In the end, it was just Oprah.
For the final episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show taped on Tuesday, the talk show queen appeared alone on her Chicago stage, talking to viewers about what they've meant to her during the show's 25-year run. The finale aired in the US Wednesday.
Fans leaving Tuesday's taping said Winfrey had tears in her eyes as the television icon said a final thank you.
"She said, ‘This isn't goodbye. This is until we meet again," said Amy Korin, 32, of Chicago, who was in the audience.
Winfrey then kissed and hugged her longtime partner, Stedman Graham, and made her way through the halls of Harpo Studios, saying goodbye to her staff, audience members said. She kept saying, "We did it! We did it!," Korin said, and giving employees high-fives.
There was a single chair on the stage, but Winfrey stood most of the time, audience members said.
The bare-bones final taping had its share of celebrities in the audience including Tyler Perry, Maria Shriver, Suze Orman and Cicely Tyson, but none of them joined Winfrey on stage.
Hundreds of giddy fans struck by their luck at getting tickets for the final show had gathered outside Winfrey's television studio in Chicago on Tuesday morning.
Winfrey's best friend Gayle King mixed with the waiting fans and interviewed several with a camera phone. For her, the show's end is bittersweet.
"I have such mixed feelings about it," King told fans.
For the final episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show taped on Tuesday, the talk show queen appeared alone on her Chicago stage, talking to viewers about what they've meant to her during the show's 25-year run. The finale aired in the US Wednesday.
Fans leaving Tuesday's taping said Winfrey had tears in her eyes as the television icon said a final thank you.
"She said, ‘This isn't goodbye. This is until we meet again," said Amy Korin, 32, of Chicago, who was in the audience.
Winfrey then kissed and hugged her longtime partner, Stedman Graham, and made her way through the halls of Harpo Studios, saying goodbye to her staff, audience members said. She kept saying, "We did it! We did it!," Korin said, and giving employees high-fives.
There was a single chair on the stage, but Winfrey stood most of the time, audience members said.
The bare-bones final taping had its share of celebrities in the audience including Tyler Perry, Maria Shriver, Suze Orman and Cicely Tyson, but none of them joined Winfrey on stage.
Hundreds of giddy fans struck by their luck at getting tickets for the final show had gathered outside Winfrey's television studio in Chicago on Tuesday morning.
Winfrey's best friend Gayle King mixed with the waiting fans and interviewed several with a camera phone. For her, the show's end is bittersweet.
"I have such mixed feelings about it," King told fans.
