Oprah Winfrey will announce on Friday that her popular daytime talk show, “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” will end its run in 2011, Tim Bennett, the President of Harpo, announced in a letter released to ABC affiliates on Thursday.

“Tomorrow, Oprah will announce live on ‘The Oprah Winfrey Show’ that she has decided to end what is arguably one of the most popular, influential and enduring programs in television history,” he wrote in the letter, obtained by Access Hollywood. ” The sun will set on the ‘Oprah’ show as its 25th season draws to a close on September 9, 2011.”

Bennett said he was sending out the letter to keep the affiliates from being surprised at tomorrow’s announcement.

“Before she speaks to her loyal viewers, we wanted to share her decision first with you – our valued partners for more than two decades,” he wrote.

And he urged the stations to “share this news this evening with your colleagues and viewers.”

“Oprah’s personal comments about this on tomorrow’s live show will mark a historic television moment that we will all be talking about for years to come,” he added.

Just a few weeks ago, a rep for Oprah said the TV queen planned to make an announcement by year’s end about whether she was planning to make a leap from her current daytime talk show to her previously announced cable channel, the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN).

It appears the decision was one that was made only recently. Just two weeks ago — at the Glamour Women of the Year Awards in New York City — Oprah’s best friend, Gayle King, said Oprah was still weighing her options.

“I know she’s thinking,” Gayle told Access. “I know she’s thinking.”

But Gayle said she wasn’t playing advisor over the decision, just longtime friend.

“Listen, Oprah and I have been friends since we were 21 and 22 and now we’re 54 and 55,” she said, citing her and Oprah’s ages, respectively. “We talk about everything but she’s a big girl. She will make the decision that is right for her. No question about that. Whatever that is. It’ll be the right decision for her.”

Previously, at the September Toronto premiere for “Precious,” a film Oprah executive produced, Oprah revealed she was still putting in the deliberation hours.

“I haven’t made a decision yet and I have until the end of the year,” she said. “But you know I think that deserves more thoughtful consideration than a red carpet.”

A former flight attendant on Oprah Winfrey’s private jet filed a lawsuit Friday claiming she was wrongfully fired because of false allegations that she had sex with the plane’s married pilot as the talk-show host snoozed.

The lawsuit filed by Corrine Gehrls, 39, alleges that flight attendant Myron Gooch and Kirby Bumpus (who is the daughter of Winfrey’s friend Gayle King and is Winfrey’s goddaughter) made the false and defamatory accusations to cause her to be fired.

Gehrls and chief pilot Terry Pansing, 57, one of four pilots employed by Winfrey, were fired a short time later for “inappropriate intimate behavior,” the suit said.

A spokesman for Harpo Inc., Winfrey’s production company, declined to comment. Pansing, who lives in Sugar Grove, declined to comment. Attorneys in the case and Gehrls did not return calls seeking comment.

The lawsuit claims Gooch made the allegations after Pansing and Gehrls complained that he refused to work as scheduled, sometimes required that his hours be shifted so he could fly back to Chicago to “attend to his cats,” and insisted on staying in better hotels than the rest of the flight crew.

Gehrls and Pansing passed polygraph tests after the accusation but were not reinstated, the suit said.

According to the lawsuit, the jet was on the ground to refuel and take on a new crew at the time of the alleged encounter. Winfrey, Bumpus and other passengers were asleep “throughout the flight following their ingestion of sleeping pills,” the lawsuit claimed. The lawsuit seeks more than $75,000 in damages from Gooch, Bumpus and Harpo.

Oprah Winfrey’s upcoming interview with singer Whitney Houston is said to be a, “jaw-dropping, open, honest and candid” conversation that the daytime talk show queen is calling, “the best interview I’ve ever done.”

Oprah sits down with Whitney for a two-day television event starting on Monday, September 14, where Whitney discusses her marriage with Bobby Brown, drugs, rehab and how her family saved her.

“I think it’s the best interview I’ve ever done. But I guess you’re supposed to let other people say that about yourself. I can’t think of a moment, ever, when I had a stronger connection to the person I was interviewing,” Oprah said in a statement. “My approach to this interview was to not be judgmental in any way, and not to go in trying to get her to say things to make a ‘moment.’ I just wanted to be able to have an honest conversation with her. One woman to another woman. And the day of the interview I literally prayed about that all day long. I just wanted a connection between the two of us. And that is what happened.”

With friends and family looking on, including Clive Davis and her daughter Bobbi Kristina, Houston brings down the house with an emotional performance of “I Didn’t Know My Own Strength” from her new album “I Look To You,” which is expected to debut at #1 on the Billboard charts.

“I think whether you liked or loved Whitney Houston before you will certainly have a deeper appreciation for what she has been through as a human being,” Oprah continued. “And I mean, the fans are just going to love her even more.”

“The Oprah Winfrey Show: Season Premiere: Oprah And Whitney Houston – The First Interview” airs Monday, September 14, 2009. “The Oprah Winfrey Show: Season Premiere Part II: Whitney Houston’s Show-Stopping Surprise” airs Tuesday, September 15, 2009.

Whitney Houston is going to kickoff her music comeback by sitting down for her first interview in seven years with Oprah. The exclusive interview will kick off the 24th season of “The Oprah Winfrey Show” on September 14.

Houston hasn’t sat down for a major interview since 2002 when she answered questions about her drug use with ABC’s Diane Sawyer. It was in that infamous interview when Houston said, “Crack is whack” and went on to (not believably) talk about how she wasn’t on drugs.

“Good Morning America” will air a taped performance by Houston promoting her upcoming album on Sept. 2.

If there was ever a doubt of the power Vogue editor Anna Wintour has beyond her magazine, take note: even Oprah bends to her Chanel-clad will.

In a much-buzzed-about 60 Minutes interview with veteran journalist Morley Safer, Wintour revealed her “gentle suggestion” that Oprah drop some pounds before appearing on the fashion bible’s cover.

“I went to Chicago to visit Oprah and I suggested that it might be an idea that she lose a little bit of weight before she appeared in the magazine,” Wintour tells Safer.

Wintour says it was all for Orpah’s comfort, to look her best while gracing the issue.

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

The devil wears Prada, indeed!

Today, Seal confirms that he and wife Heidi Klum are expecting a girl on the Oprah Winfrey Show.

The couple are already parents to Henry, 3, and Johan, 2, together, and daughter Leni, 5, from Heidi’s previous relationship.
 

We wish we would have had a ticket to this event!

Oprah Winfrey and Michelle Obama were both at Time’s 100 Most Influential People in the World Gala at Lincoln Center in New York City last night.

The A-list event was organized to celebrate Time’s annual issue which honors the world’s most influential people in a variety of areas including Leaders & Builders, Heroes, Artists & Entertainers, and Scientists & Thinkers.

In opening remarks at the gala, Mrs. Obama asked attendees to encourage young people to pursue careers in public service and social innovation.

Following in the footsteps of Rachael Ray and Dr. Phil, Jenny McCarthy is set to host her own talk show under the banner of Oprah Winfrey’s Harpo Productions.

McCarthy, 36, is a former Playboy model, actress, and author of the best-selling books “Louder Than Words: A Mother’s Journey in Healing Autism” and “Mother Warriors: A Nation of Parents Healing Autism Against All Odds.”

McCarthy has been a frequent guest on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” and joins ‘Oprah Fridays LIVE’ on ocassion. She has also recently started blogging on Oprah.com.

Jenny’s is said to be a multi-year deal including the development of projects on different platforms, including a syndicated talk show that McCarthy will host.

Good luck and congrats, Jenny!

Kirstie Alley tells Oprah that about a year and a half ago she moved all of her exercise equipment in her home gym (a converted living room in her mansion) to the garage. Kirstie says she hasn’t worked out since.

It sounds like she just didn’t want to do it anymore to us.

Don’t worry about being in a bikini, Kirstie. Just be healthy.

This is sad news.

Oprah Winfrey adopted two blonde cocker spaniel puppies this month. (See them in the above video.)

Winfrey adopted Sadie, an 8-week-old blond cocker spaniel from PAWS Chicago. She showed off the puppy on her show. She also adopted one of Sadie’s littermates, a dog named Ivan.

Several days later, Ivan became ill with parvovirus and passed away late last week.

Parvovirus is a deadly disease which can cause a canine to suffer from diarrhea, vomiting and lethargy.

“I’m saddened by his passing though we only had him for a weekend,” Winfrey said in a statement to the Sun-Times. “I remain hopeful that Sadie will pull through.”

Sadie also was infected.

According to Oprah’s BFF, Gayle King:
“Sadie is sick and we’re waiting – we’re waiting to hear,” King told Us Tuesday at a Valentino in NYC. “We’re hoping that Sadie will be fine. Sadie is in the hospital, but as you might expect, she is getting the best of care. I have fingers closed, eyes crossed. Prayers. We’re all wishing Sadie will get better.”

Winfrey’s two cocker spaniels, Sophie and Solomon, died last year. Her golden retriever, Gracie, choked to death on a plastic ball in 2007.

She still has two golden retrievers, Luke and Layla.

Poor O!