After 14 years of marriage to Oprah’s father Vernon, Barbara Winfrey is being forced out of her marital home by Oprah, leaving her homeless. In part one of MailOnline’s world exclusive interview, Mrs. Winfrey laid bare the truth about the talk queen’s belittling treatment of her and Vernon, Oprah’s father. Here, in part two, she gives the inside story of Oprah, Stedman Graham and Gayle King.
Oprah began dating longtime boyfriend Stedman in 1986 but, according to Barbara, in all the times she saw them together she never for once witnessed them hold hands or kiss. Barbara alleges that Oprah paid her security team to follow and monitor Stedman. That one time, during an argument between Oprah and Stedman, that Oprah had revealed detailed knowledge of Stedman’s life, his movements and who he was spending his time with when she wasn’t around.
Barbara said:
She told Stedman a member of her security team had told her. When he asked, “How come this guy knows everything about my life?”, she said “That’s what I pay people to know.” She had had him followed I don’t know for how long. Once you’re in Oprah’s world, she owns you!
I think in the beginning it was different. Vernon (Oprah’s father) told me how one time he was driving and Oprah was taking Stedman to meet family in Mississippi. He said she was running her hands through his hair the whole trip, till he was so fed up he was ready to put her out of the car.
She wanted to get married at first but he wasn’t so keen. Then she became this powerful person and things changed, the balance switched. He’s now at her beck and call. Stedman isn’t a good steward of money and that suits Oprah fine. He is financially dependent on her. He knows her secrets and she knows his.
Why would they marry now? He’s there at her beck and call. He knows his role in her life.’
As for best friend Gayle, Barbara says her relationship with Oprah is “unhealthy.” She continued:
Gayle is very, very present. I don’t know any man I’ve ever dated who could tolerate that, but Stedman knows Gayle’s going nowhere. They speak on the phone three or four times a day.
Once Oprah took us on a Mediterranean cruise. It was an amazing thing she did. She rented a $30million yacht and went on an 11-day cruise. She’s very flamboyant.
We had meals three times a day, three courses, different place settings, different cutlery, glassware, different everything three times a day but she never talked to me and Vernon. She didn’t spend any time with us. It was always her, Stedman and Gayle. The three of them. Anytime you looked up they were together. To me it was just bizarre.
Sometimes I believe that Oprah is more dependent on Gayle than the other way round. I don’t know what she would do without her friendship and if it’s not more than friendship then they’re certainly giving every appearance that it is.’
he cover of next month’s edition of Oprah’s eponymous magazine, ‘O: The Oprah Magazine’ shows the star, resplendent in Purple alongside the promise, ‘How to Love the Skin You’re In’, but according to Barbara, that is something Oprah herself has never quite managed to achieve.
Barbara continued:
‘Nobody can live up to being Oprah. She’s human like I’m human. She’s not perfect. She tells the world what to do but she’s in inner turmoil. Everybody thinks she has all the answers but she needs to sit down with Dr Phil. Vernon often told me that he thought if Oprah could change the color of her skin she would – she’d make it lighter. Color was a real thing for her.
Read more on the interview here
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