Oprah Winfrey has revealed that she has a half-sister whose existence was kept secret from her for 47 years.

The U.S. talk show host said she was ‘shocked to the core’ last November to learn that her mother Vernita Lee had another daughter, Patricia, who she had given up for adoption shortly after her birth in 1963.

Winfrey, 56, has now met up with her half-sister, whose surname has not been released, and the two have been reunited with their mother for the first time as adults.

Miss Lee put the child up for adoption because she wanted to get off welfare and knew that if she had another child it might not be possible.

Winfrey said that at the time she was eight and living with her father, and did not even know her mother was pregnant.

She revealed the news on her talk show on her U.S. TV network, OWN.

Winfrey told how Patricia had been trying to identify her mother for years until she saw Miss Lee in a TV interview mention details that coincided with what she knew of her birth family, and the penny dropped.

Patricia got in touch with her half-sister at her production company in Chicago, which led to Winfrey confronting her mother who confessed all.

DNA tests also confirmed that Patricia was an 85 per cent match to Winfrey’s niece, the daughter of the first Winfrey sister, also named Patricia, who died in 2003.

The revelation is the latest in the saga of Winfrey’s complicated and fraught life story, which has included childhood abuse, teenage pregnancy and rumours of lesbianism.

After more than two decades on TV, Winfrey is now one of the most successful women in the world with a fortune estimated at $2.7billion (£1.69billion).

Oprah Winfrey has revealed her ‘family secret’ with her chat show audience today – she has a half-sister.

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