Oprah Winfrey held a surprise celebration of life this week for her 88-year-old father Vernon, who suffers from cancer.
She gathered some of those close to him to host a July Fourth BBQ in honor of Vernon “while he is still healthy enough” to enjoy it.
The 68-year-old talk show titan took a selfie video of the party in front of a celebratory sign that read, “Vernon Winfrey Appreciation Celebration.”
Clap hands: Oprah Winfrey held a surprise celebration of life this week for her 88-year-old father Vernon, who suffers from cancer
There was party chatter behind Oprah as she informed her more than 20 million followers, “So we’ve planned a backyard barbecue that’s actually more than a backyard barbecue. It’s Vernon Winfrey Appreciation Day.”
She explained that “My father is sick and so we wanted all his friends to come and celebrate him while he could receive the joy.”
Oprah revealed that at the time the video was shot, Vernon still believed all the party preparations had just been for a Fourth Of July celebration.
However, if he walked out in front of the sign, he would be surprised to find that the festivities were, in fact, a celebration of his life.
Party life: Vernon, a barber from Nashville, sat in a barber chair in a backyard corner where he couldn’t see the sign stating the reason for the party
What made it happen: The 68-year-old talk show titan took a selfie video of the party in front of a celebratory sign that read: ‘Vernon Winfrey Appreciation Celebration’
Yum: During the video, Oprah and her longtime sidekick Gayle King showed off some of the food that had been set up for the guests, including fried chicken, brisket, turkey, and burgers.
During the video, Oprah and her longtime sidekick Gayle King showed off some of the food set out for the guests, including fried chicken, brisket, turkey and burgers.
Vernon, a hairdresser from Nashville, sat in a barber chair in a backyard corner where he couldn’t see the sign stating the reason for the party.
In an article about the party posted this Wednesday, Oprah Daily revealed that Vernon is currently suffering from cancer.
His daughter pulled out all the stops for his party, hired gospel singer Wintley Phipps to perform, and invited Vernon’s sister Christine from Mississippi.
Side by side: Oprah is pictured at her father’s party alongside Gayle, who has been her close friend and acolyte for decades
Oprah gave a speech thanking Vernon “for the kind of father who brought honor into your life and into my life,” noting that when he ran his barbershop, he “never closed that stupid shop; not at Christmas, not at the weekend.’
She commented, “I’ve learned from your good work ethic, showing up, being on time — that’s why I’ve never missed a show for 25 years on The Oprah Winfrey Show.”
Oprah was born out of wedlock in Kosciusko, Mississippi, in the 1950s, to Vernita Lee, a maid, and Vernon, who served in the military.
After living with her maternal grandmother in rural Mississippi, Oprah moved to Milwaukee at age six to stay with Vernita.
Side by side: Vernon is pictured enjoying his party alongside Stedman Graham, who has been publicly coupled with Oprah since 1986
Her childhood was marked by physical and sexual abuse, and Oprah has publicly shared that she was raped when she was just nine years old.
At age 14, while pregnant with a son who would be born prematurely and died at an early age, Oprah moved in with Vernon in Nashville.
Vernon firmly enforced his values and discipline on his young daughter, refusing to wear clothes that bare the midriff or wear extravagant amounts of makeup.
“When my dad took me, it changed the course of my life,” Oprah told the Washington Post in the 1980s, the decade in which she became a star. “He saved me. He just knew what he wanted and expected. He wouldn’t take anything less.’
‘He saved me’: ‘When my father took me, it changed the course of my life,’ Oprah told the Washington Post in the 1980s; she is pictured with Vernon in 2003
Vernon himself explained to the paper: “I wasn’t the father who had to let the mother tell her, well, you know, she’s a girl, it’s time for you to tell her things. I talked to her about how to approach boys or men. I told her, ‘If you don’t stand up for yourself, the boys won’t stand up for you.”
Oprah recalled, “I remember one time I came home with Cs, and my dad said, ‘This is not acceptable.’”
She said, ‘And I said, ‘Unacceptable? C is average. This isn’t a bad grade.: And he said to me, ‘If you were a kid who could only get Cs, that’s really all I would expect from you. I wouldn’t demand more of you than C. But you are not. And so in this house, to you, C’s are not acceptable.”‘
Oprah graduated from high school and college in Nashville and got her start broadcasting there on radio station WVOL.
Wow: Oprah pulled out all the stops for her dad’s party and hired gospel singer Wintley Phipps, pictured in 2012, to perform
She notoriously had a strained relationship with her mother, who disappeared from her life for years only to reappear when Oprah rose to fame.
“If I hadn’t left Milwaukee, nothing would have been the same. I do believe I would have been dead at 56,” Oprah said People a few years ago.
The TV legend, who was candid about her fluctuating size and an interest in Weight Watchers, said, “I believe I would have been 437 pounds.”
She added: ‘I believe I would have had diabetes. I would have had high blood pressure. I would have suffocated if I knew it could have been otherwise.’