Well, I always knew that when it was time for me to announce
the show was ending there was one person I wanted
to have here on the show.
She set the bar of what daytime television could be,
and I am so happy to call her my friend.
Please welcome Oprah Winfrey.
[APPLAUSE]
Everybody hi.
Ellen.
Hi, Oprah.
Thanks for being here
Oh, I had to be here for--
when you told me that this was going to happen
I just wanted to be here for you on camera,
off camera to support you.
How are you actually feeling though?
How are you really feeling?
Well, I didn't rehearse the monologue.
I knew what I was going to say, but the words
hadn't come out of my mouth.
So I was OK until I started talking and it became real,
and then obviously, I got emotional because it's real
now.
But I'm feeling good.
I feel like it's the right thing to do.
But I'm charged.
I mean, it's a weird thing to announce that I'm stopping.
Yeah, listen, it's almost 10 years ago, will be next week,
10 years ago when I was in this exact position.
I know what those feelings are.
I also know the feelings leading up to it.
So hearing you say and announcing to the world
that it was your instinct and that you thought long and hard
about it, because anybody would know that for something
that is as powerful as the show is in other people's lives
that you would not take that lightly,
and that the coming to the realization that now it is time
is a process.
And so I was really interested to hear
you say that you knew three years ago or two years ago
when you signed that this was going to be the year.
How did you know?
As a creative person I really need to be challenged.
And as much as I absolutely love the show--
and I do, I love everyone here.
I love everything about it.
There are just things that I just--
it's why I've hosted the Oscars.
It's why I went back to stand up.
They're just different things as a creative person
that I feel like I need to do.
And we still have the digital--
I mean, Ellentube is huge, and we have original shows.
That's going to continue.
Our social media is going to continue.
I still am going to be very much involved with digital,
and it's just that this day to day--
Takes a lot.
I think what you said about needing new challenges for me
in every job I've ever had, And I didn't even
consider the Oprah Show a job because it was just
a part of my life, as I know it is for you.
It's an extension of yourself.
But what I've always known about myself when I no longer feel
like I'm growing in that space, whatever that space is,
and that was for me in Nashville when I wasn't growing anymore
I moved to Baltimore.
In Baltimore when I was growing anymore I moved to Chicago.
And then that was 25 years of growth and delight
and happiness for myself in being
able to give back to other people, as you have done.
And you know inside yourself.
So I'm proud of you for trusting your instinct,
because I know that there has to be,
as there was in the case for me, a lot of people around you
who want to keep that train moving, who
want you to keep going.
And then only you know, only you know when it is time.
So the fact that--
I don't argue with the 19, even though I probably
would have gone to 20 because I'm just that like, well, I
got to go to 20.
But I remember when I had Seinfeld
on after he ended his show and I said, nine?
You quit in nine.
Why not 10?
And he said, because I was ready in nine.
So I applaud 19.
Thank you.
Well also, 1 is the beginning 9 is the end.
So it seems like a really great thing.
It's the end of this, but it's the beginning
of another chapter.
And what do you miss the most?
And it probably has changed over the 10 years.
But what do you what did you miss the most immediately
and then later, and then what do you think
I'm going to miss the most?
Well, I think the camaraderie, just how you've
changed people's lives and the people on your staff
and what's happened in tWitch's life.
I mean, you will still have those relationships.
But what I miss the most was the audience.
And I don't mean just oh, audience applause.
But I always felt like I was a surrogate viewer
and that I was there representing the audience.
So many times I would ask questions,
particularly of celebrities that I didn't care about the answer.
But I was the stand in, the surrogate for the audience.
So I really missed the camaraderie with the audience
because as you know, after every show I'd sit
and I talked to the audience.
And that's where a lot of our ideas came from.
So I missed that.
I miss the being able to talk to people
about what was going on in their lives en masse that way.
And I think you will miss the camaraderie of the audience.
But you also are out in the world,
if you choose to do stand up or not do stand up.
You get some of that feeling, of that resonance
from an audience.
So I miss the audience the most.
Yeah, well, I--
What I didn't miss--
I'll tell you what I didn't this and what I knew that--
when I started to feel like it's time for me to end
is I was doing a makeover show.
We did a lot of makeovers over the years.
And I just thought, there's not another way I can ask somebody,
what mascara are you wearing.
There's not another way I can say, what color is
that eye shadow you're using?
There wasn't another way I could do that and be honest,
authentic with myself.
And so I thought, yeah, time to start
thinking about moving in another direction.
Yeah, speaking of audiences, I miss my audience
because I haven't had an audience all year long.
And I'm lucky I get to see smiling faces looking
at me from all over the world.
Hi.
They're all waving.
I get to see that.
But it's not the same energy as having that exchange when
they're here.
So I am praying that next season I
have an audience all season long that can celebrate with me
and say goodbye.
[APPLAUSE]
You know what the hardest part too for me was?
I think what you just did, coming out and speaking
to the world and letting the world
know and then when you actually say the words,
I did too, I got choked up, because it's
one thing to know in your heart and then to actually hear
the words yourself.
But also telling the crew.
I'm sure you did this already.
Yes.
You all did this at another time.
How was that?
It was hard.
I told the crew and told the staff, and there were tears
and it was really hard because I do love everyone here.
We do have a relationship.
And it's every single day for me.
I come in every day, and this is my life, and theirs too.
But I wanted to give them a year.
I wanted to give them enough time to know.
I didn't want to do it the last year I was here.
I wanted to give them a year to celebrate with me
and stay with me.
I think that's really great because so often when
you have a large staff is, as you do and as I did.
That staff becomes your family.
This is your tribe.
These are your people.
And you would be not who you are without the help of all
of those people doing the work that a lot of people
don't recognize is going on behind the scenes.
And so you often don't think as I often
do think when you're looking at people, wow, car insurance,
mortgages, college educations being paid.
So you're thinking about--
I'm just thinking about these people in my day
to day relationships.
But for everybody on that staff they
have built their financial life, their family life,
based on this show.
And so for me, that was hard too.
And that's why I gave the same amount of time
that you did, actually maybe a couple of months more,
which I thought was actually too much.
I think a year is perfect because people
have a chance to first of all, psychologically
take that in and have this next year,
which is going to be the most fabulous year ever.
They have the opportunity to celebrate that
and to embrace that, and also prepare themselves
for what is the next chapter for them too.
So I don't think you can do any better than to let your team,
the people who helped make you who you are,
giving them enough advance notice
so that they can prepare psychologically,
emotionally too for themselves.
But I know that's hard.
That's hard.
Yeah, it was.
Hey, Oprah, we have to take a break.
We'll be back right after this.
We're back with Oprah Winfrey, who
has the prettiest mascara on.
I was going to ask her what color it is but I won't.
So you said this is the longest that you and Stedman have
spent together in a long time.
Is that a good thing?
It actually has been a good thing.
We've been together since 1875.
We met doing reconstruction.
So we have not spent this much time together, I don't think,
in our entire relationship.
And I left for a mammogram.
And by the time I went out for a mammogram
I'm telling you I had on two masks and a shield
and I nearly suffocated myself on the table.
So anyway, I have friends who say,
you haven't left home since the Civil War.
I intend to leave home to come to do one of your shows
next year.
So if you're open next year--
You better.
--I will leave home come to your show next year.
But otherwise, I still don't feel,
even though I'm vaccinated, Stedman's vaccinated,
I still don't feel really comfortable in crowds
because I don't know who else is vaccinated.
Yeah.
No, I understand.
Well, you stay safe as long as you need to stay safe.
Hey, by the way, Gayle was here not too long ago.
And she was talking about how this summer will
be 15th anniversary of your road trip across country.
And she was complaining about your driving
and how you won't play music when you drive.
That is true.
I don't play music when I drive because it confuses
my brain when I'm merging.
What is it about merging that's--
What is it?
Oh, what is it?
I'm afraid that the cars that are coming
that they're going to kill me.
That's--
I see.
I'm afraid that--
And so it takes me a long time to merge.
I have to think about it.
I have to concentrate.
The people behind me are not very happy if there are.
No.
Listen, I am not the best driver.
I'm not the best driver.
I'm safe on two lane highways.
But I might not ride with me if I were me.
Yeah.
Yes.
I actually went to Target.
I left home to go to Target the other day
because we were doing a special Mother's Day celebration
for a dear friend of mine who helps take care of everything
around the house.
And so we were doing a Urania Appreciation Day.
So I went to Target, honey.
But somebody had to drive me because I could not
get on the freeway to do it.
I think it's best that you don't drive again.
I think it's great you have people to drive you.
Your life is good in many ways.
I think it's great just--
But I don't want to be one of those people.
I don't want to be one of those people.
You should be.
You should.
You should be one of those people.
Let yourself be--
I don't to be one of those people.
No, you should.
All right, Oprah, we have to take another break,
and then we're going to talk about other things
besides your driving.
We'll be back.
We're back with Oprah Winfrey.
And you have a new show coming out
with Prince Harry called The Me You Can't See.
And I know this is something both of you
have been working on for a long time.
He's just the greatest, isn't he?
He is just fantastic.
And I will say that from the very first moment
we had a conversation about what were the two most
important issues in the world--
I asked him, what do you think is the two most
important issues in the world?
And he said climate change and mental health.
And I started telling him about this series
I was working on called--
we didn't even have a name for it, just a mental health
series.
And as I turned to walk away he said, well,
if you ever need any help with that series--
I went, what did you just say?
You said if I needed any help.
What do you hope that people will learn from this show?
Well, The Me You Can't See which drops on Apple TV+ on May 21st,
everybody.
And there you see Lady Gaga is there
and Glenn Close was open with her family and everything
that she's been through with her sister with bipolar.
And what I hope people come from it
understanding is that there's a spectrum and we're all on it.
And when it comes to mental health and mental being
we are all in the same spectrum, but all of us
are just trying to do what we can to be more human
and to maintain our sense of mental wellness and balance.
And learning that everybody has a story,
they have a part of themselves that we don't know about,
and recognizing that you have that and you have that
and everybody has that, The Me That You Cannot See I think
begins to erase the stigma.
So the number one thing that Prince Harry and I wanted
was to be able to have conversations start around
all of these various stories that are all over the world,
and have people think better about themselves
and their own sense of mental wellness.
And if that comes out of it, then we
would have done our job.
That's fantastic.
I mean, when you say that you just
never know what someone has gone through, you never know.
I love The Me You Can't See because, as you said,
you just don't know.
And which it leads me to the book
that I have been reading What Happened To You it's basically
it's not what's wrong with you as people used to say,
it's what happened to you.
And it really is--
It's already a number one New York Times
bestseller of course.
But I love this book, and I think it's so important.
And this combined with The Me You Can't See
is going to help a lot of people.
Well, thank you.
Just like you have shared yourself
in the expression of your talent in a way that
has made people feel so much better about themselves
all these years that is what you've done, Ellen.
It's so much more than the show.
It has been-- I just want to say that a long time ago Maya said
to me when I was telling her that my girl school was going
to be my greatest legacy.
And she said, honey, you don't even
know what your legacy is because your legacy is actually
every life that you've touched.
So every single person in your audience
who has been touched by you, by your laughter,
by your jokes by your kindness, by your sharing, by your being,
that is your legacy.
And that's why this is such a profound day
that you are announcing that this legacy, this part
of your life is going to be coming to an end in a year,
but that you and everything that you represent to the world that
lives on and will grow on in a way that benefits you
and anybody who comes in contact with you.
I--
I am just--
[APPLAUSE]
I love you so much, Oprah.
As I say all the time, I am so honored to call you a friend.
You are the wisest person I know, and I just adore you.
Oprah and Prince Harry's new show it's called The Me You
Can't See will be available on Apple TV+ on May 21st.
Her new book What Happened To You
is available everywhere books are sold today.
Everyone in the audience is going to get a copy and--
Oh, great!
[APPLAUSE]
I love you.
Thank you so much, Oprah.
OK, love you back.
See you soon when I come out the house, OK?
All right, come out the house.
Bye.