Oprah's Final Farewell

the phenomenon the woman who is Oprah Winfrey after 25 years she ended her daytime talk show today and so it is a moment for taking stock what has Oprah just completed and how did she do it and why does so many people care Barbara Walters join me for a look at her legacy one more hour of television history the build-up was mammoth for all the dramatics all the heartfelt tributes I know you don't have children of your own but you have mothered millions all of the tears for her final program today it was just over her own set saying thank you from you whose names I will never know I learned what love is you and this show have been the great love of my life 4560 one shows later the program that in many ways redefine the talk show with a mix of spiritual self-help I wanted people to be responsible for the energy they brought to me head girl talk was it a consummated Mary oh my god oh she's lost she screams cries she emotes she's a great performer we thought who better to analyze the phenomenon that is Oprah than the woman she said she wanted to grow up to be Barbara Walters I see you on The Today Show and I say there's a woman she's holding that space well she did that maybe I can do that but in fact Oprah wasn't like anyone else consider what she told Barbara in their first interview back in 1988 somewhere I have always known that I was born for greatness in my life somewhere I've always felt it I mean that's quite a statement I was born to do great things but she really feels that and and and Cynthia she has it was in that first interview with Walters that Oprah made it crystal clear as hard as it might be she was not going to hide from her own tragedies she would bear them all like the rape she endured at the age of nine I'd been left with a 19 year old cousin and he raped me I went into the fifth grade that fall and I remember Maria Gonzales on the playground telling me how babies came into the world and how you made babies so I went through the entire fifth grade everyday thinking I'm going to have a baby and at the time though I didn't know that you had to be there like me when I her yeah and so that is so that's why I weep for the for the lost innocence I weep for that because you're never the same again you're never the same she seemed to take her shame or suffering her vulnerabilities and turned them into empowerment for herself and her viewers her abuse helped others deal with theirs who can forget this moment there are two hundred men standing in our studio audience right now each one is holding a picture of themselves at the age when they say they were first sexually abused she makes people confess and she is everybody's confessor before you confess she's already done it she knows the questions to ask that are very provocative and personal and that someone else might not ask the color of your skin is obviously different than it was when you were younger and I have a skin disorder that destroys the pigmentation of the skin is something that I cannot help but celebrities were the least of it have you ever been the show seemed to deal with all the social issues of the day from racism to try and understand the feelings and motivations of the people of all white Forsyth County to AIDS when did the rest of the town did you know the rest of the town also knew you had AIDS when the when a newspaper ran something every day on it Oprah has said it was the real people on her program who touched her most deeply people like Maddie's to ponic well how are you how is your health how are you doing I'm doing a lot better health-wise I'm doing very well excitement lies she cared for everyone big and small what is it that she does that it's so effective she cares and she says whatever you're going through I went through - and look where I am today and you can be who does Wolters think will carry forward Oprah's message of self-acceptance Lady Gaga reminds me a little bit of opera and you know when she talks about her little monsters she says to them be yourself I was nobody I was nothing nobody believed in me but you can make it this is Lady Gaga it is a different time but the same message Oprah's daytime show may have ended but her influence certainly has not as was made manifest on yesterday's show when more than 400 men who she helped send to college came to pay their tributes be proud of them I'm very proud of her and I also like her enormous way I respect her I admire her and I truly like her I thank you for being as much of a sweet inspiration for me as I've tried to be for you I won't say goodbye I'll just say until we meet again yeah

Channel: ABC News

Views: 998,423

Keywords: oprah final season, oprah 2011, Oprah, Winfrey, Gayle, King, Talk Show, Book Club, Cynthia McFadden, ABC, ABCNews, News, Nightline, US interview, abc, news

Id: o5Y9PrQirvA

Length: 6min 35sec (395 seconds)

Published: Thu May 26 2011