Oprah Reflects on the Legacy of The Oprah Winfrey Show

“Of the 4,561 shows we did, so many moments have blurred in my memory. But the ones that stand out aren’t celebrity interviews. They are the real-life moments.”

Every week, Oprah is setting an intention exclusively for Oprah Daily Insiders, with reflections on topics like letting go, forgiveness, coming into your own, and more.

Hi, Insiders.

I’ve seen that clip at least a hundred times—the one where I burst onto the stage shouting, “Welcome to the very first National Oprah Winfrey Show!” And every single time, I still feel that surge in my body. September 8 marks 39 years since that day.

I knew my life was about to change. What I couldn’t have imagined was the force for good the show would become—the impact it would have on me, on my team (the best team in television), and on the millions of lives we touched.

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If what Maya Angelou says is true—and I believe it with my whole heart—“Your legacy isn’t one thing. It’s every life you touch.” Dear Lord… what a legacy.

Even now, people stop me to share what the show meant to them. And more often these days, what it meant to their mothers or grandmothers.

This past July, I was in Capri at a restaurant that you must visit if you ever go—Da Paolino, “the lemon tree,” as everyone calls it. Under the canopy of lemons, a woman named Sandra, from Boston, came over to my table. She was there with her husband and daughter.

Sandra told me she was 18 when she and her younger sister watched a show we did about sexual abuse. At the time, they were both being molested—neither had spoken of it to anyone, and neither knew about the other. But watching that episode together, they recognized themselves in the story being shared. They started to cry. And then, for the first time, they spoke the truth out loud.

That conversation, Sandra told me, changed the course of their lives. She’s now 55. She said that show marked the beginning of her freedom—of speaking her truth. We hugged under those lemon trees, and she left with her family. For days, I couldn’t stop thinking about her. I regret not getting her last name or number because I wanted to hear more. But I know there are thousands, perhaps millions, of similar stories—moments when something said by me, a guest, or even someone in the audience opened a door that could never be closed again.

I remember a woman in Sydney, Australia, who told me she had laid out all her pills on the coffee table, ready to end her life, when one of our shows came on. It was about gratitude. I asked the audience to name five things they were grateful for. She said she couldn’t get to five—but she could get to three. And that was enough to keep her alive.

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Of the 4,561 shows we did, so many moments have blurred in my memory. But the ones that stand out aren’t celebrity interviews. They are the real-life moments.

Like the red-haired, seven-year-old boy on our “children of divorce” show, who told us he tried to get his mother to stay by buying her a “wing” with his allowance money. Or Susan, a survivor of domestic violence, whose abusive husband forced their 13-year-old son to film him beating her. I could feel, even as we taped, that other women were watching—and gathering the courage to make a plan, to leave, to save themselves.

These shows were never just television to me. They were a way to speak directly to the hearts, minds, and souls of people—and to call on the better angels of our nature.

I honor those days. I honor every person who ever trusted us with their truth.

As we approach the 39th anniversary of that first “Welcome,” I’d love to hear from you, Insiders. Share your favorite memory from The Oprah Winfrey Show—especially if you watched it with your mom or your grandma.

Because those moments? They live forever.