Oprah Winfrey’s last moments with her mother was surrounded in music. The media mogul said she prayed on how to express her goodbyes to the woman who gave her life, but who was not always in her life as a mother should.

“I had a conversation with her about what that felt like, what it felt like to be near the end,” she continued. “I started telling all the people who cared about her that, ‘She knows it’s the end, so, if you want to say goodbye, you should come and say goodbye.’ ”

Winfrey turned to music as a way to talk to her mom. Calling upon friend and gospel singer Wintley Phipps to sing “Precious Lord” for Lee over the phone.  “I could see that it opened her a little bit, because my mother’s been a very closed-down person,” Winfrey said. “I could see that the music gave me an opening to say what I needed to say.”

Winfrey found the words; “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. 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.’ ”

Vernita Lee passed away on Thanksgiving day. Winfrey said her mother’s death felt as “blessed” as it could feel.

 

By BSM Team

Photo credit: leadership.ngl | Source: USA Today