Madonna Badger on Losing Her Family: "God Cried First"

On Christmas Day 2011, advertising agency owner Madonna Badger lost her three children—9-year-old Lily and 7-year-old twins Sarah and Grace—and her parents, Pauline and Lomer, in an early morning fire at her Connecticut home. Two and a half years later, Madonna joins Oprah for a heartbreaking yet inspiring conversation about finding the courage to live after an unthinkable tragedy.

Madonna says that after her loss, she asked why God did this to her. She found comfort in the words of the minister who conducted the funeral. "He said that God is not a puppeteer, and God cried first," she says. "I know that in my own heart. ... The God I believe in is not a punishing God, you know, and would never, ever hurt children or do anything in any way to make people miserable." In the video above, Madonna opens up about letting God in after a terrible misfortune.

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