Originally posted May 25, 2011

Dear Oprah,

For most of my childhood, I had a stay-at-home mom. Therefore, every afternoon at 4:00, your show was on at my house. I think the first episode I saw was when I was 9 years old. You’ve said in interviews that the fans you feel the most emotion for are the children who grew up with you, and every time you say it, I get a big lump in my throat… and the first time, I totally went into the “ugly cry,” the name you give for that “I don’t care who’s watching and there’s snot on my face” wailing. It seems impossible that the show is ending, but my grief is not for you. You’re going on to do amazing things, and I support that. You deserve every happiness for the thousands of shows you’ve already done. My grief is for the children who won’t grow up with you, won’t know you as the force of nature that you have become.

It has been a pleasure and an inspiration to see you scale unimaginable heights as a woman, and as the best example I know of building something from nothing. Though you have said many times that writing a biography isn’t your thing, I think it’d be a great book… because the best part of your story is not where you are now, it’s how you got there. Surely as a little girl in Mississippi, you had no idea where your life would take you, and even if you did, there’s no way anyone could imagine what you have done in such a short time.

For instance, here’s what I know for sure: the first time I saw a gay person was on your show. The first time I saw a person with AIDS was on your show. The first time I saw a transgendered person was on your show. You have such a large part of my heart because you were one of the people that taught me there was nothing wrong with me. My chest swelled with pride when you agreed to be Ellen’s therapist on her coming out episode. Not only were you one of the first people in television to say you were inclusive, you were one of the first people to truly walk the walk.

Marshall McLuhan said it best in the famous phrase, “the medium is the message.” Your television show reached out to all the senses, and burned into people’s minds sounds and images that have lasted these 25 years, and will continue to live on far beyond The Oprah Winfrey Show. In fact, I am willing to bet that phrases like “make the connection” and “what I know for sure” will live on for generations, even if they’re not aware of the original source.

But always know, Oprah, that I am glad to know the original source. My life has been changed and enriched by you and your show in greater measure than you can possibly imagine. All I have left to say is a heartfelt thank you, and a stolen line from another great journalist…

Goodbye, Oprah. Good night and good luck.

Big love from an enduring fan.

Always,

Leslie.

P.S. If there’s anything that I forgot to write that truly should have been included, it’s that part of my love and adoration of you comes from the way I feel about myself when I watch you. In half an hour, people will start feeling that feeling for the last time. For me, that moment will be unspeakably hard, but again, you have given your audience so much that it is my only hope for you to find a way to feel that feeling yourself. Though I know that now you are a network executive (“I have my OWN network… those initials worked out for me!), I’m rooting for you to delegate, delegate, delegate. Go to the mountains. Go to the beach. Play Scrabble on your iPad. Take the dogs for a run. In short, be amazing to yourself, find YOU outside the show, and let us know how it goes in O magazine. Gayle isn’t going to let you off that easy.