Oprah Winfrey’s O Magazine turns 15: See her 15 most memorable covers

You’ve come a long way, lady.

When Oprah Winfrey first rolled out her O The Oprah Magazine in June 2000, the role model was still feeling out how to be a cover girl.

“We were so proud of that cover ... but looking back on it, did I just take that sweater off the floor?” she recently recalled to O’s creative director Adam Glassman.

She certainly didn’t grab a garment from some pile for the glossy 15th anniversary edition hitting stands on April 14 — it features Winfrey in a dazzling Swarovski crystal-encrusted dress beneath an equally sparkling “O.”

The first and latest covers couldn’t be more different — but Winfrey’s lifestyle magazine has been consistent on a more important front: helping readers live their best lives.

The magazine, says editor in chief Lucy Kaylin, “is a guide for women to figure out who they want to be, and who they were meant to be.”

And guide them it has. Winfrey herself has offered her “What I Know for Sure” column, many book recommendations, and all those lists of favorite things that fans crave.

The magazine won two American Society of Magazine Editors Awards for public service along the way: One for a November 2014 guide for adults caring for their aging parents, and the other for a 2013 hair blowout — which featured Winfrey on the cover in a 31/2-pound Afro.

It’s challenging to make the same model look exciting over and over again, which is why Winfrey has been snapped riding on horseback, steering convertibles and swimming in tropical pools over the past 15 years.

“The covers are always great experiences,” Winfrey writes. “I remember being in a waterfall in Puerto Rico with my hair wet and my clothes wet, and I remember feeling like, ‘Oh! So this is the glamorous life of doing magazine covers.’ ”

But she’s just as willing to show her unglamorous side as well, which is why readers adore her.

“We’ve seen her with rollers on the cover of the magazine. We’ve seen her without makeup. We’ve seen her with long hair, short hair,” says creative director Glassman, who’s worked with Winfrey since the third issue.

“She is not afraid to just let everyone see her for who she is.”

YOU SHOULD KNOW

The 15th anniversary issue hits stands on April 14 and includes a list of 20 crystal-themed items that 15 readers can win through the O List Sweepstakes by visiting Oprah.com on April 6 (Monday). Plus, 15 readers who sign up for the O Circle of Friends community will win a boxed May cover adorned in actual Swarovski crystals, signed by Oprah, along with luxe beauty products worth $500. Enter at omagcircle.com/crystal between April 14 and June 12.