Oprah Winfrey reveals half-sister she never knew

Oprah Winfrey on Monday revealed that a Milwaukee woman named Patricia was the half-sister Oprah never knew about until this past November.

"Yes, it is true," Winfrey told the audience of her daytime talk programme, The Oprah Winfrey Show.

"It is true that my mother, my mother Vernita is also Patricia's birth mother. That means Patricia is my half sister who I never knew existed," Winfrey said.

Patricia, whose last name was not revealed, appeared on Winfrey's show and said she had been raised in foster homes since age 7.

Oprah's mom, Vernita, had given Patricia up for adoption because she thought it would be impossible to get off welfare if she had another child, she said.

Winfrey, 56, said she had no idea she had a half-sister because at the time Lee was pregnant, she was only nine years old and living with her father.

Patricia said she first learned she was Winfrey''s half sister in 2007, but kept it a secret because she knew it would create a media frenzy.