Oprah Winfrey is seen in Midtown, Jan. 3, 2017, in New York City.

Oprah Winfrey arrives at the premiere of OWN's 'Greenleaf,' June 15, 2016, in West Hollywood, California.

Oprah Winfrey and Usher attend The Robin Hood Foundation's 2016 Benefit at Jacob Javitz Center, May 9, 2016, in New York.

Oprah posted this photo to Instagram with the caption "Stepping out with my Valentine of almost 30 yrs! #iovinewedding" on Feb. 14, 2016.

Oprah Winfrey on stage during her An Evening With Oprah tour, Dec. 2, 2015, in Melbourne, Australia.

Oprah Winfrey is seen in New York, Oct. 15, 2015.

David Letterman takes a selfie with talk show legend Oprah Winfrey when she makes her final appearance on the "Late Show with David Letterman," May 15, 2015.

Oprah Winfrey speaks onstage during the 45th NAACP Image Awards presented by TV One at Pasadena Civic Auditorium on Feb. 22, 2014 in Pasadena, Calif.

Oprah Winfrey, David Oyelowo and Ava DuVernay lead a commemorative march to the Edmund Pettus Bridge on Jan. 18, 2015 in Selma, Ala.

Oprah Winfrey speaks with Lance Armstrong during an interview regarding the controversy surrounding his cycling career, Jan. 14, 2013 in Austin, Texas.

Oprah's last show was broadcast on May 25, 2011.

On April 11, 2010, Oprah invited former talk show hosts Geraldo Rivera, Ricki Lake, Phil Donahue, Sally Jesse Raphael and Montel Williams to her show.

Oprah bonded with Elvis the Koala when she took her show to Australia in January 2011.

To kick off her final "Farewell Season," Winfrey gave the studio audience another amazing giveaway: a trip to Australia. Winfrey announced she would fly her entire audience of about 300 with her.

Winfrey announced in November 2009 that she would end her namesake show after the 25th season. Instead, she will focus on the launch of her own network, OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network, which debuted in January 2011. Winfrey opened up to Barbara Walters, whom she's known since the beginning of her career, on her life and future in "A Barbara Walters Special: Oprah, The Next Chapter."

Talk-show queen Oprah Winfrey revealed a "bombshell family secret" on her show, telling her viewers in 2010 that she had recently learned she had a half-sister whom her mother had hidden from her for decades. Winfrey's half-sister, single mother of two Patricia, pictured left, had been given up for adoption in Milwaukee, Wis., by Winfrey's mother, Vernita Lee, in 1963. Winfrey said the news about her half-sister left her "speechless."

Author and poet Maya Angelou is another big influence in Winfrey's life. A frequent visitor to the show, Angelou chats with Winfrey on April 4, 2002.

The other steady in Winfrey's life is Stedman Graham. Since 1986, Winfrey has been romantically involved with Graham, a businessman, entrepreneur and speaker. The two were engaged in 1992, but never married. Winfrey has been open with the public about sexual abuse and her personal struggle with her weight, but she has kept her personal relationships private.

In 2006, Winfrey and Gayle King prepared to hit the road. The best buddies have taken many trips together, including a hilarious camping expedition which appeared on an episode of "The Oprah Winfrey Show" during the final season.

A seat in Oprah's studio audience can be a ticket to one incredible surprise after another. In 2004, for the premiere of her "Wildest Dreams" season, Oprah gave each of her 276 audience members a car. In an interview for O, the Oprah Magazine, Winfrey said it was one of the rare episodes of the show she's watched. "We were all so absolutely high from the experience that about 20 of us came up to my office and watched it again," she said.

Her relationship with Mandela inspired Winfrey to open the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls in South Africa in 2007. She chose 152 of South Africa's neediest girls to attend. Winfrey has been a leader in philanthropy, donating millions through her private foundation.

Former South African president Nelson Mandela was the first black president Winfrey had on her show. Here they are in 2000.

President Barack Obama and First Lady Michele Obama returned to "The Oprah Winfrey Show" for Winfrey's final season in May 2011.

In May, 2010, she had some of her proteges join her at New York's Radio City Music Hall. From left, Nate Berkus, Dr. Oz, Dr. Phil McGraw, Suze Orman with Winfrey.

The Frey controversy notwithstanding, Winfrey has an extremely loyal fan base and whatever she touches seems to turn to gold. Books and products with her endorsements fly off the shelves. She's launched the television careers of popular personalities like Dr. Oz, Dr. Phil and Nate Berkus. The "Oprah's Favorite Things" show has often been the most-watched episode of the year.

When Winfrey chose James Frey's purported memoir "A Million Little Pieces" for her book club, it erupted into the biggest controversy in the show's history after it was revealed that Frey had made up parts of his life story. Frey returned to the show in January 2006 for what he later called a "public stoning" led by Winfrey. The talk show host invited him back for a two-part interview in her final season for what might be considered an apology.

Soon after Winfrey launched her successful book club in 1996, she chose Nobel-prize-winning author Toni Morrison and her book "Song of Solomon." Morrison's other books, "The Bluest Eye," Winfrey's favorite, "Paradise" and "Sula" were also book club selections. Having a book chosen for Oprah's Book Club was a publishers dream since it guaranteed a bestseller.

Winfrey has celebrated her 40th and 50th birthday on her show. For her 50th birthday, friends John Travolta, Stevie Wonder, Tina Turner and best friend Gayle King joined her on the set on Jan. 29, 2004.

Winfrey has said that Diana Ross was one of the first black entertainers the future media mogul saw on television. In 2000, Winfrey invited Ross to her show. Ross returned in 2011 with her five children and grandson and reunited with "Mahogany" co-star Billie Dee Williams.

Comedian Chris Rock has appeared on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" 26 times, the most of any guest.

Julia Roberts made another visit to "The Oprah Winfrey Show" in November 2004 while pregnant with her twins. Winfrey showered her with gifts and rubbed her baby bump.

When Winfrey got a chance to interview one of her idols, singing legend Tina Turner, in 1997, she donned one of Turner's wigs and later danced on stage with Turner. Here, they practice some of the moves on Winfrey's show.

Over the last 25 years on her show, Winfrey has interviewed more than 29,000 guests, from politicians to celebrities, like John Travolta.

In the April 2011 issue of O Magazine, Winfrey published some of her private journal entries over the years, including her thoughts on her early dating life and her work on the 1985 film "The Color Purple." Winfrey received an Oscar nomination for her role of Sophia and went on to act in and produce several motion pictures and television movies, including "Beloved" and "Their Eyes Were Watching God." The media mogul has kept a journal since she was 15 and says the practice comforts her.

Winfrey with Barbara Walters in 1988 for the first of many interviews they would do together.

Winfrey's television career kicked off when she was 19. She became the first female African-American news anchor at a local Nashville station. In 1984, Winfrey moved to Chicago to host the morning show "AM Chicago." The program soon beat the top-rated "Phil Donohue Show" and was renamed "The Oprah Winfrey Show." It would become the highest-rated talk show in TV history, broadcast in 147 countries, and "The Oprah Winfrey Show" would remain on top of the ratings for a quarter century.

At 17, Winfrey entered a local "Miss Fire Prevention" contest and won. When asked about her career choice, Winfrey said she wanted to be a television journalist. "I am a little black girl standing on stage with all of these red-haired Miss Fire Prevention contestants ... [and] because all the other careers were taken ... I want to a nurse, I want to be a teacher, I want to be ... I thought, 'Okay, Barbara Walters.'" After her win, Winfrey was offered a job at WVOL radio in Nashville.

Winfrey, pictured here at age 13, was a promiscuous teen. During a 1988 interview with Barbara Walters, Winfrey said she used to run away from home and would often bring boys back to her house. When she was 14, her mother sent her to live in Nashville permanently with her strict father. At the time Winfrey was pregnant. Her son died when he was one week old.

Growing up, Winfrey bounced between homes, living with her mother in Mississippi and later Wisconsin and with her father, Vernon Winfrey, in Nashville, Tenn. An 8-year-old Winfrey is pictured in her fourth grade school photo in Nashville. Winfrey was raped and sexually abused by cousins and other relatives from the time she was nine years old. The talk show host shared her story with the world on a 1986 episode of her show.

Oprah Winfrey, considered to be the most influential woman in the world, ended her daytime talk show on May 25, 2011 after a quarter century. Winfrey was born Jan. 29, 1954, into famously difficult circumstances in Kosciusko, Miss. There was no running water or electricity at her home, Winfrey said. Winfrey is pictured with her mother, Vernita Lee.