- All these years, I've wondered
who my birth mother was, and she lives 10 minutes away
from me in the same city. Amazing. OPRAH WINFREY: Four months
after 47-year-old Patricia began searching for her birth
mother, she stumbled upon a jaw-dropping discovery. PATRICIA: I said, no. I said, that can't be. OPRAH WINFREY: This single
mother from Milwaukee found out her birth
mother is my mother, Vernita Lee, making
Patricia my half sister, who I never even knew existed. When Patricia first discovered
the connection in 2007, she tried three times
to reach Vernita. But Vernita wasn't ready. Yeah, I was very hurt. Very. I just had to let it go. OPRAH WINFREY: Despite
feeling rejected, Patricia kept it a
secret, fearing that it would become a media frenzy. PATRICIA: I remember just still
worrying about my older sister, and just praying to God
that nothing gets out. I did not want her hurt. So for months, no one in
my family told me any of this was going on. I had no idea that my mother
had given up a baby in 1963. I was nine years
old at the time, living with my
father in Nashville, and didn't even know
my mother was pregnant. I grew up for 4 and
1/2 years with two half siblings, Pat and Jeffrey. Jeffrey died in 1989,
and Pat died in 2003. So imagine my shock
just a few months ago-- it was the end of
October, really, right before Thanksgiving--
that I found out that I have another
sister living just 90 minutes away in Milwaukee. What's even more
unbelievable is that she has the same name
as my first sister who passed away, Patricia. So you're with me? You're following the story? Both sisters are named Patricia. So to keep them straight, we'll
call the sister I just learned about Patricia, and my other
sister, who passed away in 2003, we'll call her Pat. So let's get back to how
all of this happened. At this point, only Patricia
and her two children have figured out
that we are related. And they figured
this out in 2007, and have been
holding that secret. Patricia isn't quite
sure what to do next, but she sees this article
about my niece, who is the daughter of my first
sister Pat, in a magazine, and tracks her down at her
Milwaukee area restaurant. ALISHA: OK, this is all pork. That's your pork. PATRICIA: As soon as I
walked in, I felt so odd. OPRAH WINFREY: My niece Alisha
owns a restaurant called Pat's Rib Place, named after
her mother and my sister Pat, who died in 2003. There are pictures of
Pat all over the walls, and one in particular stood out. PATRICIA: I'm looking
at that picture and I'm like, oh
my god, that is me. That is me. It just looks so much alike. OPRAH WINFREY: Patricia
approaches my niece Alisha to tell her she believes that
she's related to our family. PATRICIA: I said, I am
your mother's sister. And she looked at me like, huh? And I was-- at that time,
I think she believed me, but she didn't understand,
because she got very emotional. And as I'm looking
at her, I'm like, oh my gosh, she
looks like my mom. OPRAH WINFREY: Then
Patricia shows Alisha the proof, all the
documents that seem to contain our family history. ALISHA: I'm like, whoa. This is like really
freaking me out here. Let me go get my husband,
because I must be going crazy or something right now. TYDUS: I'm thinking in
my head that, you know, this could be any crackpot
out here just claiming to just be related to Oprah. OPRAH WINFREY: But
Alisha's husband Tydus is shocked by how
much this Patricia resembles his deceased
mother-in-law, Pat. PATRICIA: He looked at me and
he said, you look like Ma, you look like her. And he lost it. No, he is not. TYDUS: It was the way she spoke. It was the way she
moved her hands. It was these expressions
that she made. ALISHA: Her laughter. TYDUS: It was her laughter. ALISHA: The laugh, mhm. TYDUS: It was her
excitement, her joy. And yeah, I'm a Marine,
and I couldn't help it. I just bust down crying. ALISHA: Just something
about her, it is felt right. OPRAH WINFREY: Even
though Alisha's instincts told her this was
true, she wanted to be sure. ALISHA: I just had
to prove it somehow. So a week later, Patricia
and Alicia take a DNA test. Here are the actual
results of that test. It says that there is
an 85% positive match. And because they
are niece and aunt, it means there's little
doubt that they are related. Therefore, we are all related. So here's how I was told. I get an email from Alisha. I get an email from
her sister, Krishanda. They say there's something
going on in the family you need to know about. Calls go back and forth. They say your mother
needs to tell you. I call my mother.
My mother tells me nothing. And finally, my
cousin Alice calls. And then Alisha calls again. And back and forth
and back and forth, and finally, I said
to my assistant, Libby, what is going
on in this family? What is going on? And Libby says, do you
want me to tell you? This is 10 minutes before
I'm coming down to do a show. I said, yes, would
you please tell me? She says, you have a sister. And I'm like, what? [LAUGHTER] And so that is how I find out. I call my mother and
literally confront my mother with this story. Is this true? Is this true? And she finally said, well,
yes, I think it's true. And on Thanksgiving
Day, Stedman and I drove up to my mother's house in
Milwaukee to meet my new sister and her family for
the first time. Here's that moment
on family home video. Hello. [INAUDIBLE] There she is. Oh. Nice to see you. Nice to see you. Nice to see you. You look just like Pat. [INTERPOSING VOICES] Hi. Nice to see you. Nice to see you. [INTERPOSING VOICES] OPRAH WINFREY: We spent
the rest of the afternoon getting to know each other
and hearing the whole story. So after Thanksgiving dinner,
Stedman and I got in the car. Stedman's driving. We're headed for the
interstate back to Chicago. We didn't say a word
for miles and miles. Finally, he turned to me
and said, what was that? It was so uncanny to us and
to everybody in this family how much this Patricia
looked like, moved like, talked like Pat. It was a "Beloved" moment,
if you know what I mean. The daughter who comes back
from the dead in the movie "Beloved." I didn't even know
that my mother gave up a baby for adoption in 1963. I can't tell you how many times
I've done a story like this on "The Oprah Winfrey
Show" and seen the surprise on somebody else's face. It's not something
I ever thought would happen to me or our family. Needless to say, it's
something you need to process when it happens. And I'm telling you
today because my family and I agreed that we wanted
to do it on our terms, and not have it become some
big tabloid spectacle with all of the facts getting confused. So I have told you as honestly
as I know how because I wanted you to hear the truth from me. My sister Patricia is here. Come on out, Patricia. [CHEERING AND APPLAUSE] Wow. Wow, wow, wow. Now, I tell you what is so
remarkable to me about you and your son and daughter,
my new niece and nephew. What is so remarkable
to me about this story-- and it's gonna make me
cry, so just be patient-- since I have been a person
known in the public, there have been few
times that I've been anywhere and not been sold out. There have been few times
where you can bring anybody new into your life and not have
that person, in some way, betray you or use you or
take advantage of you. What is so extraordinary
about Patricia and Andre and Aquarius is that they have
known this secret since 2007. She had tried and
tried and tried again. Even wrote an email to
our offices back in 2007 that we tracked,
but nobody would have given me an
email with somebody saying I'm your sister. Had sent me an email. Had gone to her
pastor, who contacted my mother's pastor, who then
sent a letter to my mother. She tried and tried
and tried again to get responses from my mother
and other people in the family. She never once thought
to go to the press. She never once thought
to sell the story. [APPLAUSE] She never once. [APPLAUSE] So when I heard this about you,
when I heard this about you, I said, regardless of whether-- I didn't know if it
was true or not true. Now we know that it is true,
that you are my sister. When I heard this
about you, I said, regardless if it's
true or not true, I had to meet you because
I wanted to meet somebody who had that kind of character. So thank you. Thank you. [APPLAUSE] So during this whole process of
trying and trying and trying-- you know, I've done these
stories where people try and then they're turned down. What made you not give up? One reason why
I didn't give up is because I know that
I needed to get it out or get in touch
with you so that no one else would put it out there. And then another reason
is for my children. OPRAH WINFREY: But
before you even knew that we shared the same
mother, because that moment, I just think that's a God moment
that we told in the story, but let me just
reiterate it to you. So she's now been turned
down for the second time. She'd written a letter to the
Department of Family Services, and they contacted my mother. My mother said, no, she didn't-- wasn't interested. And she waited a year,
contacted them again, was rejected the second time. And as she's rejected the
second time, in that moment, there is a story on the
news about my mother. And she is in front of the
television and sees that story. So when you first realized
that, oh my goodness, we could share the same
mother, what were you thinking? The first thing is my-- I, you know, talked
to my daughter, and I told her to come and
watch what I just watched. And she says, Mama, you
know we can't tell anybody. And I said I know that. Because we had to
make sure, you know? We had to make
sure, first of all. And then you can't just go out
there and put that out there. You know, that
would hurt someone. I was so moved on the
tape where you said you were worried that you might hurt me. How did you think
you were to hurt me? Oh my goodness. [LAUGHING] That-- if that got out, and-- it's not fair, number one,
because it's family business. And family business needs
to be handled by family. Well, it is now out there. [LAUGHTER] PATRICIA: And it was
handled by family. Yeah. PATRICIA: It shouldn't be
handled by anyone else. That's not fair. It wouldn't be fair to you. OPRAH WINFREY: Do you feel,
now that you have connected with your family, do you
feel a sense of wholeness and a sense of completion? PATRICIA: Oh, yes. OPRAH WINFREY: You do. Oh, yes. Yes. OPRAH WINFREY: Even though
our mother's reaction, was it what you thought it would be? That's OK, because
I have my nieces, I have my nephews and
great-nieces, and I have you. Aw. Thank you. [APPLAUSE]
TIL a woman named Patricia won the lottery in 2010.
Cha-ching!