Oprah reveals her last conversation with her late mom

It’s rare that Oprah Winfrey doesn’t know what to say.

In an interview with People, the daytime talk show queen revealed how she struggled to find the right words to say to her dying mother, Vernita Lee, who passed away at her home in Milwaukee on Thanksgiving. Lee was 83.

After visiting her mother, leaving town and returning for a second time, Winfrey stayed by her mother’s side until she found the right words to share.

“What I said was, ‘Thank you. Thank you, because I know it’s been hard for you. It was hard for you as a young girl having a baby, in Mississippi. No education. No training. No skills. Seventeen, you get pregnant with this baby,” Winfrey, 64, recalled. “‘Lots of people would have told you to give that baby away. Lots of people would’ve told you to abort that baby. You didn’t do that. I know that was hard. I want you to know that no matter what, I know that you always did the best you knew how to do. And look how it turned out.’”

Winfrey said she told her mother, who suffered from kidney problems, to “go in peace.” The television icon’s sister, Patricia, who was given up for adoption, was also in the room.

“My mother’s had real problems since my sister came back from the adoption,” Winfrey added. “My sister said, ‘Please forgive yourself, because I’ve forgiven you for giving me away.’ It was just really sacred and beautiful. 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.”

Lee died on Thanksgiving and few other details were given. A private funeral service was held.

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