Barbara Winfrey was married to Oprah's father Vernon for over a decade, but the bitter fight over the house has hung over the family since he filed for divorce in 2012.
Following a court appearance on Monday, Barbara Winfrey now has two months to move out of the house in Franklin, Tennessee.
A spokesman for Oprah said that the talkshow host’s company has granted Barbara 60 days to leave following her request for more time.
Last month, the 66-year-old said she will have nowhere to go once she is evicted from the house she has lived in for 13 years, and says she will be left with a bad credit rating that will prevent her renting a new home.
'I'm not trying to stay here [just] to stay here,' Barbara Winfrey told the Tennessean. 'Where am I going to go at 66 to find someplace to live? Who's going to rent to me?'
After her husband filed for divorce, claiming inappropriate marital conduct, Barbara Winfrey made claims that Vernon, who is in his 80s, has been abusive to her.
In a messy legal dispute, Barbara claimed Vernon cheated on her for years with prostitutes including one named 'One Tooth', and threatened to shoot her. She also claimed a woman tried to blackmail him over a sordid sex tape.
The judge ruling stated that the TV talk show star purchased the property after her father gifted it to another man, Tom Walker, who then defaulted on the mortgage.
'The court finds [Vernon Winfrey] allowed [the marital property] to go into foreclosure knowing that it would be purchased by his daughter, Oprah, for his and Thomas Walker's benefit and to defeat any interest of Barbara Winfrey,' the ruling stated.
At the time of the hearing, a spokesman for Oprah told Radar she stepped in because she didn't want her father's 'life work to be dissolved.'
'The property was in foreclosure and when it went up for auction, Ms. Winfrey bid and got it because she didn't want her father's life work to be dissolved,' the spokesman said.
A source close to the family said at the time Oprah had been stunned by her step-mother's allegations. 'The idea that her father would conduct himself this way is very disturbing to Oprah,' the source said.
In court papers seen by the New York Post, Vernon admitted having a one-week affair with an unnamed woman, but said he apologized when his wife found out.
He and Barbara, a school teacher, married in 2000 and lived in the property she now faces being evicted from.
As part of the divorce deal, Barbara Winfrey was offered a different property, in Chateau Valley, Nashville, for free but she chose not to accept it.
The deal to move there allegedly included having to sign a confidentiality agreement about Oprah but Barbara Winfrey said: 'I'm not going to sign anything.'
A spokesman for Oprah said an offer was also put to the star's ex-stepmother to sell the house she is in and split the proceeds equally. But she turned that offer down too.
'After several requests to voluntarily vacate the property at Willowbrooke Circle, the appropriate paperwork has been filed to have her vacate the property,' the spokeswoman told the Tennessean.
Barbara Winfrey claimed that she had never been offered money from the sale of the house, but said it was an offer she would now accept.
She added that she wasn't trying to take anything from Oprah. 'It's not money. It's never been about money. If it had been about money, I would have taken it and run a long time ago.'
No comments:
Post a Comment