Adopted Woman Searching For Biological Family Learns She's Related To A Huge Celebrity

Her mother already had three children when she gave birth to Patricia, and she was on welfare. Unfortunately, Patricia bounced around foster homes until the age of seven when she was officially adopted.

Throughout her childhood, Patricia never felt like she truly fit in with her family. She knew nothing about her biological mother, and she felt a noticeable disconnect between her world and the one surrounding the people in her life.

Patricia's life grew even harder when she was in high school. She became pregnant with a baby girl, but unlike her biological mother, she intended to keep the child. She didn't want her baby to spend her life wondering "what if."

Around the time Patricia turned 20, perhaps because she was a mother herself, she felt an almost overwhelming urge to track down the woman who gave her up for adoption. She spent hours combing through her adoption papers, but in the end, she found no leads.

Patricia was pregnant with her second child by the time her daughter, Aquarius, was six years old. By then she was committed to the decision to raise both her daughter and soon-to-be son, Andre, by herself as best she could.

Through her 20s and 30s, life was exhausting for Patricia as she tried to provide a stable environment for Aquarius and Andre. She managed to put food on the table and imbue a sense of respect and responsibility in her kids.

Still, the urge to locate her own birth mother never left Patricia, and while watching television one day, that urge took an astounding turn when the woman on the show she was watching captured her attention.

You see, a woman named Vernita Lee was discussing events in her life that matched Patricia's adoption papers to the tee! Patricia immediately tried contacting Vernita — it could have very well been her mom — but she met roadblocks every time.

Despite the string of bad luck, Patricia pursued information about Vernita. While looking into the woman's history, Patricia and her son found the name of another one of Vernita's daughters that caused both of their jaws to drop.

Patricia's mother was also the mother of one of the most famous people on the planet! Patricia was completely overwhelmed by this realization, but she also faced a dilemma. If she talked herself up as the long-lost relative of a celebrity, people might think she was a liar or just someone looking for money.

Patricia only wanted some closure. So she fought against her doubts and started to do some research on Oprah Winfrey. Perhaps the most powerful and recognizable celebrity in the world, Oprah was Vernita's daughter. If Patricia's suspicions were true, then, this would mean she and Oprah were half-sisters!

Through some intense investigation, Patricia learned of a restaurant in Wisconsin run by Oprah's niece. She arrived with the adoption paperwork, which convinced the niece to take a DNA test. The results came back positive; it was a match!

Word made its way around the Winfrey family, and eventually, a meeting was scheduled between Patricia, Oprah, and their mother, Vernita. The two long-lost siblings clicked immediately; they had a lifetime of stories to share with each other.

Now that Oprah learned the definitive truth about Patricia, she told the world in the most grandiose way possible: she introduced her on her television program so everyone would know their story!

The joyful sisters embraced each other in front of a stunned and elated crowd. Oprah went on to chat with Patricia about the rocky road she traversed to finally find closure.

One aspect of Patricia's journey Oprah took to heart was she never sold her story to the news to make a buck. Having the wealth and influence Oprah did meant people sometimes tried to take advantage, and Patricia was soon rewarded handsomely for her humbleness.

Oprah bought Patricia a sprawling mansion in Wisconsin priced at nearly half a million dollars! She also gave Patricia money to return to school at the University of Wisconsin to finish her degree in social work.

Patricia took none of what happened for granted, and she worked hard all the way through school. At 53 years old, she finally received her degree, and who was in the crowd cheering her on? You guessed it... Oprah!

Vernita Lee eventually passed away at the age of 83, but Patricia and Oprah will never forget how she was the key to their reunion. Two sisters, separated for decades, finally connected again.

You can imagine what a shock it was for Patricia to find out she was related to Oprah Winfrey. Of course, most people who go in search of their biological family don't discover news this big, but that doesn't mean the reunions are any less significant.

Imagine being so famous that your first name is synonymous with an entire industry. Well, that's Oprah. She's dominated the media industry for decades, her unrivaled talent and charisma leading the way. But she wasn't exactly born into this life of everlasting success and luxury...

Every hero has an origin story, and Oprah's, who became the world's first female black billionaire, was undoubtedly painful. Born on January 29, 1954, in rural Mississippi to a poor, teenage mom, she suffered at the hands of abusive family members.

"I was raped at 9 years old by a cousin," Oprah confessed years later, while painfully recounting her extremely daunting experiences with abuse. "Then again by another family member, and another family member." And the effects were more than psychological.

The recurring abuse led to an inevitable pregnancy, and in 1968, at the raw and impressionable age of 14 years, Oprah birthed a son she later named Canaan. He tragically died just a few weeks post-birth.

But an ambitious teen Oprah didn't let her tragic childhood seize her from achieving her dreams. Later, she landed a job in radio before she even graduated high school, unknowingly starting what would be her downright legendary career.

After a few years in the working world, Oprah began hosting local talk shows in the '70s and early '80s, eventually gaining tremendous ratings at Chicago's WLS-TV station. This caught the attention of a very famous film buff.

Acclaimed film critic and journalist Roger Ebert, then known for his TV show At the Movies, encouraged the on-the-rise Oprah to sign a syndication deal with King World regarding the future of the little talk show that could. She took his advice, and more wins came her way.

It was 1986 when Oprah began hosting her self-titled talk show, The Oprah Winfrey Show. It became known for many things: celebrity interviews, transformative makeovers, social issue analysis, and giveaways — lots and lots of giveaways.

Soon, people were ritualistically tuning into the show, which earned explosive ratings, it being the highest-rated talk show ever. The woman was on fire, but soon intimate aspects of her personal life caught aflame, too.

See, in 1986, just as her talk show found legs, she met businessman Stedman Graham at a charity event. The two started dating that same year, and by 1992, they were engaged to be married — but then, curiously, they called off the wedding.

Opting instead for a "spiritual union," the two would remain partners moving forward. Naturally, the media and tabloids latched on to this personal information: why didn't she want go get married? Why didn't she want kids?

Oprah never supplied answers, so soon, rumors took on lives of their own. Because she had a very tight and public bond with journalist and television personality Gayle King for a kajillion years, some assumed they were more than friends!

So, after battling suspicions and questions regarding her lack of mini Oprahs for what seemed like eternity, the busy, admittedly impatient, Oprah finally supplied an answer and put rumors to rest.

"If I had kids, my kids would hate me," she explained, going on to say that any kids she had would end up processing the hardships of their childhood on some talk show equivalent to The Oprah Winfrey Show. She elaborated.

To keep her career going strong, "Something would have had to suffer," she said, "and it would've probably been them." The media mogul had several plates spinning for decades, so it's no wonder that she never decided to spin a plate in the offspring department.

Despite her feelings towards motherhood being shaped by her troubled past, her maternal nature is undeniable. "When people were pressuring me to get married and have children, I knew I was not going to be a person that ever regretted not having them," she said, "because I feel like I am a mother to the world’s children."

So while she may not be a mother in the traditional sense, her dedication to improving the lives of children stands on its own merits. For instance, after a 2002 meeting with Nelson Mandela, the two had together agreed that "education was a way to end poverty in the nation of South Africa." So Oprah went to work.

In 2007, she opened the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls in South Africa, which gives educational and leadership opportunities to young girls in need. Her motherly work went on.

Among her prized Oscar and countless Emmys, Oprah won several awards for her humanitarian and philanthropic work, including her acceptance of the Bob Hope Humanitarian Award in 2002, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2013.

Oprah Winfrey's fiercely busy, and utterly never-ending, journey of success and love never involved kids, and that's perfectly okay. Being a woman does not require taking on motherhood, and Oprah is proof there are other methods to fruitfulness.