In honor of Oprah's last show, here are the most powerful moments in Oprah television history when all eyes were on her and she lost her cool, lost her composure or even just lost her mind, making us all either cry or humbled that even Oprah is a slave to her emotions sometimes. Prepare to go on the emotional roller coaster ride that spanned several decades with our most beloved talk show host. As we enter her final season, get ready to see her lose it more often, as she has agreed to lift her ban on on-air surprises.
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Susan Lucci Surprises Oprah with A Blast from her Past
Oprah introduces Susan Lucci at the Daytime Emmy Awards and Susan turns it around by showing an old clip of Oprah as a guest on her soap opera when she was just starting out.
Oprah acts embarrassed until Susan professes her love for Oprah and the girls go back and forth fawning over each other, inappropriately and effectively wasting that precious 'awards-ceremony-time.'
Oprah Announces That The Oprah Winfrey Show is Ending
Oprah announces that The Oprah Winfrey Show will end after it's twenty-five year stint. The beloved host's voice cracks as she addresses her fans and thanks them for inviting her into their living rooms, kitchens, and lives day after day, year after year.
For a woman notorious for handling her composure through hundreds of emotional shows over a span of more than two decades, Oprah clearly struggles to deliver this message to the people who have given her the "greatest joy" she has ever known. She is personal, emotional, convincing and this is what has made us love her all these years.
Oprah Raps with JayZ
Jay-Z stopped by the show to plug his new album, The Blueprint, in 2008.
He starts to freestyle and encourages Oprah to join in. Obviously, this is a new venture for her as she asks "you're just making it up, right now?"
Jay-Z picks back up, spitting rhymes and she truly looks bewildered for a very rare moment as she bobs around and attempts to hang with her Brooklyn homie.
Jay-Z stops and gives her some direction as the audience is cracking up. The two come up with a rhyme and she tries to follow along and throw in a word here and there. Her little girl face as she looks at Jay-Z for approval at 1:44 is priceless.
Eventually they get through the few stanzas and Oprah goes back to what she knows best as she sends the show into a commercial break.
Oprah's Heartthrob Surprise
Since Oprah has finally agreed to be the one on the receiving end of surprises for her final season, her staff pulled an unexpected lunch date encounter for The Big O and invited Jackie Jackson to come into her office and surprise her at her desk.
Oprah had a girlhood crush on Jackie and this date dash has been more than 43 years in the making.
Jackie surprises O and brings her flowers about thirty seconds into the clip.
Oprah throws up her arms and screams as he hugs her. She screams several more times and then lovingly, jokingly (of course), threatens to gundown her laughing staff as she complains that she was not dressed for Jackie. A dream and a nightmare all in one.
As the clip continues, Oprah ushers Jackie out of the room and starts an excited, scattered attempt to fix her makeup and put eyelashes on and prepare for her dream date. "Thank god, Stedman's in Bermuda."
This clip is a lot of fun to watch and Oprah's so endearingly caught off-guard that it makes you think to any major surprise you've ever received in your life.
Oprah Unleashed After Obama's Election
From the beginning of Obama's campaign, Oprah refused to use her show and her stage to further her political persuasion. However, once the votes are counted and the results are in, Oprah publicly and vigorously celebrates Obama's victory just ten hours after his acceptance speech.
Oprah wore a "Hope Won" tee shirt and came out waving American flags and literally whooped and jumped for joy.
She described herself as 'unleashed' after holding up the newspaper announcing Obama's victory and saying 'I have two words for you America: Mister President!'
Oprah Talks About Her Best Friend in the World
Oprah opens up to Barbara Walters about her relationship with Gayle King, her best friend, and the lesbian rumors that have surfaced intermittently throughout the years.
About one minute into the clip, Barbara asks Oprah to describe her close relationship with Gayle. Oprah takes more than ten seconds to regain her composure and attempt to answer the question.
Oprah describes Gayle as the mother she never had, the sister everybody would want, and the friend everybody deserves. "I don't know a better person." She is very emotional throughout the clip as she talks about Gayle.
This clip is a powerful testament to the palpable sincerity that has defined Oprah's career.
Oprah's Tribute to Sophie, Her Faithful, Deceased Cocker Spaniel
Oprah dedicates a show to her beloved cocker spaniel, Sophie, who she had for 13 years and had recently passed.
The Oprah Winfrey Show team put a presentation together for Oprah about Sophie and her time as part of Oprah's family.
Oprah lets us know beforehand she has not seen the video and is watching it for the first time.
The video begins about thirty five seconds in and features some great photos and video footage of a beautiful black cocker spaniel spending her days with O. It continues on until the two minute mark. When the clip returns to Oprah she is in tears with a Kleenex. She says she knew watching the video would be hard and struggles to get through her prompter as she wipes her eyes. O immediately takes a commercial break to compose herself and "get [her]self together."
It is refreshing to see this strong, inspiring woman show a soft spot for losing a beloved pet. It shows us all that it's okay to feel like the company we keep, human and non-human, don't have to be blood-related to feel like part of our family.
Paul Simon Surprises Oprah to Commemorate the Final Season
Oprah starts off reading the prompter: "Please read the prompter out loud- I always do."
She makes a face, blinks several times and continues, "this is for you with love from your staff, your crew, and a legendary mystery guest."
Oprah is clearly confused until about forty two seconds in when the curtains lift and Paul Simon is standing there with a guitar. At which time Oprah lets out a long banshee scream and points for a solid five seconds.
Simon had apparently written her a song for her tenth year show anniversary and he sang her a new rendition of this song for her 25th and final season. A touching video recounting her years on the show plays in the background. With Oprah's approval for surprises this season, we should expect many more similar banshee screams out of O in 2011, her last year on her own show.
Oprah's 50th Birthday Surprise
This clip kicks off with a bang as John Travolta and best friend Gayle King introduce her next surprise for her 50th birthday bash having come all the way from Switzerland to tell Oprah she is "Simply the Best."
Oprah screams and jumps up as Tina Turner bursts through a door atop a staircase and starts singing.
Oprah lets loose her inner jitter bug and even sings along aside Stedman and Gayle as Tina serenades her. We meet Oprah's awestruck O face again and again in this video, the most notable appearance happening about 1:14 into the clip, and lasting long enough to suspect Stedman had to be jealous.
Oprah Argues Religion with Her Audience
Oprah gets into a heated discussion with members of her audience regarding the 'one way' street to God via Jesus.
This is a clip that ends up getting her in trouble with more than one religious advocate because she suggests that there are other ways to find enlightenment in God than simply through Jesus.
At 1:24 Oprah says "there couldn't possibly be just one way" to God as more than one audience member vehemently disagrees, several members of the audience rebuke her and argue with her, suggesting she is "buying into the lie."
Oprah offers a hypothetical example of a person who lives in a remote part of the world and had never heard of the Son of God but lives his life in a godly manner. She says "does God care about your heart or does God care if you call His Son Jesus?" The argument continues briefly until Oprah throws in the towel and decides not to argue religion on her show.
There was actually a ton of backlash from these reasonably enlightened comments Oprah made this day, extremists went so far as to label her the Antichrist for publicly denying Jesus,