Ellen DeGeneres has announced the end of her long-running television show because she really felt like next season was the right moment. “The truth is, I always trust my instincts. My instinct told me it’s time,” she said on her new episode.

The Ellen DeGeneres Show has aired more than 3,000 episodes since September 2003. It has become a US television staple, with a regular blend of humour, interviews, and human interest news, though ratings have fallen in recent years.

She avoided explicitly addressing the allegations of a hostile work climate that dogged the talk show last year. She said that before the controversy emerged, she had planned to end the show after its 19th season, in 2022.

“Two years ago, I signed a deal for three more years and I always knew in my heart that season 19 would be my last,” she will be seen saying at the start of Thursday’s programme.

In her pre-recorded opening monologue, she said: “I want you to know that I’ve thought a lot about this decision. I sat with it for a while. I meditated on it.”