Oprah Winfrey admits she doesn't miss her daytime talk show: 'What we were doing every day became just so hard'
Speaking with Kelly Ripa on the most recent episode of the Let's Talk Off Camera With Kelly Ripa podcast, Winfrey clarified that while she doesn't "miss the show" itself, she does miss the "connection to the audience" that she successfully created over the years.
"I miss the everyday conversation," she shared. "I miss the conversations afterwards."
Winfrey noted, though, that "as much as I loved the audience, I'm telling you, the nature of what we were doing every day became just so hard."
Winfrey said that diving into serious topics that her audience was dealing with — such as fighting cancer, going through a divorce, or otherwise experiencing a "major dysfunction" — became increasingly difficult.
What's more, her producers would get "overwhelmed" if their efforts did not result in Emmy wins, so she eventually stopped submitting herself for nominations so that they could focus on "doing the best work possible."
She continued, "I still hold in reverence all the opportunities we had to reach into people's lives and be there for them in ways that mattered."
Among other things, the talk show legend was known for her generous gifts and giveaways to her studio audience. She discussed the stress of trying to outdo herself as the show went on, recalling one producer's pie-in-the-sky idea to launch her audience into space.
"It is time to bring it down," Winfrey remembered thinking after a space trip was pitched.
In her final season, Winfrey pulled out the big guns, taking over 300 of her audience members to Australia for eight days. While the host loved connecting with her viewers this way, she described the logistical problems with sending hundreds of people Down Under.
"What we didn't realize is 90 percent of the audience didn't have a passport," she said. "So the producers were, like, out of their minds trying to get passports for the people in time for the show in Australia."
The Oprah Winfrey Show ran from 1986-2011.
Listen to the entire episode of Kelly Ripa's Let's Talk Off Camera with Oprah Winfrey below.
Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly
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