Never forgotten

Oprah

Meeting Oprah in person was really exciting, she was really nice and understanding. She kept rubbing my back saying "I'm so sorry". It was really nice of her to feel concern for us, but Wilmer wasn't pleased at all. We stayed backstage for an hour, while Oprah was interviewing someone else. We watched the entire thing, so we weren't really bored or anything, but I was getting a bit impatient. When I saw the introduction, I couldn't control my feelings.

"She disappeared without a trait, today. In their interview, Oprah talks to Amanda valderrama's parents. What life is like now, without their daughter. The new search for Amanda, up next" I was shaking uncontrollably, I was so nervous, not only was I meeting and being interviewed by Oprah, but also it was our first time being on tv, it was the first time we'd talked about Amanda, in front of so many people.

"Someone, somewhere, knows what happened to Amanda valderrama. It's a story that captured the world, and terrified parents all over the world. Two years ago, little Amanda vanished on a family vacation in Portugal, she was only three years old. It was the spring of 2015, Demi and Wilmer valderrama were enjoying a family vacation in Praia de Luz Portugal with their one year old twins Riley and Alex and three year old Amanda. The valderramas were traveling with several other families and friends and some nights the family would put their children to bed and meet up at the tapas restaurant, less than 100 yards away. The adults would take turns checking on their children every half hour. On the third night, around ten o'clock, it was Demi's turn to check on the children. Amanda was missing and the search was on. Four days later her parents Demi and Wilmer held their first press conference, it would prove to be the beginning of the international media frenzy. Within hours of that emotional plea, news of their tragedy traveled around the world. After searching tirelessly for four months, Demi and Wilmer became suspects. With that, Demi and Wilmer decided to leave Portugal, the last place they've seen their daughter Amanda. Demi and Wilmer were officially cleared as suspects in the case of their missing daughter last July, and they are here for their first interview on this show, thank you for joining us"

"Thank you" Wilmer and I both said.

"I know this is a really hard time because it's been two years" Oprah said, I nodded, "yeah it is".

"How are you?" She asked, "well we're still going, we're working really hard, we've had better days and our not so good days"I answered.

"Anniversaries harder than other ones? Or they about the same?"

"I cannot believe that two years has passed and I can't believe it's been that long since we've seen Amanda and she's had two years without being with her family where she should be, so from that point of view it's a real significant mark" I said

"Do you believe she's still alive?" She asked, that question wasn't so easy to answer.

"There's absolutely no reason to believe she's not alive and I think that's the cue thing" Wilmer answered.

"Is that wishful thinking? Hopeful thinking? Or is there some part of you that feels it or sense it? Or just doesn't want to give up?"

"I think it's a fact, there's no evidence at all that Amanda's come to any harm and a part of me do feel that she's there, that connection is there. Or whether if that's just a motherly instinct and maybe that bond will always be there, even if she's not alive, I don't know, but I don't feel like she's that far away" I said, I was beginning to cry, but I tried as hard as I could to get myself together.

"I had read something that said at times after she went missing, you'd say, I hope that who has her will give her a soft blanket or I hope that who has her is keeping her warm"

"And that's funny, I mean as a mom it's things like that you worry about. Like is she brushing her teeth? Or do they rub her tummy when she's not feeling well? It's all those things as a mother you do" I said.

"Do you let yourself go to the worse sometimes?" She asked.

"Yeah I do and I think it's natural and people often tell me to not let myself go there, and it's not going help going there, but as a mom there's the times where I do" I answered. After that question, we took a break from the interview and on the big screen, played Wilmer and I's home interview.

"We tried years to have children, and when Amanda was born, it was the happiest moment of my life, I really believe she's a miracle. Sometimes I wonder how can I go from trying for two years to have children, to having three, it was amazing and I was so happy. I never had a day where I took my children for granted, and having been through what I've been through, you forget how precious life is, until something awful happens and then you realize how perfect life was"

"You guys left your children alone 100 yards away, do you ever beat yourself up for that?" Oprah asked, Wilmer and I both nodded.

"Alright let's go back to that night, if you don't mind. Nine o'clock you guys are at dinner and Wilmer makes the check, you were checking every half hour?"

"Yeah it was nine o'clock and our friend Matt had already went to check on his kids, and as he came out I went to check on Amanda and the twins and I went into the hotel suite and we were really just checking for crying and the door was open more than how I left it. So I actually stepped into the room and the twins were sound asleep and Amanda was laying in her bed, exactly where she was when we left, with her cuddle buddy up against her head and her blanket, so I closed the door and went outside and one of the other guests were coming the other way, so I went over to him and we were just chatting for like five minutes, and during that conversation, one of our other friends went to check on their children, and at the corner, he saw a man carrying a young child, and he described independently the pajamas that Amanda had on. He didn't see the child's face, he saw me, he saw that I'd just been in the hotel" Wilmer explained.

"Okay so Demi discovered that Amanda was missing?"

"Yeah it was around nine thirty, Matt and I both stood up and he said 'I'm going to check on grace, I'll check on Amanda for you' and then he came back and he said everything was okay. And so about ten thirty, I went to check because Wilmer was unstable" I said.

"Did Matt see her in the bed when he went to check?" Asked Oprah

"No, he just went in and listened and there was no crying" I answered.

"And then you went at ten o'clock?"

"Yeah I went at ten, and I went into the hotel and there was no crying and I stopped and then I just noticed that the door was quite open, and we usually have the door closed a little bit to let some light in, and so I figured Matt went in and left the door open, so I went to close it a little, and as I went to close it, it slammed shut, and I thought maybe it was a draft that caused it to shut, so I turned around to see if the patio door was open but it wasn't. So I opened the door a bit, and that's when I kinda looked into the room. And I just looked, it was really dark and I was just looking at Amanda's bed, and I couldn't tell if it was her or the bedding, and so I turned the light on and didn't see her and so I thought maybe she wondered into our bed, so I went to our bedroom and she wasn't there, so then I kinda started to panic, and so I ran back into their room and as I went back, the curtains on the window literally just flew open and the window was broke open, and that's when I just knew someone had taken her" I cried.

The interview went on several minutes later, then we had a smaller interview personally backstage, the first place we had to go after we left the studio was to the airport to head back home.

(Btw I have no idea if Oprah still comes on or if you guys watch it but whatever just act like it does XD)