Oprah Winfrey confirmed on her Instagram last weekend that her father, 89-year-old Vernon Winfrey, passed away in Nashville, Tennessee, on Friday.
“Less than a week ago, we honored my father in his own backyard,” her post read. “My friend and gospel singer Wintley Phipps saluted him with song. He FELT the love and reveled in it until he could no longer speak. Yesterday with family surrounding his bedside, I had the sacred honor of witnessing the man responsible for my life take his last breath. We could feel peace enter the room at his passing.”
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She added, “That Peace still abides. All is well. Thank you for your prayers and good thoughts.”
Ophrah Daily took to Instagram to also confirm the news.
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Celebrities like Mariah Carey, Chrissy Metz, Storm Reid, and more dove into the comment section to express their condolences.
“Love you, Ms. O,” Carey wrote. “Thinking of you and saying a prayer for you…Blessings to your Father…shining down on you from heaven.”
Last week, Oprah put together an event called “Vernon Winfrey Appreciation Day” to surprise her father, who was sick at the time. She included a barber chair as a nod to his long career as a barber who owned his own shop in Nashville for over 50 years.
She described throwing the event as giving her father “flowers while he’s still well enough to smell them.”
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Winfrey Barber & Beauty Shop is still standing at 1001 Lischey Ave. According to the Tennesseean, the Nashville-born barber was a Metro councilman in Nashville for almost 20 years and served in the U.S. Army during the Korean War.
