Last Interview: Oprah's Dad Revealed His TV Titan Daughter Barely Spoke To Him In The Final Years Of His Life
July 10 2022, Published 8:00 a.m. ET
Oprah Winfrey was reportedly at the bedside of her father when he passed away on Friday — but that wasn’t always the case.
Vernon Winfrey, the father of the television talk show legend, died of cancer at the age of 88. In one of his last interviews, Vernon shed light on the tragic final years of his life, telling this website he was destitute.
“We talk on the phone maybe a couple of times a year,” Vernon told RadarOnline.com, noting their birthdays were two days apart. “We'll talk for about 20 minutes."
Oprah spent her early childhood at her father’s hometown of Kosciusko, Mississippi, and in Milwaukee with her mother, Vernita Lee, who died in 2018. However, she also lived with her father in Nashville, between the ages of 7 and 9 and during her teens.
Outspoken Vernon said his dying wish is to visit one of Oprah's many mansions, specifically her waterfront home on 1,800 idyllic acres in Hawaii.
"I told her I'd like to come and see it before I'm too old to travel," Vernon added in the 2018 interview. "But it's not just a matter of calling her up and telling her I'm coming. She could be anywhere at any given time."
In the final years of his life, heartbreakingly Vernon endured aching loneliness after his closet pals died, leaving him to watch football alone at his run-down home in East Nashville, Tenn.
"I have six different guys I used to play checkers with, all a year or two older than me, but they're deceased," he said.
"So now, I look forward to Thursday night football, and Sunday night football. The older I've gotten, the more I've fallen in love with my bed. I just enjoy laying there."
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As RadarOnline.com previously reported, Vernon died late Friday night, July 8, after battling cancer.
"It is with a heavy heart that we can confirm that Vernon Winfrey, Oprah’s father, passed away yesterday ..." the verified Oprah Daily Twitter account shared on Saturday, July 9.
