A man who claims to be media mogul Oprah Winfrey's unofficially "adopted" son is not too happy with the former talk show host. In a recent interview, Calvin Mitchell told how he was left feeling hurt and confused after Winfrey turned her back on him and wanted nothing else to do with him. Winfrey got wind of his interview and is opening up to the public about why she ended her relationship with Mitchell.
Rolling Out reported that the 61-year-old was approached by Mitchell, her "adopted" son at the Ed Sullivan Theater after filming an episode of The Late Show With Stephen Colbert. Mithcell wanted answers as to how the woman who took him in as "her own son" when he was child could ultimately turn her back on him.
Mitchell recently sat down with Radar Online for an exclusive video interview on his relationship with Winfrey and her partner, Stedman Graham, and explained how he considered the two to be his "family" but, everything changed when he didn't follow the path in life that Winfrey encouraged him to take. "I'm still searching. I don't have closure to this. I just don't understand," Mitchell stated during the interview. According to Mitchell, now 35, he met Winfrey he was 11 years old working on the set of an ABC pilot, There Are No Children Here. He says Winfrey took an immediate liking to him after he gifted her with a Diet Coke on the set.
From there, Winfrey kept in constant contact with him and even asked his mother if she could adopt him as her child, according to EUR. Mitchell's mother declined the offer but Winfrey still remained in the boy's life up until he was 17, where everything changed. According to Mitchell, Winfrey urged him to go to a Christian-based boarding school, which she would pay for. Mitchell stated he attended the school but after a while, he grew homesick and decided to leave. Winfrey pleaded with him to stay but, when he made his final decision that the school was just not for him and went back home, all contact with Winfrey ended.
During a separate interview, Winfrey herself acknowledged her relationship with Mitchell and his family and even agreed with what Mitchell openly discussed with Radar. Rolling Out reported that during an interview with ET, Winfrey went into details about what caused her relationship to end with the young boy. She recalled how she moved Mitchell and his family out of the projects and tried to help him in receiving the best education. The Butler star recalled being charmed by Mitchell and wanted the best for him and paid for two separate private school educations, but Mitchell didn't want to do right by it.
"I said, 'Calvin, this is the moment'," she remembered of her conversation with Mitchell. "'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."
Winfrey stated that although she was hurt by Mitchell's actions, both then and now, she understands that giving people money or a new car will not make them want more for themselves. Winfrey stated that Mitchell was her motivation behind opening her Leadership Academy for Girls. Winfrey wants to show young people how to "fish for themselves."
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