International talk show superstar Oprah Winfrey, who rose from a childhood of abuse and poverty to become a globally recognized star, will end her show in 2011, her production company said.
“The sun will set on the Oprah show as its 25th season draws to a close on Sept. 9, 2011,” Tim Bennett, president of Winfrey’s Harpo production company, wrote in a letter to affiliates.
The Oprah Winfrey Show, which is currently syndicated in 145 countries, has transformed Winfrey into a cultural phenomenon.
She is credited with changing the way people talk to each other, having popularized a confessional interview style that has coaxed secrets, revelations and often tears from guests of all stripes.
She has hosted international superstars and has earned a reputation for being able to score the most highly sought-after interview subjects at any given time.
Born into poverty in Mississippi, Winfrey is now estimated to be worth US$2.7 billion and is regularly ranked among the world’s most powerful women, celebrities and media personalities.
Don Halcombe, a spokesman for Harpo Productions, declined to comment on Thursday on why Winfrey decided to end the program.
“She’s going to talk about it on the show tomorrow,” he said.
There was speculation that she had decided to focus on her TV channel.
The Oprah Winfrey Network is a joint venture between Winfrey and Discovery Communications and is set to replace the Discovery Health Channel in about 70 million US homes.
While originally scheduled to air next year, getting the cable channel launched has proved “challenging” because of “management turnover and an uncertain advertising climate,” the New York Times reported.
It is now scheduled to air in January 2011, but Winfrey, who will produce some shows and also make appearances, does not plan to bring her talk show, the Times reported.
Winfrey certainly won’t lack for options — her talk show served as the foundation for an empire that spans books, radio, magazines and the Internet.
She is known as an almost uniquely influential tastemaker, whose recommendation of a book or product has instantaneous and enormous effect.
Through her now-defunct televised book club she popularized books ranging from Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, to Cormac McCarthy’s The Road.”
Her stamp of approval on the latter was considered so important she managed to convince the famously reclusive McCarthy to appear on her show for his first ever TV interview.
Last year, she broke with a precedent of staying out of politics and endorsed fellow Chicagoan Barack Obama’s presidential bid.
Her support was estimated by University of Maryland researchers to have brought in 1 million additional votes and helped Obama win both the Democratic nomination and the presidency.
Winfrey is credited with breaking down barriers as both a woman and an African-American, and overcoming a childhood of poverty and sexual abuse.
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