It’s been 40 years since The Oprah Winfrey Show hit small screens around the world, introducing us to the concept of living our best lives. For 25 years, the talk-show host chatted to celebrities and everyday people alike about the things that made them mad, sad and glad. We remember some of the defining moments.
1988 – Her 30kg weight loss
Oprah made no secret that she battled with her weight – and she hit the headlines in a 1988 episode when she triumphantly strutted on stage in a pair of size 10 jeans.
“By the time I heard about Optifast in 1988, I’d tried just about every diet known to womankind. I thought a liquid diet would be my final answer. For four solid months, I didn’t eat a single morsel of food. Wearing my size 10 jeans, I pulled a wagon full of fat – representing the 67 pounds [30kg] I’d dropped – onto the stage. What I didn’t know was that my metabolism was shot. Since I wasn’t exercising, there was nothing my body could do but regain the weight.”
1993 – Michael Jackson opens up
When Michael decided to give his first TV interview in more than a decade, he chose Oprah. The reclusive Prince of Pop invited her to his home in Neverland and spoke about everything from his shaky relationship with his dad to plastic surgery, and his increasingly lightening skin. One of the few things he refused to talk about was sex.
“I’m a gentleman,” he told Oprah.
Six months later, someone accused the Thriller singer of child molestation for the first time.
1996 – A beefy problem
An interview about mad cow disease with animal welfare activist Howard Lyman inspired Oprah to announce on air that she was giving up hamburgers. The national Cattlemen’s Beef Association, however, didn’t take kindly to Oprah vilifying their meat and filed a whopping food libel lawsuit against her. In 1998, Oprah recorded several of her shows from the Lone Star State so she could stay on air while attending court. The jury ruled in her favour.
1997 – Mary Tyler Moore pops in
A big fan of Mary, Oprah once performed a spoof of the opener of Mary’s sitcom in which she threw her beret in the air. One day in 1997, Mary surprised Oprah with a live call on air. “Now listen,” chided Mary with a laugh, “about tossing the hat in the air, Oprah. That’s my shtick. I don’t like anyone messing with that.” Then, the Mary Tyler Moore Show theme song began to play and Mary walked onto the stage.
“I was a basket case!” Oprah said later.
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“I am still in awe of a woman whose life is an example of grace and sensitivity – and whose appearance that day gave me the surprise of a lifetime.”
1998 – A dying woman’s wish
Oprah’s interviews with everyday people were often heart-wrenching and none more so than her chat with Erin Kramp, who was dying of cancer. Erin had made video diaries for her six-year-old daughter Peyton, giving her advice like, “Try to find makeup that looks natural, like you’re not wearing any”, and, “For a husband, pick a very nice guy who has a backbone.” Says Oprah, “I’ve often called mothers the greatest spiritual teachers in the world. Erin was one of the bravest.”
2004 – New cars for everyone!
For her 2004 season premiere, Oprah really pulled one out of the bag – giving all 276 audience members a brand new Pontiac G6. Oprah screamed and jumped up and down on stage, shouting, “Everyone gets a car! Everybody gets a car!” Then she led the audience to the parking lot to show them the fleet of vehicles waiting to be driven home.
“The audience had been secretly handpicked by my staff in part because each one needed a car,” Oprah dished years later, adding that they had emergency staff at the ready “in case someone’s heart started palpitating a little bit too quickly”.
2005 – Tom Cruise jumps on her couch
Tom startled everyone when he used Oprah’s couch as a trampoline in a love-struck frenzy. Oprah asked the Mission: Impossible star about his then-new love Katie Holmes and he became super-animated, standing up, kneeling and throwing his fist into the air.
Then, when Oprah said, “We’ve never seen you like this before,” he declared, “I’m in love!” and performed a backwards jump onto her yellow sofa.
Oprah told David Letterman later, “I do have to say I was really surprised by it. I didn’t expect it and was just trying to move with the flow.”
