According to WKRN-TV News 2, on Saturday, July 9, Nashville City Councilwoman Sharon Hurt announced the death of Oprah Winfrey’s father. Vernon Winfrey died Friday night, according to reports. Vernon Winfrey, Winfrey’s father, died at the age of 88 after a long battle with illness. There is still no other information available about the eight-year-old’s death. It is also not known what form of cancer the Nashville resident was suffering from. In a moment of grief, Oprah Winfrey has yet to confirm the news of her father’s death.
Oprah Winfrey’s father Vernon Winfrey
Vernon Winfrey was born in 1933 and fathered Oprah Winfrey with his partner at the time, Vernita Lee. They had a brief relationship but never married. According to reports, Oprah’s father was a barber and businessman. Vernon Winfrey served in the military before that and moved to Nashville in 1955, according to a 1986 Washington Post biography by Jill Nelson. After working several odd jobs, often two at a time, Winfrey decided to become a barber in 1964. The article went on to say:
“He has been an elected member of the Nashville Metro Council since 1975, representing the predominantly black 5th District, serving 15,000 residents who re-elected him twice.”
Vernon Winfrey reportedly cut hair at his salon in Tennessee until he was considerably old. He was a barber for over five decades. Vernon is also a member of the National Barber Museum and has been inducted into their Hall of Fame.
Vernon Winfrey’s relationship with Oprah Winfrey
Her father was still in the military when Oprah Winfrey was born in 1955. Oprah was raised by her maternal grandmother, Hattie Mae Lee, until she was six. Oprah allegedly beat Lee and lived in poverty, according to Katherine E. Krohn’s book about the owner of the Oprah Winfrey Network (ONN).
Oprah was first moved to Nashville to live with her father in the early 1960s. However, when Winfrey was nine years old, her mother urged her to return to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Vernon Winfrey claimed he sobbed when he dropped Oprah off at his mother’s house at the time. The mother of the famous talk show host allegedly worked as a maid and was not particularly attentive to her daughter because her job as a housekeeper kept her busy.
Oprah became pregnant at the age of 14 after being sexually assaulted by multiple family members in Milwaukee. She gave birth to a premature boy who died. After this event, Winfrey was raised by her father, who was reportedly strict but focused on her education. Then she would say to Nelson:
“My life changed when my father kidnapped me… He saved me. He simply knew what he wanted and expected. Nothing less would be enough.”
While Winfrey’s mother died in 2018, the millionaire television producer had a difficult relationship with her. However, this was not the case with her father. Winfrey celebrated the Fourth of July earlier this week in honor of her father. She shared on Instagram how she planned a barbecue for him in Nashville with close relatives. In one of the posts, she included a video of the celebration along with a description of how she “offers her ‘flowers’ to her father while he is still healthy to smell them”.
Categories: Entertaintment
Source: vcmp.edu.vn