1988 After losing 30kg, Winfrey brought out a wagon representing her weight loss. Later, she described this as her “biggest, fattest mistake”. She said she had not eaten a morsel of food for months, started eating chocolate when the show was finished, and the jeans no longer fitted two days later.
1993 At that stage a recluse, Michael Jackson allowed Winfrey to film an interview with him at his Neverland Ranch. It was her most-watched episode, with 100 million people tuning in.
1996 Oprah’s Book Club was launched, highlighting one book a month. Over the 15 years it ran, the book club promoted 70 books. The estimated sales of ‘Oprah editions’ of these books is a reported 55 million.
WATCH: The moment Oprah revealed her impressive 30kg weightloss
1997 Winfrey took to the stage with Tina Turner, achieving one of her life goals. The host says having her music icon on the show was a rare nervous moments of her career.
2000 Nelson Mandela appeared on the Oprah show. Afterwards, the Harpo staff lined the backstage hallway to shake his hand and it was dubbed the ‘Nelson Mandela Hallway’.
2004 The infamous ‘You get a car’ episode! Winfrey gave away 11 cars on the stage, and then told the audience the winner of the 12th car would find keys under their seat. The audience lost their minds when it turned out they all had keys; all 276 audience members were given brand-new Pontiacs.
WATCH: The moment Oprah gave everyone in her audience a car
2005 Tom Cruise couldn’t contain himself when talking about new love Katie Holmes, and jumped on the couch in excitement.
2011 Winfrey revealed she had a secret half-sister, Patricia, and the pair reunited on her show. Patricia discovered the connection in 2007 in her efforts to find her birth mother.
2011 Winfrey filmed her final episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show. One of her last messages included this: “It is no coincidence that a lonely little girl who felt not a lot of love, even though my parents and grandparents did the best they could – it is no coincidence that I grew up to feel genuine kindness, affection, validation and trust from millions of you all over the world… You and this show have been the great love of my life.”
