'It's never been about the money': Oprah's stepmother lashes out at star and her 'abusive' father as bitter rift to get her evicted from $1.4m house owned by talk show host heads for court showdown
Oprah Winfrey's ex-stepmother could be evicted from the $1.4 million Nashville home the talk show host bought for her to live in.
A court hearing scheduled to take place on Monday could bring an end to a legal case that has hung over the Winfrey family since her father Vernon filed for divorce from Barbara in 2012.
Barbara Winfrey, who was married to Oprah's father for more than 20 years, has appealed for the TV star to call her so they can talk 'woman to woman'.
Dispute: Barbara and Vernon Winfrey pictured in 2010. The couple divorced in 2012
The 66-year-old says she will have nowhere to go if 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 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.
Court date: Barbara Winfrey faces an eviction hearing on Monday over this $1.4 million home
Legal proceedings: A spokeswoman for Oprah, pictured here with her father Vernon, says the TV star offered Barbara several deals including a different property to live in
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.'
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