Oprah Winfrey’s “Where Are They Now” broadcast a segment featuring Rusty Yates, the ex-husband of Andrea, a woman with mental illness who nearly 14 years ago took the lives of her five children.
Rust
y was asked by Oprah if he had forgiven Andrea for what she had done. Rusty responded that that would imply that he blamed her, when in a way, he never really did. Headlines then proclaimed: Andrea Yates’ ex-husband doesn’t blame her for drowning their five children. And much of the world – including Oprah – struggled to understand how that could be.
I look at the photo of Andrea Yates, and in her eyes, I see my mother and my younger sister, both of whom were diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. Those eyes are the windows to a very similar lost soul as my mom and sister and, I imagine, anyone unlucky enough to have to battle mental illness.
