Oprah Winfrey signs off after 25 years: 'It is done'

It has been coming for a year, but now the end is just days away.

Billionaire Oprah Winfrey, who went from abused Mississippi farm girl to talk-show host and spiritual leader for millions of daytime TV viewers in search of their authentic selves — not to mention a proper-fitting bra and a good book — is quitting the daily grind after 25 years.

“We gotta land this plane!” she says in her Oprah shout-out way. “Wheels down!”

The last new episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show is set for Wednesday. Harpo Studios, Winfrey’s production company, has not announced who the guests are or what the format will be, which has helped create mystique and build hype. The price for a 30-second commercial spot on the finale: $1 million, the bill usually charged for a hot prime-time spot.

Meanwhile, loyal Oprah followers are planning parties at homes, local theaters and convention centers to watch the woman they consider their role model, their mom and their friend say her Big Farewell.

Fans may be stocking up on Kleenex, but Oprah, 55, is anything but weepy. “I’m exhilarated and relieved,” she says.

It’s everyone else who seems to be having trouble with her departure. “People call me like I’m ill,” says Oprah, dropping her voice to somber and low. “Tyler Perry called me yesterday, saying, ‘How. Are. You?’”

Chipper. Gleeful. Close to dancing a jig. “I am trying not to bring in the hula hoops,” she says.

But recently, her “sensitive side set in,” she says, “and I realized there’s a sense of sadness and letting go for other people.”

The typical Harpo staffer has been there 15 years, she says. “I ran into Sally Lou (Loveman), our audience supervisor, the other day. We passed in the hallway and she burst into tears. I went, ‘Are you OK?’ She said, ‘Who will I be when this is over?’”

Oprah pauses, reverend-style.

“I don’t have that question to ask myself. I will still be, fully and completely, wholly myself when this is over. I am filled with a sense of gratitude I was able to do it.”

Then she admits, “I had one teary moment when I finished taping” the show that will air Friday. “I came home and walked up the stairs and I felt the weight — the weight — of it. I sat on the side of the bed and the realization hit me that it is done. It is done. And the next day I was a little teary thinking, ‘It is done.

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