Venita Lee was born on May 2, 1935, and worked as a housekeeper throughout her life. She was just 18 when she met Vernon Winfrey and spent one night with him which resulted in her daughter’s pregnancy.
Soon after Oprah’s birth in 1954, Lee moved to Milwaukee leaving her daughter behind in the care of her mother, Hattie Mae Lee.
Lee and Winfrey’s father never got married. She was initially raised by her grandmother, before joining her mother and half-siblings, Jeffery and Patricia, in Milwaukee.
Lee later died on November 22, 2018, at home in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States. Winfrey paid tribute to her mother in a post on her social media page.