Popular Media proprietor Oprah Winfrey has finally addressed reports of her “secret son” Calvin Mitchell.
Reports flew out last week when a young man in braids attempted to speak with the philanthropist outside of The Stephen Colbert Show earlier this month.
The man was identified as a 35-year-old truck driver, Calvin Mitchell, whom Oprah took under her wings several years.
Admitting the existence of their relationship, Oprah told ET host Nancy O’Dell: “I met Calvin around the early ’90s, I think it was 1992. I was doing a film for television called There Are No Children Here. We were shooting in the projects in Chicago and I was sitting on set during a break, and this cute little sparkly-eyed boy came underneath the yellow tape to hand me a soda. I was so charmed by him that I started talking to him about his family, his school life, and found out that he was in a situation where his mother didn’t have a job and they were stuck in the projects.”
Winfrey further admitted she decided to raise the boy and put him through school but he dropped out of school when he turned 16 against her wishes.
She said: “I found a school in Mississippi that was a private boarding school because I thought if I could remove him from the environment that he’d been accustomed to growing up in, that maybe that would be helpful to him. I said, ‘Calvin, this is the moment. This is a seminal moment for you. I know you are 16 and can’t see the road ahead, but if you leave this school and refuse to get an education — I have tried to offer you an education twice — there isn’t another school I can put you in. If you leave this school, I am done. There is nothing else I can do.’ … And that was my last conversation with Calvin in the early ’90s.”
On his attempt to meet her outside of The Stephen Colbert Show earlier this month, she said: “I could see the little boy in his eyes, even though time has changed a lot for him, and I said to him, ‘What are you doing?’ As I left, and he was looking so forlorn, he was like, ‘Can I speak to you?’ So I said to somebody on my team, ‘Will somebody get Calvin’s number so I can contact him later?’”
Winfrey added that once she realized he had shared his story with the media, she decided not to contact him anymore.
The man was identified as a 35-year-old truck driver, Calvin Mitchell, whom Oprah took under her wings several years.
Admitting the existence of their relationship, Oprah told ET host Nancy O’Dell: “I met Calvin around the early ’90s, I think it was 1992. I was doing a film for television called There Are No Children Here. We were shooting in the projects in Chicago and I was sitting on set during a break, and this cute little sparkly-eyed boy came underneath the yellow tape to hand me a soda. I was so charmed by him that I started talking to him about his family, his school life, and found out that he was in a situation where his mother didn’t have a job and they were stuck in the projects.”
Winfrey further admitted she decided to raise the boy and put him through school but he dropped out of school when he turned 16 against her wishes.
She said: “I found a school in Mississippi that was a private boarding school because I thought if I could remove him from the environment that he’d been accustomed to growing up in, that maybe that would be helpful to him. I said, ‘Calvin, this is the moment. This is a seminal moment for you. I know you are 16 and can’t see the road ahead, but if you leave this school and refuse to get an education — I have tried to offer you an education twice — there isn’t another school I can put you in. If you leave this school, I am done. There is nothing else I can do.’ … And that was my last conversation with Calvin in the early ’90s.”
On his attempt to meet her outside of The Stephen Colbert Show earlier this month, she said: “I could see the little boy in his eyes, even though time has changed a lot for him, and I said to him, ‘What are you doing?’ As I left, and he was looking so forlorn, he was like, ‘Can I speak to you?’ So I said to somebody on my team, ‘Will somebody get Calvin’s number so I can contact him later?’”
Winfrey added that once she realized he had shared his story with the media, she decided not to contact him anymore.
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