According to WKRN-TV News 2, on Saturday, July 9, Nashville Metropolitan Councilwoman Sharon Hurt announced the death of Oprah Winfrey’s father. Vernon Winfrey died on Friday evening, according to reports. Vernon Winfrey, Winfrey’s father, died at the age of 88 after a long battle with illness. There is yet no other information available on the octogenarian’s death. It is also unknown what form of cancer afflicted the Nashville resident. During the moment of sorrow, 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 bore Oprah Winfrey with his then-partner, Vernita Lee. They had a short relationship but never married. Oprah’s father was a barber and a businessman, according to reports. Vernon Winfrey had previously served in the army and moved to Nashville in 1955, according to a 1986 Washington Post biography by Jill Nelson. After doing a few 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 Nashville’s Metro Council since 1975, representing the largely black 5th District, serving 15,000 residents who have twice re-elected him.”
Vernon Winfrey allegedly trimmed hair in his Tennessee salon until he was considerably older. He’d been a barber for more than five decades. Vernon is also a member of the National Barber Museum and has been inducted into their Hall of Fame.
Vernon Winfrey’s connection with Oprah Winfrey
Her father was still in the military when Oprah Winfrey was born in 1955. Oprah was reared by her maternal grandmother, Hattie Mae Lee until she was six years old. Oprah was supposedly beaten by Lee and lived in poverty, according to Katherine E. Krohn’s book on The Oprah Winfrey Network (ONN) owner.
Oprah was first transferred 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 to have sobbed when leaving Oprah at her mother’s house at the time. The famed talk show host’s mother allegedly worked as a maid and was not particularly attentive to her daughter since her job as a maid kept her busy.
Oprah became pregnant at the age of 14 after being sexually assaulted by many family members in Milwaukee. She gave birth to a preterm baby boy who died. Winfrey was raised by her father after this event, who was reputedly stern yet focused on her schooling. She would then go on to tell Nelson:
“My life was altered when my father abducted me… He rescued me. He just knew what he desired and anticipated. Nothing less would suffice.”
While Winfrey’s mother died away in 2018, the millionaire television producer had a rocky relationship with her. This, however, was not the case with her father. Winfrey observed the Fourth of July in honor of her father earlier this week. She shared on Instagram how she planned a BBQ for him in Nashville with close relatives. In one of the postings, she included a video of the celebration with the description, “offering my father his ‘flowers’ while he’s still healthy enough to smell them.”