Oprah Winfrey is reflecting on the tragic and unjust death of her younger brother, Jeffrey Lee, who passed away at the age of 29, 35 years ago. This reflection comes in honor of Pride Month.
The 70-year-old billionaire media mogul had a famously challenging upbringing. Born into poverty in rural Mississippi in 1954 to Vernita Lee, a teenage single mother, and Vernon Winfrey, who never married Vernita, Oprah’s early years were marked by adversity.
Her half-brother Jeffrey, born in 1960, was her mother’s son, and in observance of Pride Month, the former talk show host shared insights into his passing in 1989 due to AIDS-related causes.
Oprah first said: “It was 35 years ago that my younger brother Jeffrey Lee died from AIDS. He was 29 years old.”
She continued: “The year was 1989, and the world was an extremely cruel place,” noting: “Not just for people suffering from AIDS, but also for LGBTQ people in general.”
The AIDS epidemic, famously mishandled by former President Ronald Reagan in the U.S., is believed to have started in June 1981. According to the World Health Organization, it has claimed approximately 40.4 million lives worldwide since then.
Oprah further reflected: “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.”
Pride Month originated from the Stonewall riots at New York City’s Christopher Street, notably at the enduring gay bar, the Stonewall Inn, in June 1969. Activist Marsha P. Johnson is widely acknowledged as one of the pioneers who sparked the movement.
Oprah continued her Pride Month message by wondering “how different” her brother’s life “might have been, had he lived in these times, in a world that saw and appreciated him for who he was, rather than attempting to shame him for his sexuality.”
She maintained: “I believe that every single person has a right to love who they want to love, and be the person who they most want to be, and my hope for you is that you are living a life that feels authentic to you, and that you have the support around you to do so, no matter your sexuality.”
“And whether or not you are celebrating Pride this month, or always, I wish for you the continued freedom to rise to your truest, highest expression of yourself as a human being.”
