Oprah is opening up about the childhood trauma that continues to affect her in the latest episode of her self-titled podcast.
The 71-year-old media mogul, who recently celebrated her birthday, became emotional as she reflected on her complicated relationship with her late mother, Vernita Lee, who passed away in 2018.
Joined by Dr. Bruce Perry, an American psychiatrist and senior fellow at the Child Trauma Academy in Houston, Texas, Oprah delved into her personal experiences after a caller named Annie shared her own struggles with family relationships.
She recalled the difficulty she faced when asked to speak at a church about her mother, struggling to find something positive to say.
“I had been asked to come to church to give all these accolades about my mother and I couldn’t think of one thing,’ she explained while holding back tears. “She didn’t abort me. She did the best that she knew.”
She continued: “The best that she knew was not enough to feed what I needed, was not enough to make me feel whole…[and it] 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.”
After her grandmother fell ill, Oprah moved in with her mother when she was six. While living with her mother in Wisconsin, she was raped and abused by family friends, she says.
She then move in with her father, Vernon Winfrey. She shortly became pregnant at the age of 14. Her son died a week after he was born.
After expressing gratitude to her mother for doing her best, Oprah told her to “go in peace.” She explained that her mother had diabetes and had the option to undergo dialysis three years earlier but chose not to.
Speaking with PEOPLE, she said: “I said, ‘You made the best decision for you, but now your body’s shutting down. This is what’s happening. Your kidneys have shut down. Your organs are going to shut down. What you want it to be, what I want it to be, is as peaceful as possible.’”
She further advised: “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.”
