Oprah Winfrey is much more than a living legend or a media empress. She is a sorcerer: for social change, for greater education, for healthier living and for helping people boost their self-esteem. By sharing her own life struggles — childhood sexual abuse and weight problems, among them — she bonded with her audience in ways that made her peers envious. Although she’s as rich as King Midas, Oprah succeeds because she has the common touch. Her daily talk show, currently seen in 145 countries, premiered on Sept. 8, 1986 and ends on Wednesday, May 25, with a blowout show at Chicago’s United Center that includes celebrities such as Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith. Loyal viewers can still catch her on her very OWN network.
1.) Oprah tackles AIDS scare 1987
* Oprah interviewed Mike Sisco, a gay man with AIDS who almost caused a riot when he dived into a West Virginia swimming pool. Dr. Woodrow Myers, a public health official from Indiana, tries to separate fact from fiction about the spread of HIV and AIDS for the audience. “I understand that fear, and it’s a fear that many communities across the United States have,” he says. “It’s very important that folks know the facts, and the facts are you get this disease in blood-to-blood contact, you get this disease through sexual contact, and a mother can give this disease to her child.”
2.) Diet Dreams Come True 1988
* It seems that no one in show business has been on more diets than Oprah Winfrey. Her struggle with her weight is one of the reasons her audience will always relate to her. The diet episode showed Winfrey wearing her old, size 10 jeans and wheeling out a red Radio Flyer wagon containing 67 pounds of fat—the amount of weight she had lost through Optifast, a fasting and supplement program.
3.) Oprah’s Fourth-Grade Teacher 1989
* Mary Duncan, who taught Oprah at Wharton Elementary School in Nashville, Tenn., and instilled confidence in the young student, paid her a surprise visit. Of course, there were tears. Says Oprah on her Web site, oprah. com, “For the first time, I wasn’t afraid to be smart.”
4.) Erica Kane and All Her Men 1991
* In one of Oprah’s most popular episodes, actress Susan Lucci was floored when Oprah reunited her with the eight actors who’ve played her TV husbands on “All My Children,” including David Canary, Walt Willey and Michael Nader, Dex Dexter of “Dynasty.” The audience, which included many soap fans, was in Lucci heaven.
5.) Rodney King: The Aftermath 1992
* Oprah forgot all about weight loss and makeovers and booked a flight to LA when riots broke out there after LAPD cops were acquitted of police brutality charges in the beating of Rodney King, an African-American whose assault was captured on video and shown around the world. She held a town-hall style meeting with residents to hear them out.
6.) Michael Jackson 1993
* Oprah’s groundbreaking 1993 prime-time interview with Michael Jackson at his Neverland Ranch in California provided Oprah with one of her highest-rated shows of all time. The embattled Jackson made a rare appearance, during which he attempted to dispel many of the bizarre rumors surrounding him. In the process, he told Winfrey he suffered from the skin-pigment disorder known as vitiligo. The episode was watched by 62 million viewers.
7.) Good News for Mankind 1993
* One of Oprah’s most popular episodes consisted of wall-to-wall good news. Oprah spread the love by giving some hard-working neighbors the day off, babysitting for a deserving couple, hiring a job applicant at Harpo and even giving away a puppy to a boy who had always wanted a dog.
8.) Reunion: The Little Rock Nine1995
* In 1995, seven of Little Rock Nine — Dr. Terrence Roberts, Ernest Green, Jefferson Thomas, Carlotta Walls-LaNier, Minnijean Brown Trickey, Thelma Mothershed Wair and Melba Pattillo Beals — came together to discuss what it was like when they were sent to integrate Little Rock Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1954, under the protection of the 101st Airborne Division. Said Oprah,“I wanted to say to all of you a thank you because. . .all of the other progress that so many of us now enjoy, you guys were the pioneers. You guys were the bridge. A mighty big bridge for me.”
9.) Oprah’s Book Club 1996
* Oprah revolutionized publishing when she created her own book club. Authors hit the jackpot and readers shared her passion for “A Lesson Before Dying,” by Ernest J. Gaines, “Freedom,” by Jonathan Franzen and “The Deep End of the Ocean,” by Jacquelyn Mitchard, her first pick among 65 titles.
10.) Oprah’s Can’t Dance: On Stage With Tina Turner 1997
* ”There was always one small thing I had dreamed of: singing onstage with Tina Turner. I finally got a chance to do it when the show went on tour with Tina,” Oprah says on oprah.com. “When we’d practiced our dance moves backstage, Tina said, ‘You really don’t have any rhythm, do you?’ During the performance, I could hardly concentrate. In the last few moments, I remember saying to myself: ‘Okay, girl, this is about to be over — so you’d better enjoy it.’ ”
11.) “You get a car! You get a car!” 2004
* To kick off the fall 2004 season, Oprah gave her studio audience a present. A big present. The members of the audience were given ribbon-tied boxes and repeatedly told not to open them. Or to shake them. She said that only one of the boxes contained a key to the gift — a brand-new Pontiac G6. Then, the audience started opening the boxes. Everyone had a shiny silver key. Everyone. As her fans screamed and cried, Oprah walked from one end of the stage to the other, bellowing, “You get a car, you get a car. . .”
12.) Jumping Tom Cruise 2005
* The normally self-contained Cruise jumped around the set, hopped onto a couch, fell to one knee and repeatedly professed his love for his new girlfriend and future wife Katie Holmes. Oprah was startled. We were scared.
13.) Oprah Gets Her Ears Pierced 2005
* On a show called “How to Look 10 Years Younger Now,” Oprah decided to get her ears pierced. Holding the hand of an audience member, Oprah said, “Be brave. Small children do this, right?” After plastic surgeon Dr. Emily Pollard was finished, Oprah said, “I need a shot of tequila. That was really exciting.”
14.) Oprah Skewers James Frey 2006
* Oprah helped James Frey sell 4 million books when she chose his memoir, “A Million Little Pieces,” for her book club. It was just the kind of addiction-then-redemption tale she laps up — except that some parts weren’t true. When The Smoking Gun reported that Frey had only spent a few hours in jail rather than the 87 days he claimed, Oprah defended Frey during a “Larry King” appearance, saying that his book gave her audience inspiration. But when reports of the book’s fabrications would not subside, Oprah had a showdown with Frey (and his publisher, Nan A. Talese) on the show that brought down the house. Frey admitted he was a liar; Talese admitted that she had never checked the facts behind the story. The publisher subsequently included an author’s note addressing content concerns.
15.) Oprah’s Secret Sister 2011
* Just when you thought Oprah could not find another skeleton in her crowded closet of family horrors, she produced a whopper — her long-lost sister, Patricia. “I think I’ve seen just about everything and heard every story,” Oprah told her studio audience. “I thought nothing could surprise me anymore. But let me tell you, I. Was. Wrong.” Winfrey’s half-sister Patricia, had been given up for adoption in Milwaukee, Wis., by Winfrey’s mother, Vernita Lee, in 1963. “I was 9 years old at the time, living with my father in Nashville, Tenn.,” Winfrey said. “I had no idea my mother was even pregnant.”