"I have some news to share with you," Winfrey said at the beginning of Friday's live installment in Chicago, saving the actual announcement for the end of the show.
"After much prayer and months of careful thought, I've decided next season, Season 25, will be the last season of 'The Oprah Winfrey Show,'" she said, adding she was explaining her decision now to avert rampant speculation on the reasons behind the decision.
"I love this show. This show has been my life. And I love it enough to know when it is time to say goodbye.
"Twenty-five years feels right in my bones and feels right in my spirit. It is the exact right time."
Winfrey's syndicated show began its run Sept. 8, 1986. It reportedly will wrap up Sept. 9, 2011.
She choked up on her last live show of the 2009 calendar year as she told the audience they had "enriched my life beyond measure."
Just because she's set a wrap date for the series doesn't mean she won't be giving it her all until the cameras stop rolling, the Chicago Sun-Times quoted Tim Bennett, president of Winfrey's Harpo production company, as saying in a letter to show employees.
"If you think the last quarter century has been something, then 'don't touch that dial' as together we plan to make history in the next 20 months ... and beyond," Bennett said.
"We have the greatest respect for Oprah and wish her nothing but the best in her future endeavors," CBS Television Distribution, which syndicates her chat show, told the Chicago Tribune. "We know that anything she turns her hand to will be a great success. We look forward to working with her for the next several years, and hopefully afterward."
Copyright 2009 by United Press International.
Wow well she has enough
Wow well she has enough money to buy her own country so I give her blessings and pray that everything works out with her MAY god bless.
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