Finale of 'Oprah Winfrey' airs after 25-year run

Employees of Harpo Studios leave Harpo Studios after the final taping of "The Oprah Winfrey Show" in Chicago, Tuesday. The finale will air today.

CHICAGO — Oprah Winfrey walked on stage for her talk show finale Wednesday to a standing ovation from her studio audience before thanking her viewers for watching for a quarter of a century.

"Twenty-five years and I'm still saying 'Thank you America,'" Winfrey said. "Thank you so much. There are no words to match this moment."

Winfrey told them that sometimes she was a teacher, but more often her viewers taught her. She called the episode her "last class."

The show's first moment was a clip of Winfrey's first show. She taped the last episode of "The Oprah Winfrey Show" on Tuesday in Chicago.

Winfrey was the only person on stage with little background music and very short flashback clips.

"When she came out, her appearance, the way she stepped on stage and the message she brought about finding yourself, your purpose," said audience member Wanda Nash, 47, of Chicago, an executive assistant and foster parent. "It was all about Oprah."

Winfrey kissed and hugged her longtime partner, Stedman Graham, and made her way through the halls of Harpo Studios, saying goodbye to her staff, audience members said.

Winfrey announced in November 2009 that she would end her popular talk show after 25 years.

Tuesday's taping came a week after Hollywood's A-list and 13,000 fans bid Winfrey farewell during a double-episode extravaganza at Chicago's United Center. The shows that aired Monday and Tuesday included Aretha Franklin, Tom Cruise, Stevie Wonder, Michael Jordan and Madonna, among other stars of television, music and movies. They were just a few of the approximately 30,000 guests on the show over 25 years.

The bare-bones final taping had its share of celebrities in the audience including Tyler Perry, Maria Shriver, Suze Orman and Cicely Tyson, but none of them joined Winfrey on stage.

There were 404 audience members, according to Harpo Productions. The show received 1.4 million ticket requests throughout its final season, the company said.