Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current, January 26, 2011, Page 18, Image 18

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    Page 18
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in 1963, Winfrey was 8 years old and living with her
father. She did not even know her mother was
pregnant.
Patricia said she had tried years ago to learn the
identity of the woman who gave her up for adop­
tion, and only started to try again a few years ago
at the insistence of her two adult children, who also
appeared on Monday's show.
Patricia said she feared her search would be
fruitless after she got a telephone call from the state
adoption agency, which reported that her birth
mother had been contacted and did not wish to
meet her.
But, coincidentally, on the local news that day,
she saw a story about Winfrey's mother, who de­
scribed how two of her children had died. Those
details matched information Patricia had seen in
adoption papers, which indicated she had two
sisters and a brother, and that only the older sister
was alive.
Winfrey's mother, Vernita Lee, also disclosed
that one of the deceased children was named Patricia.
"The hairs on the back of my neck stood up,"
Patricia said. "Because 1 knew one of my siblings
and I shared the same name."
Later, she found more details that matched, in­
cluding the fact that Winfrey was born in 1954, the
same year as the woman Patricia knew was her
surviving sibling.
Winfrey, who said DNA tests confirmed that the
two are half-sisters, met with Patricia and their
mother in a pre-recorded segment of the show.
Lee, who recently suffered a minor stroke, said
she never told Winfrey about her half-sister, "be­
cause I thought it was a terrible thing for me to do,
that I had done, gave up my daughter when she was
born."
Winfrey said documents from the girl's birth
reveal that Lee gave up the baby for adoption
because she did not think she could get off welfare
if she kept the child.
"I made the decision to give her up because I
wasn't able to take care of her. So when I left the
hospital, I told the nurse I wasn't going to keep the
baby."
Winfrey said she was particularly stunned by
the news because of the way it came out. She said
Patricia had known since 2007 that the two were
related, but she never attempted to profit off her
discovery or contact the press, even as she tried
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unsuccessfully to contact Winfrey, her mother or
others in Winfrey’s family.
"She never once thought to sell the story,"
Winfrey said, describing how she felt betrayed by
other relatives who sought publicity.
Patricia said she didn't consider revealing that
she and Winfrey were half-sisters to anyone but
Winfrey, explaining that she did not want to hurt
Winfrey.
"Family business should be handled by family,"
Patricia said. "It couldn't be handled by anyone
else. That's not fair. It wouldn't be fair to you."
Winfrey recalled how her other sister revealed to
the press years ago that Winfrey had had a baby
when she was a teenager. The baby, Winfrey has
said, died shortly after birth. And she talked about
putting her sister in rehab twice for drug addiction,
but that her sister ultimately died.
"It feels to me like you are Pat on her very best
day," Winfrey told the woman. "You are what she
wanted to be without the drugs."
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