Oprah Says Goodbye Today

After 25 years of ruling daytime TV, Oprah taped the final episode of the Oprah Winfrey Show on Tuesday and the Queen of Talk’s grand finale is set to air on Wednesday.

In her more than two decades on air, Oprah’s show has been filled with tears, shrieking, couch-jumping and surprises. Check out some of Oprah’s more memorable moments.

The Wagon Of Fat

The daytime diva’s weight has been a topic of discussion for almost as long as she’s been on the air. After dropping nearly 70 pounds in 1988, Oprah wheeled out a wagon of fat to represent her weight loss. On her website, Oprah said, “I’d saved a pair of Calvin Klein jeans from my days of working in Baltimore, and my goal was to get back into those jeans.

‘You get a car, you get a car!’

Oprah became well known for being a benevolent host, and often showered her audience with gifts. The gifts ranged from an assortment of Oprah’s Favorite Things — episodes which provoked tears, fluttering hands and shrieks from her audience, to a trip to Australia. In 2004, Oprah gave out 276 Pontics worth $28,000 to audience members.

Queen Of Talk interviews king of pop

In 1993 Oprah sat down for an interview with Michael Jackson, the King Of Pop’s first televised interview in 14 years. Oprah covered an array of questions in the forefront of the public’s mind, including about the changing color of his skin and whether he was a virgin. Oprah said going to Neverland for the interview was like being in a dream.

“I remember going to the recording studio, and there was a park across the street, and I’d see all the children playing and I would cry. It would make me sad that I would have to go to work instead,” Jackson told the talk show host. “People wonder why I always have children around. It’s because I find the thing that I never had through them. Disneyland, amusement parks, arcade games—I adore all that stuff because when I was little, it was always work, work, work.”

Oprah reveals Painful Past

During a 1986 show about sexual assault victims, Oprah revealed that she had been sexually assaulted when she was 9 years old. “There really is no darker secret than sexual abuse,” Oprah told her audience. “I’m telling you my secret so maybe the closet where so many sexual abuse victims and their molesters hide might swing open just a crack today and let some light in.”

‘I’m in love!’

You can’t think about Oprah’s most memorable moments without reminiscing fondly on her being shaken by Tom Cruise moments after he jumped on her couch, declaring, “I’m in love!” In May 2005, Cruise dropped to his knees, jumped exuberantly on the sofa and declared his love for life and now-wife Katie Holmes.

A million little questions

After his supposed biography, A Million Little Pieces, was selected for Oprah’s book club, Oprah had James Frey back onto her show in 2006 after it came out that many of Frey’s accounts in the book were fictional. The Queen Of Talk pummeled Frey with questions and accused him of deceit. Frey returned twice during Oprah’s final episodes to revisit the controversy.

Check out more highlights from 25 years of Oprah in the video montages below, and let us know: What were your favorite Oprah moments?

[Oprah.com]