To Millions, Oprah’s Not a Megastar, just a BFF

 like any friend, fans say they support Winfrey no matter what she does YORK - Like any wife who knows her husband well, Nancy Martus knows what will annoy her man. Like when she utters the phrase, "Oprah says..."

"He doesn't like it when I start my sentences that way," laughs Martus, a 36-year-old mother of three in Plymouth, Mass. "He says he doesn't care what Oprah says."

Good luck with that, Mr. Martus. For his wife and for millions of women around the country, Winfrey has become, over the years, much more than a regular television date. Talk to her fans, and you hear a familiar refrain: Oprah's like a favorite aunt, a sister, or a friend. Forget the sprawling media empire and the billions that separate her daily existence from that of ordinary folks. To these fans, she still feels like a BFF.

That connection, especially remarkable for how long it's lasted, is one reason why you can sense tangible disappointment but hardly anger among die-hard fans that she's ending her talk show — well, in a year and a half — and moving to unspecified ventures in cable.

Because, many of these women say, you support your friends, even when they're moving away and you're mad at them for leaving. You have to be happy for them.

"You know, we're selfish to miss her," says Tracy Arenibar, a 37-year-old fan in Homer Glen, Ill. "I'm proud of her because she's making a decision that she's earned. She deserves it."Read

To Millions, Oprah’s Not a Megastar, just a BFF