It’s hard to imagine Oprah Winfrey making a major misstep in her legendary career. But even the undisputed queen of daytime television looks back on her decades in the spotlight and cringes at a few choices.
Case in point? That brief period in 1998 when she decided to record her own talk show theme song. She shared the details in an interview with Keke Palmer.
Oprah Regrets Singing Her Own Theme Song
During a recent chat on Keke Palmer’s podcast, “Baby, This is Keke Palmer,” the talk show icon was playfully reminded of her short-lived 1990s singing stint. While fans loved the throwback, Oprah didn’t hesitate to set the record straight on her attempt to belt out the traditional spiritual “Run On” as her show’s intro: “That is one of the mistakes of my career.”
She added, “What had happened was, I was trying to decide, ‘Am I going to end the show or not end the show?’ And then I had a little talk with Jesus, and Jesus said, ‘You gotta keep going.’ And so I said, ‘You know, there’s this song. It’s an old spiritual.’
“And then we realized, I can’t sing,” she continued. “Even though I took the singing lessons.”
“It was bad. You know it was bad,” she concluded.
Since that moment, Winfrey has never sang publicly again.
Fans Reacted to Oprah Winfrey’s Admission
In the post’s comments section, fans of Oprah Winfrey shared their thoughts about her big admission, and most were far more forgiving than the host herself. While Oprah might still cringe at her vocal turn, plenty of loyal viewers chimed in to recall just how iconic that era of the show was, proving that even a rare misstep is still beloved history to her biggest supporters.
“You brought the old Oprah out. This was really fun to watch,” wrote one follower.
A second fan noted, “The way she said, ‘Girl, please’ is sending me!”
“Hang this in the internet hall of fame,” penned a third Instagram user.
A fourth social media user wrote, “Listen, for those of us of age, this song was stuck in our heads for a solid year back in the day.”
How Long was the ‘Oprah Winfrey Show’ on Daytime Television?
For 25 seasons, The Oprah Winfrey Show reigned as the gold standard of daytime television. Debuting nationally in 1986, the series transformed pop culture through intimate celebrity interviews, high-profile book club picks, and life-changing giveaways.
According to the Oprah website, Celine Dion was the most frequent female celebrity guest on the show with 27 appearances. Chris Rock appeared 25 times, making him the most frequent male celebrity guest.
At the peak of her success, Winfrey announced in 2009 that the 25th season would be her last. She explained that a quarter-century felt like the right time in her spirit to say goodbye and shift her focus toward building her cable channel, the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN).
On May 25, 2011, the iconic series aired its emotional final episode. Standing alone on stage without celebrity guests, Winfrey thanked her millions of viewers for a historic 4,561-episode run.
