Oprah Winfrey's Mother Vernita Lee Dies on Thanksgiving Day
Oprah Winfrey’s mother, Vernita Lee, has died at the age of 83.
A Winfrey spokeswoman on Monday issued a statement saying Lee died at her Milwaukee home on Nov. 22.
The spokeswoman says private funeral services were held and memorial donations can be made in Lee’s name to the nonprofit Feeding America.
Vernita Lee, Oprah Winfrey’s mother, has died at the age of 83, according to spokeswoman for Winfrey; Lee died at her Milwaukee home on Nov. 22 https://t.co/lMxu0gYDOo pic.twitter.com/anOKGyX4At
— CBS Evening News (@CBSEveningNews) November 26, 2018
Lee gave birth to Winfrey, 64, in Mississippi in 1954. They moved to Milwaukee when Winfrey was 6 years old.
Lee was featured getting a makeover on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” in 1990.
In 2007, Lee spoke about what it was like to be Oprah’s mother in an interview with Milwaukee television station WTMJ.
“I knew Oprah was going to be something,” she said. “I loved her the way that she loves people now.”
In 2010, Oprah told Barbara Walters her successful show allowed her to retire her parents.
“[I wanted] to take care of them and to provide for them and to make sure that they never had to want for anything as they tried to do for me,” she said.
Oprah has not yet commented on the news of her mother’s death.
She is the oldest of Lee’s four children.
Lee is also survived by another daughter, Patricia Amanda, and four grandchildren. She was predeceased by a son, Jeffrey, and by a daughter, Patricia.
Lee said she leaned on her faith in times of crisis and tragedy.
“I am a Christian lady and if you’re a Christian person it helps you to deal with situations like that,” she said of getting through the deaths of her children. “I spent a lot of time with Oprah and Jeffrey and Patricia.”
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