Oprah spoke to parents and kids on either side of 'no-contact.' These are their stories.

Christy would do anything to talk to her daughter again.

Chris has never been happier since cutting off his parents.

Kendall felt the only choice was to stop taking her son's calls.

Three people, all going through a family estrangement, but all with wildly different perspectives. 

This is what Oprah Winfrey's new hour-long conversation is all about.

Watch: Family therapist explains increasing estrangement between children and parents. Post continues after video.

The host gathered parents and children going through an estrangement, along with leading relationship experts, to unpack the rising trend of going 'no contact' with a family member.

"Some experts believe that there's been a shift in how younger generations protect their mental health and their boundaries, or have an expanded view of what is considered abuse. And that has led to a silent epidemic," Oprah said.

"Social media has millions of videos with the hashtag 'no contact' from adult children who say that their parent or their sibling is toxic, and they've had enough. So, what is going on?"

For the candid chat, eight people shared their experiences. From those who did the cutting off, to those on the receiving end, here are some of their stories.

Christy.

Christy's daughter has cut off contact with her mum three times in seven years.

"The first estrangement wasn't her fault," Christy told Oprah. "She was 17, 18 years old. I went through a divorce. She felt she had to choose, and she didn't choose me. We worked through that."

But their reconciliation was temporary, as Christy's daughter went no-contact twice more, with the most recent time being for good.

"The last estrangement came as a shock because we had reconnected for two and a half years," said Christy.

"I let my guard down. We got matching family tattoos. Beach vacations with me and her brothers. And so I thought, 'We made it. We're golden. I'm not going to lose her again.' And bam, a little conflict happened and out the door."

When Oprah tried to push for details about the "little conflict," Christy remained tight-lipped.

"It was something… she didn't get her way," she said, elusively.

Christy claimed she tried to talk to her daughter, who is now 25, but "she refused to communicate."

"[My daughter] knows I'm a good person," Christy said. "She is smart, she's funny, she was a joy to raise, she's a college graduate, but I feel she lacks conflict resolution skills."

Her daughter has also cut off her grandmother and brothers, and Christy is growing desperate.

"It's been three and a half years, no word at all. And the glimmer of hope of us ever reconnecting is going away."

The mum also took her story to social media, where she criticised claims that estranged children were "doing it to protect themselves."

"I call BS," she said in a TikTok video. "What are they protecting themselves from with us? Loving parents who've always supported them? Who've always done everything in their power to be there for them?"

Speaking to Oprah, Christy said that fellow "parents were thankful" for the video, and argued that not all people with estranged kids deserve to be "villainised."

But, at the end of the day, Christy would jump at the opportunity to build bridges with her daughter. 

"We don't get to decide what hurts someone. So if my daughter came to me and said, 'Mum, can we talk?' Heck yes, absolutely. I would take ownership of anything she said I did to hurt her."

Chris.

On the other side of the coin, Chris has been no-contact with his parents and two younger brothers for four years. The decision came after his family disapproved of his wife, Bri.

"I grew up in a very performance-oriented household," he told Oprah. "It was: attend an Ivy League school, get the money, the power, the status, be someone that we can feel proud of. And Bri very much did not come from that background."

When Chris introduced Bri to his family, the 30-year-old said they seemed "apathetic" and "not super interested in getting to know her."

That was until they realised Chris intended to propose.

"As we moved into that more serious realm, it went from what we perceived as apathy to more of: we don't like this," he said.

"My parents were scheduling lunches to have conversations with my friends where the topic was: 'We're worried about Chris.' And then it became: 'Can we delay this engagement?' Or: 'Can we take this marriage off the table?'"

For Chris, who didn't feel "accepted unless [he was] complying" with his family's expectations, it was a tricky situation to be in.

"Something I've had to really work on, and grow in, is being comfortable in that conflict," he said. "At the time, I wasn't really."

Despite his family's reservations, Chris and Bri married with his parents in attendance. For a while, there was even some "tacit peace."

Then Bri fell pregnant, and "the tables really turned."

"We called up my parents. We said, 'This is what's going on.' And we were profoundly hurt by what we were met with, which was disappointment."

Chris' parents told their son that "this wasn't the pace they expected [him and Bri] to move at."

"[They said] we had already gotten married before they had wanted, and now we were having children before their timeline."

Before hanging up, Chris told his parents that they should all "regroup" at a later time.

"When we did have that conversation, and I expressed how I had felt and how hurtful that was, rather than being met with the empathy and some repair that we would have really hoped for, I was met with what they described as: they were embarrassed by us," Chris said.

That was the last time he spoke to his parents.

Kendall.

Then there's Kendall, who is estranged from her 30-year-old son by choice.

Kendall said their relationship started to break down about 18 years ago, after she remarried.

After an incident two years ago, Kendall says she made a "conscious decision that that was the last straw."

According to Kendall, since going no-contact, her son hasn't respected her boundaries.

It hasn't been an easy decision for Kendall.

"Parents don't go no-contact for very small reasons," she said. "It takes a lot for a mother to make that conscious choice. And I've been experiencing this for over 15 years."

The mother added that many "parents are suffering in silence."

"When children become estranged, they are celebrated. They're supported. People rally behind them. But when the mother decides to go no contact with her child, she's demonised. And that's been my experience."

Feature Image: YouTube/Oprah