Death of Oprah Winfrey's mother, Vernita Lee, at the age of 83

Oprah Winfreythe mother, Vernita Lee, died on Thanksgiving, E! News confirms. She was 83 years old.

The television titanium was not with Lee at the time of her death, as she was celebrating holidays in Santa Barbara, California, with girls from the school she opened in South Africa in 2007. On Monday, Winfrey did not comment on what Lee did. death nor updated its social media.

A spokesman for the family told E! News Monday Lee was buried at a private burial. Commemorative donations can be made to Feeding America on his behalf, the spokesman added.

In addition to Winfrey, Lee is survived by his daughter Patricia Amanda Faye Lee; small children Andre Brown, Alisha Hayes, Chrishaunda Lee Perez and Aquarius Lofton and; and great-grandchildren Donovan Hayes, Trinidad Hayes, Chai Theresa Perez and Jaxon Praise Perez. His children preceded him in the grave Jeffrey Lee (1960-1989) and Patricia Lee Lloyd (1959-2003).

Lee was born on May 2, 1935 and worked as a housekeeper all her life.

By her own admission, Winfrey's relationship with Lee had always been tense. Brought up by her grandmother in Mississippi during the early years of her life, Winfrey was later sent to live with Lee in Wisconsin. She was then sent to Tennessee to live with her father before being sent back to Lee without explanation – something that Winfrey often spoke about in his eponymous talk show. While Lee was physically present, Winfrey said that she was not available emotionally. "I grew up with the understanding that there was this God – all-knowing, almighty – who loved me." The wonder of that, the magical mystery of that, is what I'm saying. I wore when I was separated from my grandmother and sent to live with my mother at the age of 6. I suddenly fall into a place that is totally alien to me. I do not know anyone, "remembered Winfrey on OWN in 2015, adding that she did not" really even know my mother "at the time, let alone life with her.

"I remember the first night entering the house and saying that I could not sleep with my mother and that I could not sleep inside the house." But there was a small front porch came into the house, I was put out to sleep, "she continued." I realized later that it was because of the color of my skin; my mother was embarking with this black woman with very light skin that could have passed for white. I could tell instantly when entering the room that she did not like me and it's because of the color of my skin. "

"I remember praying on my knees on my grandmother's first night," Winfrey recalls. Miraculously, "I do not remember shedding a tear on this because I knew God was my father, Jesus was my brother and they were with me."

As she recalled in an episode of 2011 Oprah's Life Class, life with Lee has not improved.

"I remember being taken to a detention center, while my mother was going to kick me out at 14, waiting to be treated … and grateful at that time that I've been abused since the age of 9. old, "said Winfrey, who had been beaten and raped as a child. "Looking around the detention house of all those girls who had been placed there to be" bad girls ", I remember having had a moment to think:" Now, I'm officially a bad girl; I am now for the rest of my life to be called a bad girl because I will be put to this place. "Winfrey says to himself," I really do not have my place here and I do not even know how it happened. "

And then … Winfrey's prayers were answered.

"A woman arrives and says to my mother and to myself:" I'm sorry, Ms. Lee, but we do not have enough room on our record for your daughter.You will have to come back in two weeks. " "The girl – who was secretly pregnant at the time – was then sent to live with her father." It was my saving grace. And from that moment, I felt that I had been saved – that someone up there, recognized that I was not a bad girl. And now, I was going to have another chance. "After Winfrey's delivery and the death of his son," my father said to me, "This is your second chance." C & # 39; is the opportunity for you to seize this moment and do something of your life. "And I took this chance and I understood for myself, even though I did not get it. I did not have the words to explain: "Now I know better, so I can do better."

As Winfrey went into his own, friends like Maya Angelou and Gayle King have become surrogate mothers. She also made peace with Lee's failures, saying Bishop T.D. Jakes in an episode of 2013 Class of life"You have to meet people where they are and love them to the level where they can receive it.You have in your mind what a mother should be and what you want your mother to be – and in many cases, your mothers and fathers can not be what your ideal is. "

In 2011, Winfrey revealed that Lee had secretly given birth to another girl – and delivered her for adoption – in 1963. "I was 9 years old at the time of [her adoption], living with my father in Nashville, Tennessee, "I did not even know that my mother was even pregnant." As she said during her talk show during the day, the news "shook me deep inside me". But, for her half-sister's credit, "She never thought of going to the press, she never thought of selling that story." Winfrey, whose other two siblings had died, said the discovery of a half sister had left her speechless. "For the most part, my life has been an open book and, in the show, think that I have all seen, "she told viewers." I thought nothing could surprise me anymore, but let me tell you that I was wrong. "