Oprah Winfrey acknowledges fans Tuesday during a star-studded double-taping of “Surprise Oprah! A Farewell Spectacular,” in Chicago. “The Oprah Winfrey Show” is ending its run Wednesday, after 25 years.

If I were Oprah Winfrey, with $2.7 billion in the bank and a talk show wrapping up after 25 years of daily grind, I’d retire.

I’d hightail it to Montecito, Calif., and my gated, 45-acre estate, where I’d spend my days relaxing in my 23,000-square-foot Georgian-style mansion, strolling through the rose garden and lilac fields, meditating in the tea house cut from stone mined on the property, gazing out at the Pacific. Maybe I’d finally even have time to watch some TV, after so many years of making it.

But Oprah won’t do that. She’ll be as ubiquitous as ever after “The Oprah Winfrey Show” airs its final episode Wednesday.

Still, since Winfrey told us in November 2009 that she would end the show after the 25th season, the most faithful fans have been suffering separation anxiety.

Oprah.com has been counting down the shows. Every day, viewers post heartfelt messages on the website, which averages 86 million page views a month. A typical one: “Oprah, thank you so much for your inspiration. You and your show have had a tremendous impact on the lives of countless individuals, as well as on society. God bless.”

Winfrey’s exit will also leave a hole in daytime TV and, since she announced her departure, speculation has centered on who might be “the next Oprah.” (Anderson Cooper, maybe, or Katie Couric?) But the fact is, nobody will be the next Oprah.

Daytime TV has changed dramatically in the past quarter century, and never more so than in the past few years. The broadcast networks are dumping soap operas and substituting their own chatty shows with multiple hosts. Local stations are grabbing free hours to expand their lucrative newscasts.

Meanwhile, ratings for talk shows have declined in the face of competition from cable. Even “Oprah” has lost audience. In 1991-92, an average of 12.6 million viewers tuned in; by last year, that number had declined to 5.5 million.

“Oprah Winfrey Show” fans will find something to watch next season. But for the most faithful, paternity testing on “Maury” or a news-variety hour — or even Katie Couric — won’t fill that hole in the heart.

Luckily, Winfrey isn’t taking my advice and retiring to beautiful Montecito. She still has O. magazine and her satellite radio channel; she still owns Harpo Studios; and most of all, she has OWN, the cable network she launched in January.

OWN is a passion project for Winfrey, who has described it as the next phase in her life. But the network has struggled in the early going, developing only one hit: “Season 25: Oprah Behind the Scenes,” and averaging only about 300,000 viewers in prime time.

Programming on OWN to date reflects the inspirational tone of many “Oprah” episodes, with shows about people searching for lost loved ones or trying to make comebacks while in prison.

Organizer Peter Walsh and sex doctor Laura Berman offer advice; celeb-reality shows feature the Judds and Shania Twain. Four new shows have been announced for June, with more in the pipeline.

What’s missing on OWN, so far, is Winfrey. She has said that, at some point, she’ll host a show on the network but hasn’t offered a time frame.

Maybe now is the time to think about that. But Oprah, I’ve seen that estate in Montecito. Does retirement really seem so bad?