Excerpt from Mother Warriors

Then the room ignited with applause, the type of applause that is excited and brings people to their feet. Oprah had just stepped onto the stage and began walking toward me. The energy in the room was electric. She calmly waved to her fans, who I'm sure had waited years to see her, and I could tell from the looks on their faces that it was already worth the long wait. She arrived in front of me and I stood up to hug her. On any other day I would have gotten on my knees and kissed her toenails, but today was too important for worship. She knew it and I knew it.

We sat down and the stagehand said, "Two minutes till live."

Oprah beamed and said, "I love live!" and the audience chuckled.

As she gathered her notes, I leaned over and softly said to her, "My intention today is to offer hope, faith, recovery."

She smiled and responded, "Well, then let us say it again. The intention for the show today is hope, faith, and recovery." From her energy at that moment, I had no doubt she was right.

"We are LIVE in...FIVE, FOUR, THREE, TWO, ONE."

Oprah's voice echoed in the theatre, "If your child stopped speaking, wouldn't look you in the eye, and completely ignored the world around them, what would you do?"

Being trained in the world of show business, I knew I had only seven minutes in this first segment to tell my story. I kept telling myself, "Don't cry, don't cry. Tell your story, Jenny." I took a deep breath and began to speak publicly for the first time about the horrific events that had taken place in the past two years.