Gayle King celebrated another year 'round the sun on Sunday, December 28, officially turning 71 years old. And of course, she had her best friend by her side.
The CBS Mornings anchor rang in another year with her longtime BFF Oprah Winfrey, evidenced by a new photo the former talk show host, also 71, posted on her Instagram page from the celebration.
Oprah posted a snapshot of herself and Gayle, dressed in all yellow, sitting in a room bathed in complete pastel yellow light (illuminated by lit trees behind them), and a two-tiered lemon yellow cake, covered in fondant icing, flower appliqués and decorative balls.
"Yellow everything for @gayleking's birthday! 71 trips around the sun," she captioned the snap, seemingly pointing to the "sun" as the inspiration for the party.
Gayle and Oprah's friendship
The two leading ladies of TV have been friends for nearly five decades. They first met as up-and-coming journalists back in 1976 while working for WJZ-TV in Baltimore, where Gayle was a production assistant and Oprah was the co-anchor for the six o'clock news.
"We became friends that first night because for the first time, I met somebody who I felt was like me," Gayle recalled in the 2006 issue of O, The Oprah Magazine. "I'd never met anybody like that. Certainly not another Black girl. I grew up in an all-white community."
Oprah herself added: "Something about this relationship feels otherworldly to me, like it was designed by a power and a hand greater than my own. Whatever this friendship is, it's been a very fun ride — and we've taken it together."
Gayle's family life
Gayle doesn't just have Oprah in her life, but is also a doting mom to her "favorite son" William Bumpus Jr. and her "favorite daughter" Kirby Bumpus. Through Kirby, she is also a grandmother-of-two, with William and his wife Elise Smith now expecting a child of their own too.
As it turns out, Gayle certainly gives back as much as she gets, with her CBS Mornings co-anchor Tony Dokoupil telling us previously she is the "biggest supporter and encourager of all people."
"Gayle is as cool as it gets," he shared with HELLO!. "She'll give you auntie vibes, older sister vibes, mama vibes, all of it." Tony, who is set to move to the CBS evening news slot come January, told us: "Gayle is also a cool grandma. Gayle's the most natural person on TV, and the person she is on camera is exactly who she is off camera."
Tony further adoringly called her "goofy," while noting that she is "always quick with a question, not afraid to go there and you know she always loves you and cares about you." He told HELLO! how much of a mother figure she is to his own kids as well, saying: "It's amazing watching, particularly my older kids, become adults around her."
"She treats everybody with such respect that they kind of lift themselves up and meet her at her level, which is beautiful. They kind of grow up around her."