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Oprah Names Son She Lost At 14, Motivates Audience During Melbourn, Australia Tour: Will Publish Memoir [Video]

By Maat van Uitert
Published on: 01:33 PST, Dec 4, 2015

Oprah Winfrey has revealed the name of the son she lost when she was just 14-years-old. Oprah opened up about her life, spreading a message of empowerment during her Australian tour at the Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne this month, reports People.

During the one woman motivational show, Oprah told over 15,000 fans about naming her dead son after an interview with a reporter. Oprah confessed that she “did an interview with a reporter before I came to Australia,” and during the meeting, the reporter told Oprah she “should name the baby son who died.”

Many women have lost a child and have felt the similar pain Oprah admitted she felt at the time. So, to heal, Oprah revealed his name to her audience. “I have named him, I had a little boy named Canaan,” Oprah revealed to her audience. “I did have a son. And I named him Canaan because Canaan means new land, new life.”

Along with her story, Oprah brought a message of hope, reported news.com.au. During her show, Oprah encouraged fans to find their “calling” and rid themselves of their “disease to please.” Winfrey told fans they should keep their “vibrational energies high” to stay motivated.

Oprah also opened up to her fans, revealing during the tour how she came to be pregnant at such a young age. A victim of incest and rape, Oprah hid her secret for years, but finally came to realize the truth about her son, although painful, could help other women.

Oprah revealed that she “was raped at 9 years old by a cousin, then again by another family member, and another family member,” reported People. Winfery added that she tried to hide that she was pregnant with her son because of overwhelming feelings of “pain and shame.”

Oprah gave birth to an infant son, who died in the hospital just weeks later.

For years, Oprah hid her secret, until a family member revealed the story about her son in 1990. Although Oprah was shattered when revelations of her dead son surfaced, ultimately, the truth helped Oprah heal and she has since named him.

“I took to my bed and cried for three days,” Oprah confessed, telling fans that she “felt devastated. Wounded. Betrayed,” People reported.

“How could this person do this to me?” Oprah wrote in the February 2007 issue of O, The Oprah Magazine. Despite the wounds of losing her dead son and feeling betrayed, Oprah resiliently learned the truth set her free.

Oprah “soon realized that having the secret out was liberating,” the former reporter wrote in her magazine in 2007. Winfrey told fans that what she “learned for sure was that holding the shame was the greatest burden of all.”

Oprah admitted that she kept the secret about her dead son for so long, and did not name him, because she “imagined that every person on the street was going to point their finger at me and scream, ‘Pregnant at 14, you wicked girl… expelled!'”

During the one woman show, Oprah stood as an inspiration to the largely female audience. Her long-awaited memoir, The Life You Want, seems poised to serve the same purpose: to motivate and inspire her audience. The Life You Want will be published in January 2017 by Flatiron Books, reports Rolling Stone.

Like her memoir, Oprah wrapped up her show by telling the audience that “[p]art of the reason why I am here is to share why I’m here, share what I know and pass it on,” which included the painful truth about her dead son, reported news.com.au.

Oprah ended the tour on a high note, telling the audience that “it took me five years but I’m back. You know I don’t sing or dance, but you came anyway, thank you so much.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkO3LWHO1ak

[Photo by Scott Barbour/Getty Images]

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