David Oyelowo Shares The Emotional Story Behind Why He Calls Oprah “Mummo”
Ahead of the holiday, the actor recalls the moment he and Oprah became family.
By Monica Chon, December 24, 2019
- In an appearance on the Jonathan Ross Christmas Show, David Oyelowo got emotional while telling the story of how Oprah once spent hours in a London hospital visiting his ill mother.
- Oprah is godmother to the British actor’s children.
The holiday season often invokes memories of family. And for David Oyelowo, that includes the time his dear friend Oprah spent several hours visiting his late mom in a London hospital four years ago, just before she passed away.
In an interview with U.K. talk show host Jonathan Ross, the Selma actor got tearful when recalling just how much the visit from Lady O meant to him. “My mum had a brain aneurysm about four years ago, and she ended up passing from it,” he explained. “Oprah knew about this, and she knew how much my mum meant to me.”
“To be honest, the reason I call her Mummo, this to me is what the heart of this season is and what she represents,” the 43-year-old actor revealed on the Christmas Eve edition of The Jonathan Ross Show.
He recounted the story: “My mum was in hospital with my dad here in London. I was on set, I suddenly got a call from Oprah, she said, ‘I’m in London, I was on my way to South Africa, and I know your mum is here, right?’ She said, ‘I want to go and see her.’ I told her where my mum was, she went, then called me again from the hospital lobby.”
Understandably, as soon as the award-winning actor heard that Oprah was visiting, he called his dad, who was stuck in traffic, and said, “‘Oprah is coming to see mummy, get in the hospital now.'” Although more and more people in the hospital were approaching Lady O for selfies, Oyelowo revealed to U.K. talk show host Ross that “she waited for my dad for an hour and a half and then spent two hours with my mum.”
“That’s why she’s my Mummo.”
The two have been close friends since starring as mother and son in Lee Daniel’s 2013 movie The Butler, and as well as co-starring in the 2014 film Selma, directed by Ava DuVernay. Lady O has hosted Oyelowo and his family at her Hawaii ranch, and she is godmother to his children.
So when “Mummo” is Oprah, what do you get her for the holidays? Oyelowo admits shopping for the name behind “Oprah’s Favorite Things” is “impossible” but hinted that his gift might involve something he wrote. “The thing she really does love is words. If you write something from the heart, that really moves her.“
Source: The Oprah Magazine
