When Lacks, a young black mother of five living in Baltimore, went to the Johns Hopkins Hospital in 1951 to be treated for cervical cancer, doctors removed slices of tissue from her cervix. For decades, researchers tried and failed to find a solution-until a miracle occurred. They had a name for their dream: an immortal cell line, a forever-multiplying supply that would let them experiment with new vaccines and drug therapies they’d never be allowed to test on people.
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There was a time when scientists could only dream of growing human cells outside the body. She had the door slammed in her face many times.” Oprah between scenes with director of photography Sofian El Fani ( left), executive producer Lydia Dean Pilcher, and director and writer George C. “And I give Rebecca a lot of credit for her relentless pursuit of what happened to Henrietta.
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“Rose was wonderful to work with,” says Oprah. “But I tried to stay in the center of it-in the heart of a daughter who is frustrated, manic, depressed, working multiple jobs, and wanting to know who her mother was.” Costars Rose Byrne (left ) and Oprah with Rebecca Skloot, author of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, in Baltimore. “This story is deep and wide,” Oprah says. A look at one woman’s journey from ordinary to legendary.Ĭlockwise from top left: Renée Elise Goldsberry re-creates a moment captured in a rare photograph of Henrietta.
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Now she’s starring in the HBO adaptation (out April 22) alongside Rose Byrne. Seven years ago, Oprah was deeply moved by the astonishing book The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, the true account of a single patient who unwittingly transformed modern medicine.