Continued from page 128123456what i know for sure
A true friend can’t be jealous of
you, or want to take advantage
of you in any way.
Another story I’ve told a few
times: Once, back in the ’80s,
when Gayle was visiting me in
Chicago for the weekend, I
went to put on my coat and was
surprised to find a wad of bills
in my pocket. I counted: $482.
“You want it?” I said.
She shook her head. “No,
you keep it.”
Years later, and I mean like a
full decade, she reminded me
of this moment and told me
how she’d gone home thinking
about all she could have done
with that cash. Paid her electric
bill. Bought groceries. Filled the
gas tank.
“Why didn’t you say
something?” I implored.
“I didn’t want you to ever
think I was out to get something
or take advantage,” she said.
And so we’ve moved
through our friendship with
respect and regard.
When Gayle got the call to
go to CBS, she was working for
OWN and didn’t want to leave
for fear that the perception
would be that even my best
friend was abandoning “the
struggling network.” I insisted,
though: “You must take that
job. You’ve been preparing your
whole life for it.”
When she was a young girl,
her father used to sit her and
her sisters in front of the TV to
watch the CBS Evening News
with Walter Cronkite. That’s
where she got the bug, and now
she’s come full circle.
Her circle completes my
own. I always believed that she
sacrificed a lot of her heart’s
desire to make sure thismagazine, the one you’re
reading right now, became
successful. She left her job in
local TV in 1999 to come work
for O. She was at O during 9/11,
Hurricane Katrina, the Virginia
Tech shooting, and the historic
2008 elections, and I know she
was yearning for a newsroom.
To be right in the heat, sharing
the information live. For
12 years, she missed that.
Now she’s right where
she’s longed to be, and
where she belongs. She
offers the news of the day
and still has the brightest
outlook of anyone I know.
We’re all aware by now
that yellow is her favorite
color. I’ll tell you this: No
matter what glasses she’s
actually wearing, she’s
seeing the world through
sunny-colored lenses.
The boundless positive
outlook; the more-is-more
approach to necklaces; the love
of a great burger, a warm
doughnut, a cupcake with
yellow frosting; the apparent
familiarity with every
pop/rap/country/R&B song
on Apple or Spotify; the
endless curiosity—
that’s my Gayle. And
no matter how many
ventures or adventures
we undertake—
whatever life has to
offer—we’ll be in each
other’s corner. Solid.
Timeless. Forever.COURTE
SYO
F^ GAYLE
KING(^3).^ ALASKA^ ANDO
PRAHSHOW:^ HARPOINC.
⁄GEORGEB
URNS.^ M
AKEUP^ MIRROR:^ ELI^SCHMID
T.- Filming Sofia’s
wedding scene in The
Color Purple, 1985. Gayle
was visiting the set for
the day and got to be an
extra. 2. Taking in Alaska’s
breathtaking sights on
O’s Share the Adventure
cruise with Holland
America Line, 2017.
4. Leaving my place in
Santa Barbara on day one
of our famous 11-day road
trip, 2006. 5. Spending a
weekend as the colonists
did for the PBS series
Colonial House, 2004.- A behind-the-scenes
moment from a recent
cover shoot.
3. One of Gayle’s many appearances
on The Oprah Winfrey Show, 1999.
OPRAHMAG.COM SEPTEMBER (^2019127)