Gayle King Was ‘Humbled and Blown Away’ By Surprise Birthday Party That BFF Oprah Winfrey Had Been Planning for Months

King said she was “hoping” the surprise 70th birthday bash would be something Winfrey would “have for herself,” but quickly added, “I was so glad it was me”

Oprah Winfrey pulled out all the stops to surprise Gayle King for her 70th birthday.

On the Dec. 16 episode of Sherri, the CBS Mornings anchor dished about how Winfrey, 60, kept her in the dark about the early bash in celebration of her birthday on Dec. 28.

Before the surprise, King told host Sherri Shepherd, who was in attendance at the party,  that she had been “bitching and moaning” about going to the event — which she was told was a holiday work dinner — because she wanted to go to a “very important black tie dinner” instead.

After attempting to get the dinner moved to a different night, Winfrey told her that it couldn’t be rearranged so King begrudgingly went.

However, her mindset quickly changed when she walked in the door and “saw my favorite son, Will.”

“I’d seen Will earlier,” she said, referring to her 37-year-old son. “He was in town. He had taken a plane to go home, or so I thought so. I was so thrown by that, thinking, you know, you’re trying to process that.”

“Then, I see [my] favorite daughter, Kirby, and her husband,” she recalled of her 38-year-old daughter. “Like, what are they doing [here]? You know, her husband had made partner… So they were in New York celebrating, and they said that they had left earlier in the day.”

“So my mind couldn’t comprehend it — even when they said surprise — thinking what surprise. It was only when they sang Happy Birthday… My birthday is December 28. It’s between Christmas and New Year’s. Nobody wants to celebrate with you on those particular times because it’s right in the middle of your holiday plans so I was really fine with that.”

From left: Oprah Winfrey and Gayle King attend the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures 3rd Annual Gala Presented by Rolex at Academy Museum of Motion Pictures on December 3, 2023 in Los Angeles, California. Emma McIntyre/Getty

She added that she was “so humbled and blown away” by the surprise. She joked that her reaction — which was shared on Instagram on Dec. 14 — would become “a bad meme.”

“It’s so nice to feel appreciated in that way while you’re still alive to, as they say, receive your flowers and it was sure there were some famous people — I get that — but there were so many different types of people from my life,” she shared. “My three sisters were there and their kids and their husbands. You just all saw each other  at Thanksgiving. I don’t even know how to express the gratitude that I feel.”

The journalist went to note on how Winfrey had planned the event for months, despite not wanting to celebrate her own birthday.

“I understand Oprah had been working on it since June and I’ve been saying, when she turned 70 in January, can’t you just have a good dance party?” she shared. “But, she didn’t want to do that. She wanted to be at home reading a book underneath her trees and I said, but it would be so nice just to have a dance [party]. You’re turning 70. That’s a big deal.”

“She goes, ‘I don’t want all of that,’” she added. “So I feel that that party was when I was hoping that she would have for herself. But, I was so glad it was me.”

On Dec. 14, Winfrey shared a video of the bash on Instagram, in which King could be seen appearing shocked and jumping back in surprise as she was greeted by cheers from her loved ones.

The video then moves to partygoers singing “Happy Birthday” to the television personality.

“My bestie of 50 years is turning 70 so we gathered everyone that loved her to celebrate,” Winfrey wrote. “Hard thing to surprise her, O[h] the stories we have made up, the lies we have told to keep this a secret.”

“Happy birthday @gayleking, sorry we almost gave you a heart attack,” she added.