Oprah's finale: 'Until we meet again'

Oprah's finale: 'Until we meet again'

The final Oprah Winfrey Show - which taped yesterday - is airing now in Chicago.

Here are live updates, as provided by our local viewer/reporter Leslie Goldman:

9:59 a.m. "Gratitude is the single greatest treasure I will take with me from this experience."

Oprah says ending the show is not bittersweet - it's "all sweet, no bitter."

She reminds that over the past 25 years, we have hooted and hollered together, had AHA! moments, ugly-cried together, done gratitude journals. "I thank you for sharing this yellow brick road of blessings."

Her parting remark: "I won't say goodbye -- I'll just say, 'until we meet again.'"

She gets a standing ovation.

Oprah slowly walks off the stage into the audience. She kisses (on the lips) and embraces Stedman.

There is soft music playing in background. She turns around, puts her hands to her lips in prayer position, then opens them outstretched as the still-standing audience screams. Not a boisterous, baseball-game scream, but a scream of appreciation.

The camera follows her backstage: She embraces a bunch of staff members --hundreds are lined up, standing and clapping. Overheard: Oprah yelling out, "We did it!" Oprah is crying. Last shot: She reaches down to grab her cocker spaniel, lifts the dog off the ground and yells, "We did it!"

9:52 a.m. "My fourth-grade teacher, Mrs. Duncan, was my first liberator. She validated me," says Oprah. And Mrs. Duncan is in the audience! She stands, wearing a royal blue dress, pearl necklace, smiling.

Oprah reveals her new email address oprah@oprah.com. She says it is her personal email account and asks audience to keep in touch.

Oprah gets emotional/teary for first time at 9:52 a.m., as she recalls that being born in 1954 rural Mississippi, the "vision for a black girl was limited to being either a maid or a teacher in a segregated school."

She says, "It is no coincidence a lonely little girl (her voice breaks and she must pause) 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 the genuine kindness, affection, trust, and validation from millions of you, all over the world. From you, whose names I will never know, I learned what love is. You, and this show, have been the great love of my life." Her eyes are tearing.

9:48 a.m. Oprah says she has no regrets but feels she was unable to bring enough attention to child molestation/rape/seduction. She spoke of her own sexual abuse in November 1986, but still hadn't released the shame. Years later, a molester on the show helped her realize it wasn't her fault.

One of her proudest moments in the history of the show was when Tyler Perry appeared on the show and spoke out about his own abuse. In the audience: 200 men who shared Perry's secret. She airs a clip of that show, with each man standing and holding a photo of themselves at the age when they were first abused. "These men are standing together to lift the veil of shame."

9:41 a.m. Oprah, who has been standing the whole time -- like a professor talking to her class (and the audience is mesmerized), says the HARPO team will stay even after show ends. She calls them the best team in TV, aligned with the vision of service. She thanked them.

People ask about the secret to her show's success. Her answer: "My team ... and Jesus."

She spoke about a higher being, saying you can acknowledge it or ignore it. "I listen for the guidance that is greater than my meager mind ... God is love and God is life, and your life is always speaking to you. First in whispers...[then] it's like getting a brick upside the head. What are the whispers in your life?"

Oprah is the result of a "one-time" encounter "under the trees in Mississippi," she says. "I know what a miracle that is."

9:37 a.m. She continues: "I've spoken to nearly 30,000 people on this show and all 30,000 had one thing in common: A need for validation. Everybody wants to be heard."

She encourages audience to try it with children, spouse, boss, friends. "Validate them. 'I see you, I hear you, and what you say matters to me.'"

9:33 a.m. Over the years, Oprah recalls, she has: Rappelled at Marine boot camp, ridden elephants, swung from a giant rope. The only thing she hasn't done is jumped out of a plane.

Whether it's shopping, gambling, drug, food, alcohol addiction, a common thread of her shows has been: Not feeling worthy. This year, Oprah learned from her old friend, Iyanla Vanzant, a key lesson about that. "We often block our own blessings because we don't feel inherently good enough."

To the audience, Oprah says: "You, alone, are enough."

9: 28 a.m. Oprah reminds everyone that her show opened people's eyes to how much dysfunction exists in the world and how it helped people realize they are not alone. Alcoholism, homosexuality, HIV, body image, rape/incest, abuse, drug use ... "Little by little, we started to release the shame."

9: 24 a.m. Oprah says one of her favorite shows ever featured Marcia Kilgore, founder of Bliss Spa. Kilgore once gave her a facial and Oprah loved it, said it was the best facial ever and asked Kilgore her secret. Kilgore said, "Popping zits are my passion."

Continuing to chat, Oprah says the United Center double-taping this week was "a love intervention on steroids."

Remembering an inspiring guest in 2008, Oprah mentions Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor, a Harvard-educated scientist who suffered a massive stroke and wrote a book about it, My Stroke of Insight. She sent Oprah a plaque that reads, "Please take responsibility for the energy you bring into this space." It hangs in Oprah's dressing room, a reminder of the simple but powerful lesson. Adds Oprah, "We are all little radio signals, transmitting energy."

9:12 a.m. Stedman Graham, Oprah's longtime beau, is in the audience.

Oprah never missed a day of the show in 25 years, she says. She is urging the audience to find their calling. "Each one of you has their own platform. Mine is a stage in a studio. Yours is wherever you are...You can help somebody, you can forgive, you can listen, you can heal - you have the power to change someone's life."

9:07 a.m. When show first began, they had to fill audience with staff members to make it look full, Oprah recalls.

But her influence started early. The first week Oprah went national, she got a letter, "Watching you be yourself makes me want to be myself."

Oprah said she always wanted to be a teacher, and ended up in the world's biggest classroom. This last hour is Oprah's "love letter" to fans, she says. No surprises, no big guests, no free cars.

9 a.m. There's a standing ovation as Oprah walks on stage in a coral-pink dress. The camera cuts to some audience members crying.

"There are no words to match this moment," she says. "This show has been going on for 4,561 days of my life." Oprah says when she started, she had no publicist, no stylist -- "Just a Jheri Curl and a bad fur coat."

See photos of: Oprah Winfrey

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