silverman
‘I’M HAPPY’
Ant Middleton breaks silence after Who Dares Wins axing & vows to make comeback
‘it got too much’
Jake Quickenden secretly ‘split’ with girlfriend Sophie before pregnancy
POT OF GOLD
Booze, coke & gambling – inside secret world of 80s snooker with Louis Theroux
KICKED OFF
Ant Middleton axed from SAS: Who Dares Wins & C4 say they’ll NEVER work with him
Mom Vernita died on November 22, 2018, in Milwaukee, at the age of 83.
“Thank you all for your kind words and condolences regarding my mother Vernita Lee’s passing,” Oprah wrote on Instagram at the time.
“It gives our family great comfort knowing she lived a good life and is now at Peace.
More Stories
Feedwell Catering Sydney Scholarships for International Students in Australia
Emmanuel Macron warns France could be next country to leave EU if Marine Le Pen wins election
Flybe restarts flights from the UK – two years after going bust