Media personality Oprah Winfrey has discussed the complex relationship she had with her mother, Vernita Lee.
She said past emotional struggles continue to affect her decades after becoming a celebrity and a billionaire. The show host made this known in an episode of The Oprah Podcast, where she discussed childhood trauma, among others.
During the discussion, she recalled a moment she was asked to speak about her mother at a church event but struggled to find the words.
“…I had become ‘Oprah Winfrey’ and everybody knew she was my mother…“I’ve been asked to come to church to just give all these accolades about my mother and I couldn’t think of one thing.”
Oprah Winfrey said she listened to the account of another girl in the church, and that reminded her of her own “void,” due to a lack of relationship with the woman who brought her to earth.
“This girl told the story of how her mother would make lunch, especially in the rain; she would pack it in a special lunch box and she would put their galoshes with those little yellow boots at the front door and then if you’d be home to take them off….
“I was like, ‘Oh my God, I don’t have one memory; I don’t have one single thing,” Oprah stated. Nonetheless, she expressed gratitude to her mother for giving her life.
“I thought well, what do I have to be grateful for? She didn’t abort me. She did the best that she knew…
“The best that she knew was not enough to feed what I needed, was not enough to make me feel whole, was not enough to make me feel valued or seen or important to her.”
“It was not, but it was the best that she could do, and I gave up the hope that it could have been anything other than what she had,” Oprah said.
Her openness attracted mixed reactions from followers on social media. Some urged parents to stay with their children.
Born in 1954, Oprah Winfrey is said to have been separated from her mother, who moved to Milwaukee for work while leaving her daughter with her grandmother in Mississippi.
According to accounts, she joined her mother at age 6 and later lived with her father in Tennessee during her teenage years.
On Wednesday, January 29, 2025, Oprah Winfrey turned 71. To commemorate the day, she posted a reflection on Instagram, appreciating the different facets of her life and stressing that people can grow to become whatever they believe.
“…I much later realized you don’t become what you want, not even your greatest desires. You become what you believe,” she stated.