Oprah Winfrey lost her mother Vernita Lee at the age of 83 this past Thanksgiving.
The media mogul opened up to People magazine about how she "surprised" her mother, not once but twice, so they could spend some precious final moments together.
"I sat with my mother. I said, ‘I don’t know if you’re going to make it. Do you think you’re going to make it?’ She said, ‘I don’t think I am.’ I had a conversation with her about what that felt like, what it felt like to be near the end," she told the magazine of the first visit.
(MORE: Oprah Winfrey on her mother's death: She 'is now at peace')Winfrey then told others that if they wanted to come and say goodbye, they could come to her home in Milwaukee. And they did, which gave Lee great joy and made Winfrey proud to see people paying their final respects.
Oprah Winfrey Opens Up About Her Mother's Death — and Their 'Sacred and Beautiful' Goodbye https://t.co/EUwRHRBONK
— People (@people) December 12, 2018
When she left, she thought that would be the last time she spoke to her mother.
"I stood in the doorway and I said, ‘goodbye.’ I knew it was going to be the last time we said goodbye," she said.
But it wasn't.
Not satisfied with the meeting, Winfrey cancelled stops on a promotional tour to come home one more time.
(MORE: Oprah Winfrey's mother Vernita Lee has died at 83)"I waited for a way to say what I wanted to say,” she said, according the magazine. After praying for a sign, she realized it was music that would help her break through. The duo played music, some of Lee's favorites, and found those tough words she had been struggling to find.
She told her, "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."
She also told her mother to go in peace, something that made the icon "feel complete."
