Oprah has ten kids

According to USA Weekend, Oprah Winfrey confesses that she’s a mom to ten children living in South Africa.  In what seems to be an unusual adoption, for the past 4 years, Oprah has been financing the care of ten school-aged children by buying them a house, hiring caretakers and sending them to boarding school.  She visits them a few times a year. 

The issue of USA Weekend will be out December 17.  Look for more details about the children.

Source: Us Weekly, December 18, 2006 issue
Photo: Wire Image

Comments

Kim Cooper on December 8th, 2006

I admire Oprah for her willingness to help these children. With all dues respect, however, I have to believe that being a mom is more than supplying financial needs. It’s the woman who holds her 2 yr old after a nightmare, or teaches her 7 year old how to make cookies and shows you what real love is by example. I cant help but feel compassion for these children, as they long for a real mom to hold them. Perhaps Oprah would be best called their “sponsor” rather than their mother.

annabelle on December 8th, 2006

Yes, Kim Cooper, you are absolutely right, yes.

Shmoo on December 8th, 2006

You’re right Kim, this isn’t motherhood at all. It’s better than nothing, but children need parents. I wish prospective parents who wish to adopt a child weren’t hindered by finances. So many more children would have families.

Elizabeth on December 8th, 2006

I think this is great. And all the more so because she has been doing this for four years and not milking it for publicity.

As for the issue of whether she is their “mom” or not – I see what you are saying, Kim, but I’d also bet that some of the celeb-moms on this very site do little more than provide financial support and hire caretakers for their children. I mean certainly not most of them, but some.

Vibeke on December 8th, 2006

i think it’s wonderful. I admire Oprah’s practicality. Kim, we all know what ideal mothers would be like.. but the reality of South Africa is that these children are very very very lucky because there are so many (AIDS)- orphans. These children have someone who cares about them and their future now. Something can be said for leaving these children in their home country. They will be able to really contribute to the future of their own country and in relative anonimity will be able to live ‘normal’ healthy lives. If Oprah was to take them home we’d just have more spoiled celebrity kids and they would have to spend their lives dealing with being Oprah’s child. This way she helps more children and Africa. She rocks. And probably she’s able to hire people who are more like the ‘real’ parents these children have lost then she could ever be..

Chicki on December 8th, 2006

Kim, if I had the choice of having a “mom” like Oprah or a “mom” like Britney Spears or Madonna, I’d take Oprah hands down — for one thing Oprah’s kids will NEVER see private parts in public for all the world to see! That’s right! I would take a “sponsor mom” over either one of these “women” any day!! Yeah Britney has shown her kids what “real love is [through] example” right? And Madonna can make up for all her “truth or Dare” exploits by writing children’s books. Give me a break!

erica on December 8th, 2006

I think it is wonderful and couldn’t care less what she is called for doing it!

Marie on December 8th, 2006

I agree with all of you. Parenthood is not just funding and giving of material things. She’s a sponsor, not a mother.

Shmoo, my youth pastor when I was growing up wanted so badly to have children of his own with his wife. They tried looking into adopting and their finances couldn’t afford it. So many many deserving people are hindered by this problem and it’s ultimately unfair.

How about instead of the adopting fees being so expensive, the majority of the money go towards raising an adopted child?

Jennifer on December 8th, 2006

I think she’s doing what a lot of people thought Madonna should have done for her son, David. His father was still around but unable to care for him. People questioned why she just didn’t give money to his father so he could afford to raise them. I see nothing wrong with what Oprah is doing. I’m sure she feels this is the best for these kids, to be raised in the culture they were born.

CanadianGirl on December 9th, 2006

I think this is great. Adopting from developing countries is great too, and I definitely think it constitutes “saving” a child (as per the other post). However, for many of these countries, including South Africa, to develop, its children need to stay in that country and get an education to help the country grow and change, rather than coming to North America and leaving behind the ravished country. I think Oprah is right on the mark in helping South Africa and the world and making real change.

Allison on December 9th, 2006

I have mixed feelings about this. Are the children actually offically “adopted” by Oprah? Or is she just sponsering them by providing for them financially?

Don’t get me wrong. Oprah is doing a wonderful thing for these 10 children. God bless her for that.

But, to call her their “mom” seems kind of wrong, somehow.

As an adoptive mother to a child from China, whom I brought home to live with me 2 years ago, it is a totally different experience having the child with you in your home.

I am with my daughter 24/7. I give her a bath each day, read to her, play with her, cook her nutritious meals three times a day, tuck her into bed each night, teach her about her heritage, and on and on. To me, THAT is what a “mom” does.

Hea on December 9th, 2006

I think Oprah is doing a wonderful thing but I wouldn’t call her a mother to those children based on what I know. I would call her their devoted sponsor.

Campbell on December 9th, 2006

I am a mother of 3. So I certainly know what a mother is and is not. However, I agree that what she is doing is fantastic and I don’t give a rip what she chooses to call her self.

Kristen on December 9th, 2006

I have never commented on this site before, but I thought what I had to say would maybe be useful…my dad went to Malawi for a few weeks in May, and met a young man named Peter, heard his story, and him and my mom are now paying for him to go to college and are also giving him money to help support him and his sister. In his culture, because they are being a parent-like figure to him, he calls them “mom” and “dad”, and me and my sister his “sisters”! Maybe that’s what Oprah means?

sandy on December 9th, 2006

it was never said if these children had paerents of not. some of them might very well have both their parents.

tink1217 on December 9th, 2006

whatever Oprah is doing it is helping a few childrenm have a better life. I don’t think that makes her a saint. Something about Oprah has always rubbed me the wrong way. her charitable endeavors fall flat to me. I just can’t put my finger on it though. I don’t think supporting children in another country an seeing them a few times a year constitutes a “mother”. But, if the kids are thriving and happy then it’s great for them.

anna on December 11th, 2006

Being a mom is more than financial, I know, I have 2 young children. If one is able to do something/in whatever capacity they can, out of love and compassion like a mother can, more power to Oprah. I haven’t read the US Weekly article. It’s only fair to read the interview first… it is how it’s perceived or interpreted. Oprah might feel she’s their mom, but there’s nothing wrong with that. So call whatever you will like. She’s invested more than just financially like some “sponsors” might who just sends a check and feels good about that. Oprah has given more. She’s invested her heart and cares about them on a personal level. She visits them, makes sure they are provided for — a house, caretakers, school. They have a better life. I do think these children do think about the individual who has made it possible for them. Oprah isn’t their mom, but I’m sure they are grateful to her. People could critize Oprah for not helping orphans. And she does get criticized for helping. If only more financially-able people would help orphans and poor, the world would be a better place.