Talk-Show Queen Oprah Winfrey Reveals a Half-Sister She Didn't Know She Had

Jan. 24, 2011 — -- Talk-show queen Oprah Winfrey revealed a "bombshell family secret" today, telling her viewers that she recently learned she has a half-sister whom her mother had hidden from her for decades.

"Imagine my shock just a few months ago, at the end of October, when I found out I have another sister living just 90 minutes away," said Winfrey, 56.

Winfrey's half-sister Patricia, a single mother of two, had been given up for adoption in Milwaukee, Wis., by Winfrey's mother, Vernita Lee, in 1963.

"I was 9 years old at the time of [Patricia's adoption], living with my father in Nashville, Tenn.," Winfrey said. "I had no idea my mother was even pregnant."

Winfrey had two other siblings, a brother and a sister, who are both dead. Vernon Winfrey, Winfrey's father, is not Patricia's father.

"For the most part, my life has been an open book and on the show I think I've seen about everything," Winfrey said. "And I thought nothing could surprise me anymore, but let me tell you I was wrong."

Winfrey described learning about her half-sister as news that "shook her to her core," and left her "speechless."

Patricia, whose last name was not revealed on the show, said that she first discovered her link to the media mogul in 2007, after years of searching for her birth mother.

After her birth mother refused to meet with her, Patricia, on the phone with her son, Andre, happened to overhear a local news report about Winfrey's mother, who was giving new details about her other children.

"Her mother said that two of children had passed away, and I knew [from my records] that I had two siblings who passed away. She said one was named Patricia and one was Jeffrey," Patricia said. "The hairs on the back of my neck stood up, because I knew that one of my siblings and I shared the same name."

"I said no, that can't be," Patricia said.

But it was. DNA tests proved that Patricia was an 85 percent match to Winfrey's niece, who is the daughter of the first Winfrey sister named Patricia, who died in 2003.

Winfrey's longtime best friend and editor of 'O' magazine, Gayle King, told ABC News today that the media mogul was stunned, particularly that the sister she never knew showed so much loyalty.

"Here's a woman who legitimately had a story to sell and didn't," said King. "She was trying to find her mother. Oprah, of course, just turned out to be a bonus."

Tuesday morning, Winfrey will appear on King's program, "The Gayle King Show," on the OWN cable channel to talk about her revelation.