The mother of Oprah Winfrey, Vernita Lee, died at 83



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Vernita Lee, mother of media nabob Oprah Winfrey, died at the age of 83, several media reports said. TMZ was the first to exclusively confirm this news.

«Vernita Lee's family is saddened to share her death November 22, 2018 at her home in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, "a spokesperson for Winfrey told HuffPost, adding that she was born May 2, 1935.

Lee is survived by his daughters, Oprah Winfrey and Patricia Amanda Faye Lee, as well as many grandchildren and great-grandchildren. The spokeswoman added that her son Jeffrey Lee (1960-1989) and daughter Patricia Lee Lloyd (1959-2003) had preceded him to death.

Lee has already been buried at a private family burial, said the representative.

Vernita Lee (center) with her daughters Patricia Amanda Faye Lee (left) and Oprah Winfrey (right) on the occasion of Vernita's 80th birthday

Harpo, Inc.

Vernita Lee (center) with her daughters Patricia Amanda Faye Lee (left) and Oprah Winfrey (right) on Vernita's 80th birthday party.

Winfrey, who was raised by her grandmother in Mississippi during the early years of her life, spoke of her tense relationship with her mother. She found Lee, where she lived in Wisconsin, after being separated from her grandmother while Winfrey was only 6 years old.

"I land suddenly in a place that is completely foreign to me. I do not know anyone. I do not really know my mother, "Oprah said in an interview with HuffPost OWN. "I entered this space, feeling completely alone and abandoned."

Lee, who worked as a cleaning lady, could not even let Oprah sleep inside the house where she worked.

"I remember the first night coming into this house and saying that I could not sleep with my mother and that I could not sleep inside the house," she said. The media mogul is reminded, saying that it was because of his skin color. "There was a small lobby / porch before you actually got inside the house. I was put out to sleep there.

Winfrey had previously released a statement about his mother and their relationship on Twitter in 2012, along with a photo of both.

"Thanks to my mother, Vernita Lee, for doing her best to raise me," she said.

In addition to her tense relationship that she then revived with her mother, Oprah also discovered in 2011 that she had a half-sister, Patricia Amanda Faye Lee, whom her mother had abandoned for adoption in 1963.

Oprah was only 8 years old at the time and did not know that her mother was even pregnant.

"This, my friends, is the miracle of all miracles," said Winfrey during her show in 2011 when she introduced her half-sister to the world, adding that Patricia "never thought of selling this story."

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