Oprah Winfrey and Gayle King have been best friends for almost a half century, and over the years, the media maven has never seen the “CBS Mornings” host take a sip of liquor.
The “Color Purple” producer teased her friend about being so straight-edged, reminding her of the time she requested a special drink at Tina Turner’s wedding.
On a recent episode of “King Charles,” the CNN talk show hosted by King and Charles Barkley, the former basketball player told Winfrey that he would rather hang out with her because she takes a little sip every now and again.
The former talk show host was on the show to talk about her new documentary, “An Oprah Special: Shame, Blame, and the Weight Loss Revolution.”
The conversation segued from Winfrey, saying that eating disorders are just like when people struggle with drinking, but some didn’t see it that way in the late ’80s and early ’90s.
“They were saying ‘just put the bottle down,’ because nobody understood that for some people — not everybody who drinks or over-drinks becomes an alcoholic — but if you carry the marker or the gene that allows alcoholism to flourish with you, you then develop alcoholism.”
To lighten up the tone, Winfrey turned to her bestie and said, “I can drink you under the table,” and still not become an alcoholic.
“She’s not lying,” King responded. “I can out tequila almost anyone,” Winfrey then said, which seemed to be music to Barkely’s ears.
#BeNotified: Oprah Winfrey discusses with Gayle King and Charles Barkley her decision to explore weight-loss medication after years of prioritizing diet and exercise.#Notifiermedia pic.twitter.com/ViVhwbXKrm
— notifier (@notifiermedia) March 21, 2024
Barkley claims he loves going out with the “Beloved” actress because we go out and drink tequila anytime,” he said jokingly. “I go out with this woman. She don’t even drink.”
“I know!” Oprah chimed in. “Listen, the last big party we were at, I swear she asked for a Shirley Temple and, ‘You can be sure to put a cherry in that.’ I mean, has no qualms about asking for it.”
“No, I don’t,” Gayle quipped, solid in her decision to not drink. Charles added, “She’s no fun at all.”
Oprah revealed just how straight Gayle is by sharing a story about her ordering the oddest drink during one of their celebrity parties.
“We were at Tina Turner’s wedding and she asked for milk, OK?” the OWN founder dished about the Nutbush singer’s marriage to Erwin Bach in 2013.
Gayle said that there is a reason for that. Apparently, she simply likes milk with her cake.
This is not the first time that Big O has teased her best buddy about not drinking. In fact, it is such a joke that fans repost a 6-second video of her saying, “Gayle doesn’t drink, I do” as a declaration.
Thank you, @Oprah, for my official 2020 slogan: “Gayle doesn’t drink, I do.” pic.twitter.com/OaCeZOxi6T
— Will Reid (@wreid) December 29, 2019
Gayle has not drunk alcohol since she was in high school.
In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, she said that the last time she drank was when she was “a teenager at a Christian youth leadership conference.
“I threw up for three days,” she recalled. “I never want to feel that way again. Oprah tells me there are very good wines I can try, but I don’t drink.”
While she does not drink liquor, there are other beverages that she really enjoys.
During the winter, she says she likes “Starbucks white hot chocolate with low-fat milk,” but in the summer, she likes “to order pineapple lemonade from there.”
“I also like Martinelli’s apple juice,” she mentioned, adding, “The other night at an event, I ordered a Shirley Temple. I told the bartender to ‘make it sweet.’”
While it seems that the virgin Shirley Temple is Gayle’s go-to drink, it seems that her billionaire buddy has a much harder fave. In 2020, Oprah said her new favorite drink was a Moscow Mule, a classic cocktail made with vodka, sugar syrup, ginger beer, mint, and a lime.
