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Mattie Stepanek Told Oprah To End Show

Oprah Winfrey is giving credit to a terminally ill 12-year-old for helping her decide to end her talk show in its 25th season.

The HARPO Productions head mad the revolution herself in the lates issue of her O, The Oprah Magazine.

According to the media mogul, Mattie Stepanek, a child author who had a rare form of muscular dystrophy, told her that she should end the Oprah show only after it had been on the air for 25 years.

Oprah says Stepanek sent her an email telling her end her show in May 2003 just 13 months before he died at the age of 13.

 “At the 20-year mark, I was almost certain that the time was finally right to call it a day (although I was uncertain about what to do next.) ‘That’s when I received an e-mail from Mattie Stepanek.’In May 2003, as I was in the throes of deciding to bring the show to an end, he was a singular force in changing my mind.”

The entire email is posted in the May issue of the magazine.

An excerpt from it reads,

“I know that you are planning to retire your show on its 20th anniversary. ‘It is my opinion that you should wait to stop your daytime show on its 25th anniversary. Let me explain why.’ Twenty-five makes more sense to me, partially because I am a bit OCD and 25 is a perfect number…”

Oprah went on to say that she believes Stepansek was a “messenger for our time.”