Vernita Lee is the mother of Oprah Winfrey. Vernita’s daughter Oprah is a successful talk show host, television producer, actress, author, media proprietor, and philanthropist. As an actress, she has appeared in The Color Purple, Native Son, The Women of Brewster Place, There Are No Children Here, A Wrinkle in Time, and others. She published the magazine: O, The Oprah Magazine, and a magazine called O At Home.
Vernita Lee: Bio Summary
| Name | Vernita Lee |
| Famous as | mother of Oprah Winfrey |
| Date of birth | 2 May 1935 |
| Place of birth | Kosciusko, Attala County, Mississippi, USA |
| Died | 22 November 2018 (aged 83) |
| Gender | Female |
| Nationality | American |
| Children | Patricia Lofton, Patricia Lee Lloyd, Jeffrey Lee, and Oprah Winfrey |
| Parents | Hattie Mae Lee and Earlest Lee |
Who Was Oprah Winfrey’s Mother, Vernita Lee?
Vernita Lee was born on 2 May 1935, in Kosciusko, Attala County, Mississippi, USA to Hattie Mae Presley Lee (April 15, 1900 – February 27, 1963) and Earlester “Earlest” Lee (16 June 1883 – 29 December 1959). She is the sister of Harold Lee, Hubbert C. Lee, and Estell Lee. She may have other siblings as well.
Much is unknown regarding Vernita’s childhood. She was a housemaid. She worked as a housekeeper throughout her life. She was still a teenager when she met Vernon Winfrey (1933–2022), the man who would get her pregnant. She and Vernon soon welcomed a daughter Orpah Gail Winfrey on January 29, 1954, in Kosciusko, Mississippi, U.S.
Vernon Winfrey was a coal miner turned barber turned city councilman who was in the Armed Forces when Orpah was born. Orpah is commonly known as Oprah Winfrey. Vernita Lee and Vernon Winfrey’s daughter was originally named “Orpah”, after the biblical figure in the Book of Ruth.
However, their daughter’s first name was either misspelled on her birth certificate or people struggled with the pronunciation of her name which eventually led to her first name becoming “Oprah”. Soon after Oprah was born, Vernita Lee decided to travel to Milwaukee leaving her daughter Oprah with her mother Hattie Mae Lee.
Oprah Winfrey was raised by her poor maternal grandmother for the first six years of her life. Oprah’s grandmother taught her to read before the age of three. Later, Oprah moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, living with her mother, Vernita Lee. Oprah would later reveal that she was troublesome during her teenage days while living with her mother.
“I used to run away from home, I used to bring boys home and cause all kinds of problems for myself,” Oprah Winfrey said. Vernita Lee had another daughter Patricia Lee Lloyd with another man. Vernita was facing difficulties raising Oprah and her younger half-sister, Patricia. She sent Oprah to live with her father Vernon in Nashville, Tennessee.
ALSO, READ: Patricia Lofton: Inside The Life Of Oprah Winfrey’s Sister
“I was 14 and then sent to live with my father,” Oprah recalled. “And that ended it. That ended it. He was so strict because he knew what he had to deal with.” While Oprah was with her father, Vernita Lee gave birth to a third daughter, Patricia Lofton. She put Patricia Lofton up for adoption. It will later be revealed that Vernita gave up Patricia because she wanted to get off of welfare.
“I made the decision to give her up because I wasn’t able to take care of her,” Vernita said. “So when I left the hospital, I told the nurse that I wasn’t going to keep the baby. She said, ‘Oh, but she’s such a cute little girl. Why not?’” Vernita Lee also gave birth to a son Jeffrey Lee. Jeffrey died of AIDS in 1989.
Vernita Lee’s daughter Patricia Lee Lloyd died of causes related to cocaine addiction in 2003. Vernita Lee was able to reunite with the daughter she had given up for adoption. Her daughter Patricia Lofton was “put up for adoption at birth,” and “was left in the hospital for about a month.”
Patricia was placed in the foster care system until age 7 when she was finally adopted. Although she was adopted, she still wanted to be reunited with her biological mother. Years later, Patricia Lofton tried to get in touch with her mother Vernita Lee but Vernita declined to meet. Eventually, Patricia got in touch with her half-sister Oprah Winfrey, and her mother Vernita.
What Happened To Oprah Winfrey’s Mother?
Vernita Lee, the mother of Oprah Winfrey died on Thanksgiving day, 22 November 2018, at age 83, in Milwaukee, Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, USA. Following the death of her mother, Oprah Winfrey shared: “Thank you all for your kind words and condolences regarding my mother Vernita Lee’s passing. It gives our family great comfort knowing she lived a good life and is now at Peace.”
ALSO, READ: Patricia Lee Lloyd: What Happened To Oprah Winfrey’s Sister?
Oprah Winfrey spoke to PEOPLE about her mother’s final days with her in an interview. Oprah said she “got a call from my sister (Patricia, who was given up for adoption) that she thought it was the end. I was planning to go to launch Michelle Obama‘s book, Becoming, in Chicago. I hopped on a plane and I went early—I surprised my mother.”
Oprah Winfrey said Vernita Lee was “sitting in this little room—she loves sitting in this room where it’s 80 degrees,” adding, “She just watches TV all day… She’s had nurses and so forth over the years. Even when she didn’t need nurses, she’s had nurses. She just liked having all these people.”
The next day, Oprah “went and we did the launch,” she recalls. “Then, I came back to Milwaukee. I sat with my mother. I said, ‘I don’t know if you’re going to make it. Do you think you’re going to make it?’ She said, ‘I don’t think I am.’ I had a conversation with her about what that felt like, what it felt like to be near the end.”
“I started telling all the people who cared about her that, ‘She knows it’s the end, so, if you want to say goodbye, you should come and say goodbye,’” Oprah Winfrey said. “And that’s what happened. People would come in. She would tear up when she saw them. You could see the appreciation and love she felt for them. Then, I said to her, ‘What a wonderful thing to be able to say goodbye,’ because she’s completely coherent and perfectly understanding everything.”
ALSO, READ: Vernon Winfrey: How Did Oprah Winfrey’s Father Die?
Oprah Winfrey also revealed that Patricia Lofton who was put up for adoption at birth said to their mother, “Please forgive yourself, because I’ve forgiven you for giving me away.’ It was just really sacred and beautiful. I would say to anybody—and if you live long enough, everybody goes through it—say the things that you need to say while the people are still alive, so that you are not one of those people living with regret about what you would’ve, should’ve, could’ve said.”
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