Soledad O’Brien Mourns Death of Her Mom Just 40 Days After Her Dad Dies: ‘She Was Pretty Great’

A mere 40 days after her father died, Soledad O’Brien is now mourning the death of her mother.

The 52-year-old famed broadcast journalist took to Twitter to detail the life her mom, Estela, lived and to highlight some of her accomplishments. It began with a snapshot of Estela as a kid in her home country of Cuba back in the 1930s and showed how she and Soledad were still close to this day.

She always was sad about leaving Cuba—but hated how Castro had destroyed her country. She went back once to visit—and said—I’ll never go back again. I love this photo. Maybe the early 40s? pic.twitter.com/1HY9TVUaL6

— Soledad O'Brien (@soledadobrien) March 18, 2019

Estela immigrated from Havana at the age of 14 and, as a native Spanish speaker, went on to study English and French. She became an educator and taught at Soledad’s high school, where she earned a reputation for “being super-strict.”

Throughout the series of tweets, Soledad treated followers to images of her growing up throughout the years. It began with an oh-so-adorable photo of her as a baby and even a photo of when she was 12.

Soledad’s father, Edward, was also an educator as well as an immigrant — except he was from Australia. He and Estela were married when interracial marriages were illegal in some parts of the United States.

She learned two more languages fluently —English and French, and became an educator. She had a reputation for being super-strict, which made me very popular (not!) since she taught at my high school. pic.twitter.com/ew5GbCzsHi

— Soledad O'Brien (@soledadobrien) March 18, 2019

The year their last child was born, Soledad notes, was the same year the Supreme Court overturned the ban on interracial marriage. Edward and Estela sent all six of their kids to college — and even some to grad school.

“She was pretty awesome,” Soledad wrote, rattling off some of her mom’s words of wisdom. She even pointed out how Estela protested against discriminatory housing in their town. At the time, they were the only black family in the neighborhood.

“Keep ten dollars in your bra so you can leave when you want,” Soledad recalled. “Everyone gets the same 24 hours. Decide how you’ll spend yours.” Then, in perhaps the most memorable of the quotes Soledad shared, one read: “You never stop fighting for the important stuff.”

She was pretty awesome. But mostly I wish lots of young, working women had access to her wisdom. “Everyone gets the same 24 hours. Decide how you’ll spend yours”. “Take 24 hours to sit in bed and cry.. then stop complaining and make a list and plan your comeback” pic.twitter.com/VslASFmp5H

— Soledad O'Brien (@soledadobrien) March 18, 2019

She put this ad in our local paper when I was a kid—to protest discriminatory housing in our town. We were the only black family in our neighborhood, so it didn’t win her a lot of friends: pic.twitter.com/RPGnAx7659

— Soledad O'Brien (@soledadobrien) March 18, 2019

“She was pretty great,” Soledad ended the Twitter thread with a smiling snapshot of Estela. “Miss you, Mami.”

Our thoughts and prayers go out to Soledad during this difficult time.