The Dishing Diva

Oprah Winfrey is quitting her talk. On Thursday afternoon, Tim Bennett, president of Winfrey’s production house, Harpo, confirmed the media mogul will make her final appearance on the Oprah set in September 2011 – completing 25 years of the show.

She is set to confirm the news herself on Friday’s edition of the show.

Describing the show as “one of the most popular, influential and enduring programs in television history”, Bennett said the announcement will “mark an historic television moment that we will all be talking about for years to come”.

Memorable moments over the years have included Tom Cruise’s couch jumping incident and the first TV interview with Thomas Beatie – the pregnant man. More recent coups have included interviews with Whitney Houston and Sarah Palin.

After conquering the TV world, Winfrey built her empire, which includes films, books, magazines and websites. She is the world’s only black billionaire, according to Forbes magazine.

Last week rumours surfaced that she is planning to launch a new channel, the Oprah Winfrey Network, with Discovery Communications.

Oprah Winfrey has admitted she may be ending the most famous daytime TV show in history.

The talkshow queen’s contract is due to expire in 2011, her 25th year on the air, and Oprah stunned fans by saying she will decide soon if she will continue it.

Until the announcement, it had never crossed anyone’s minds Oprah may end her show.

Industry insiders believe the daily grind may now be too much for her – and also believe she may be interested in taking total control of the cable channel she is launching, the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN).

Winfrey spokesman Don Halcombe denied a definitive plan exists: “She has not made a decision yet.”

Leslie Moonves, the Chief Executive of CBS, which runs Oprah’s current show, insists the channel is desperate to keep her.

“She’s a legend,” he said. “We will probably know in a couple of months. We’re in dialogue.”

It’s not the first time Oprah, now 53 and one of the richest people in the country, has gone through a public will-she-or-won’t-she drama over retirement.

In 1997 and again in 2002, Oprah said she was thinking seriously about leaving her show – but both times renewed her contract for several more years.

Oprah Winfrey made comic Ali Wentworth’s dream come true by turning her into a Dallas Cowboys cheerleader.

Wentworth shook her pop poms after squeezing herself into the famed dance group’s tight uniform.

Wentworth became the first non-cheerleader to perform in the uniform as she danced with them on Oprah’s show at the Dallas State Fair.

“I’m a little exhausted. All you mothers, girls don’t try that at home,” Wentworth joked.

Source: Splash News

Oprah Winfrey has used Twitter to inform fans that her first new book club pick in a year will be announced on Friday, September 18.

Winfrey sought to whet book-lover’s appetites when she Tweeted that she had “never made a selection like ‘this’.”

Winfrey’s most recent pick was David Wroblewski’s The Story of Edgar Sawtelle. The book morphed into a word-of-mouth hit last summer and, later, a blockbuster.

Winfrey’s endorsement is a powerful boost for a new book.

The week of September 14, meanwhile, looms up as a major date for the publishing industry. Senator Edward Kennedy’s True Compass will be released, to be followed by Dan Brown’s The Lost Symbol.

Source: Splash News

Divas Friends

Vogue editor Anna Wintour has revealed she told US chat-show queen Oprah Winfrey to shed 20 pounds to be on the cover of the fashion mag.

The 59-year-old fashion legend – who inspired the hit movie The Devil Wears Prada – told Oprah that she might feel ‘more comfortable’ if she dropped the weight for her photoshoot.

"It was a very gentle suggestion," Wintour said.

"I went to Chicago to visit Oprah, and I suggested that it might be an idea that she lose a little bit of weight.

"I said simply that you might feel more comfortable.”

The request came before Oprah appeared on the cover of the fashion magazine in 1998 and according to Wintour, Oprah, 55, responded positively.

“She was a trooper. She totally welcomed the idea, and she went on a very stringent diet. It was one of our most successful covers ever."

In an interview with US news show 60 Minutes, Wintor also defended her magazine’s use of stick-thin models saying people should be more concerned about obesity.

"There’s such an epidemic of obesity in the United States, and for some reason, everybody focuses on anorexia."

Wintour, who commissioned a feature on the topic complete with illustrations, said that it was an important issue.

"We need to spend money time and education on teaching people to eat, exercise and take care of themselves in a healthier way," she said.

Source: Splash News

Oprah Winfrey has become the latest celebrity to join the Twitter craze.

The chat show queen sent a ‘tweet’ – a message on the social networking website – that read: "HI TWITTERS. THANK YOU FOR A WARM WELCOME. "FEELING REALLY 21st CENTURY."

Many in the Twitter microblogging community are critical of people who type in all capital letters.

The 55-year-old sent the Tweet on her television show on Friday.

Oprah’s debut prompted a torrent of tweets – hundreds per minute.

One person cheekily took note of the second tweet by Oprah, who has battled weight gain in the past – "hi jimmy order a reuben [sandwich] for me" – by writing: "Oprah’s second Twitter post and she’s talking about food. SHOCKER. "

Other famous Twitter fans include Demi Moore, husband Ashton Kutcher, singer Lily Allen and Lance Armstrong.

The site has more than 14 million users.

Messages written using the service are limited to 140 characters.

However, by the end of the day, Winfrey appeared to be bored with the service – hinting she would switch off until the start of the new week.

She wrote: "good nite tweets. first big day in twitterland. gotta get some shut eye and use the weekend for rebooting."

Source: Splash News

On today’s episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show, she had YouTube founders Chad Hurley and Steve Chen. They will help her create her own channel on YouTube.

Harpo Productions president, Tim Bennett, said:
It provides another platform for people online to communicate with us and share in some of the one-of-a-kind experiences that occur behind the scenes at The Oprah Winfrey Show.

Should be interesting!

“I’d like to thank the South African Police Services for bringing this investigation at my Academy to a timely resolution. I am grateful for their compassion and sensitivity to the girls during this difficult time. It means the world to me. It is my deepest hope that the accused is brought to justice and that this serves as a reminder that any time a child has the courage to step forward, it is our duty as adults to listen and take immediate action.”

Oprah released the above statement due to the fact that one of the staff at her African school was physically and sexually assaulting the children.  Oprah was very upset and took this matter very seriously. She flew down to the school twice in one week, to get it all sorted out. Oprah really has a heart of gold!