Oprah Talks to Christine McFadden

Oprah: Did you use in vitro?

Christine: I'm not discussing my sex life.

Oprah: Did Jerry know you wanted more children?

Christine: Oh, yes.

Oprah: You say that you wished you'd gone with your children. Do you think if you had been in the house that morning, you'd be dead?

Christine: It's so clear that he wanted to kill them and have me survive.

Oprah: Because if he wanted to kill you, he could have.

Christine: Yes.

Oprah: Had you feared him?

Christine: No. There weren't any signs. He was invited to every major gathering—carnivals, Halloween, fairs—for Michelle's sake.

Oprah: Did he have a good relationship with your other children?

Christine: It started out very well, then went downhill. I didn't approve of his way of disciplining the children. He'd have them write "I should not wrestle in the house" 200 times. I just don't think something like that has much value. He'd make them sit in their rooms for hours until I came home.

Oprah: I heard you sought a restraining order soon after your divorce.

Christine: It was a year before the divorce, when we separated. It's not because I thought he was a danger; I just didn't want him coming over and bugging me.

Oprah: So you didn't fear him.

Christine: No. In fact, he went out of his way not to be physical around me because I'd had some problems with that during my first marriage.

Oprah: Do you think he just snapped?

Christine: That's probably a good word for it. I later learned that he'd been evicted from his apartment.