Oprah Winfrey reveals her brother Jeffrey died of AIDS in the 1980s as she shares moving Pride month post: ‘The world was an extremely cruel place’
Oprah Winfrey took the interesting action of talking about her late sibling Jeffrey on Tuesday as she shared a Pride month message with fans on the web.
The 70-year-old news tycoon — who facilitated dearest companion Gayle Lord’s child’s wedding as of late — showed up in a video cut shared on her Oprah Everyday Instagram account.
The caption stated a quote from the former talk show host: ‘I wish for you the continued freedom to rise to your truest, highest expression of yourself as a human being.’
Winfrey aptly wore a white sweater with a rainbow knitted across it as she spoke into the camera.
‘It was 35 years ago that my younger brother, Jeffrey Lee, died from AIDS,’ she said at the start of the recording.
She continued to the page’s 3.3 million followers, ‘He was 29-years-old. The year was 1989 and the world was an extremely cruel place, not just for people suffering from AIDS, but also for LGBTQ people in general.’
Winfrey said about her beloved sibling, ‘I often think if he’d lived, he’d be so amazed at how much the world has changed, that there actually is gay marriage and a Pride month.
‘How different his life might have been had he lived times, in a world that saw and appreciated him for who he was rather than attempting to shame him for his 𝓈ℯ𝓍uality.’
Oprah stated, ‘I believe that every single person has the right to love who they want to love and be the person they most want to be.’
Talking straightforwardly to her crowd, she added, ‘My expectation for you is that you are carrying on with a daily existence that feels real to you and that you have the help around you to do as such, regardless of your 𝓈ℯ𝓍uality.’
The tycoon business person said solidly, ‘Whether you’re observing Pride this month or consistently, I wish for you the proceeded with opportunity to ascend to your most genuine, most elevated articulation of yourself as an individual.’
The elevating words have up to this point gathered north of 20,000 preferences.
The post comes after Oprah regarded her sibling in her GLAAD Grants acknowledgment discourse in Spring.
The post comes after Oprah honored her brother in her GLAAD Awards acceptance speech in March
Winfrey championed the LGBTQ community in her electrifying speech
The Color Purple actress and producer received the Vanguard Award at the annual ceremony, which was held in Beverly Hills.
In tribute to her brother, she shared with the audience: ‘Growing up at the time we did, in the community we did, we didn’t have the language to understand or speak about 𝓈ℯ𝓍uality and gender in the way we do now.
‘And at the time, I didn’t know how deeply my brother internalized the shame that he felt about being gay. I wish he could have lived to witness these liberated times and to be here with me tonight.’
She added, ‘All the years of the Oprah Show, for me, were about sharing stories that helped people be their authentic selves… and I know that is the truest form of what it means to be free, to have personal freedom, to be able to fully be who you are.’