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Oprah: Suicidal After Becoming Pregnant At 14, Drank Detergent To Terminate Pregnancy

By Ashley Hoffman
Published on: 11:42 PST, Jun 18, 2017

Oprah Winfrey revealed to The Hollywood Reporter that she became suicidal after her uncle impregnated her when she was 14-years-old. Following the traumatic experience, Winfrey attempted to drink laundry detergent in an attempt to terminate the pregnancy.

“I hit rock-bottom. I became pregnant and hid the pregnancy. I’d intended to kill myself actually. I thought there’s no way other than killing myself. I was just planning on how to do it. If I’d had the Internet, I might not be alive because now you can just Google how to do it.”

Oprah revealed in a candid interview that getting pregnant was a result of a lack of personal boundaries in addition to sexual abuse. The talk show queen broke her silence on CNN’s Piers Morgan Tonight, “Getting pregnant was a result of bad choices, not having boundaries, sexual abuse from the time I was 9, 10, 11, 12 and 13,” as per New York Daily News.

Oprah was then sent to live with her father in Nashville. Winfrey’s dad did not know she was pregnant but established stern house rules. He said, “I would rather see a daughter of mine dead floating down the Cumberland River rather than bringing shame on this family.”

Oprah Winfrey contemplated suicide after being impregnated by a relative at the age of 14. [Image by Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images]

Winfrey said she “hid the pregnancy until my swollen ankles and belly gave me away.” Oprah ended up having a miscarriage. The loss was called her “second chance” by her father. Throughout her life, Oprah said she took in those words as a mantra which helped her to reach the level of success that she is at today.

“I was, in many ways, saved by that, and I made a decision that I was going to turn it around.”

Looking back on the traumatic experience, the now billionaire with her own cable network said losing the baby may have actually been a blessing in disguise.

Winfrey has established her own television network to which many shows have seen critical acclaim, including her original series Queen Sugar.

The Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN) had a rocky start. Oprah told The Hollywood Reporter that there “was a lot of schadenfreude going on in the beginning.”

During the early stages of OWN, Oprah said she battled with her decision in creating a network. Winfrey said she sometimes felt should have held off on the OWN Network until she completely ended The Oprah Winfrey Show in order to give the budding network more of her time and attention.

Winfrey stated she did not want to create something that carried her name and brand and fail to be available daily for input.

Oprah discusses obstacles during the early stages of creating OWN Network. [Image by Jesse Grant/Getty Images]

“So now I know that…. The turnaround came when I had my own come-to-Jesus meeting with myself…. ‘Stop looking at this as a problem that you’ve created and look at it for the opportunity that it is. How many people in their lifetime get an opportunity to have a platform — call it whatever you will, a network — that has their name on it?'”

Following the heels of Bill Maher’s mention of the N-word on Real Time, Winfrey feels that nobody should be saying the word at all, she adds, “I think the word should be eliminated from the lexicon… I think it should be eliminated for everybody…. Nobody should be allowed to say it.”

[Featured Image by Jason Kempin/Getty Images]

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