Reports: Daily Mail
The Baltimore mother who was filmed dragging her teenage son home from a riot has told how she was stunned when talk show host Oprah Winfrey called up congratulate her.
Toya Graham, 42, was hailed ‘mom of the year’ after being caught on camera clobbering her 16-year-old son Michael, pulling off his ski mask and chasing after him during Monday’s violence.
But the single mother was almost lost for words when talk show legend Oprah called her up at home to offer her support. Speaking on Inside Edition Miss Graham revealed: ‘My oldest daughter was actually on the phone. She was like, “Ma, Oprah wants to talk to you,” and I couldn’t hear exactly everything she was saying because I was like, “Oh my God, Oh my God”. ‘She actually took the time out to give me a call, just to say, “I understand why you did what you did” ‘She talked about how she understands as a parent, as a single mom, what I was faced up against. Miss Graham told CBS on Wednesday that she ‘just lost it’ when she saw Michael at Monday’s riots carrying a rock and walking towards police officers. She said: ‘I recognized those baggy sweatpants and we made eye contact. I was saying ”how dare you do this?”’ Her son immediately lost his tough-guy swagger as his mother pulled the ski mask from his head, slapped him upside the head and yelled: ‘Are you for real? Really? This is what you want to do?
‘I told you I’d come down here. Didn’t I? Didn’t I?’
She added: ‘That’s my only son and at the end of the day, I don’t want him to be a Freddie Gray.
