Oprah's "Family Secret": She Has A Half-Sister

Just when I thought that I knew EVERYTHING there was to know about my girl Oprah, she began advertising an episode of her show's final season that involved a family secret. Initially, I thought that it would be a child that she put up for adoption years ago or a reconciliation with her estranged mother, Vernita Lee. However, Oprah's revelation was that she recently found out that she has a half-sister from Milwaukee named Patricia.

I thought that it was great for Oprah to reveal this on her show, not just for ratings, but so that she can begin to build a relationship with her sister. She did it on her terms (and on her own show) and was ahead of the story without it being in the tabloids. I also was surprised that this was never told to the tabloids by Patricia or anyone else who may have known. I also liked how Oprah was open to Patricia's story and willing to not only meet her but claim her as her sister. Patricia could have taken a paycheck and gone to the tabloids about what she knew, but it was more about her filling the holes in her own life.

It was revealed on the show and on Oprah's website that Patricia was put up for adoption at birth and that she was place in foster home after foster home for seven years afterwards. She now had 2 children, a daughter named Aquarius and a son named Andre, who she has been raising on her own.

It was in 2007 that she began to try to track down her biological family and received her adoption records. When the adoption agency contacted her birth mother, she called back a month later & said that she was not interested in meeting her. On the same day, she saw Vernita, Oprah's mother, in an interview on TV, where she revealed details about Oprah's two "deceased" half-siblings that matched information in Patricia's birth documents.

I hope that Oprah and Patricia are able to make something of this revelation and build a relationship with each other. I don't believe that she is looking for a paycheck or any kind of support, but I'm sure that as a sister, Oprah will help her out if she needs it.