Oprah Winfrey had a deeply emotional reaction to watching Gayle King launch into space as part of Monday's Blue Origin space mission.
Video showed a tearful Winfrey overcome with emotion as she watched King alongside Katy Perry, Lauren Sanchez, Aisha Bowe, Amanda Nguyễn, and Kerianne Flynn make the journey into the great unknown.
After the aircraft landed in West Texas on Monday (April 14), Winfrey spoke to BET about watching King head to space. and the profound effect she thinks it will have on her lifelong friend.
“Well, here’s the thing…I’ve been so calm. So many people have been asking me how I’m doing, am I nervous. I wasn’t nervous at all," Winfrey said. "I knew that the team being engineers, the hand of God, all of it was coming together for this moment for her.”
“From the moment she said yes, I was like, ‘Now that she’s said yes, we’re all committed to it working," she added. "So I wasn’t emotional at all. I was just in the moment.”
But it was when Winfrey saw the “fire under the rocket” that she began "spontaneously crying" for King's trip. “She was willing to overcome this and step into her fears is such a big deal. It’s bigger than any rocket launch.”
After seeing King grab and “kiss” the ground upon landing, Winfrey believes that the CBS Mornings co-host will be “changed forever.” “We’ve been through so many experiences, I was thinking this morning, so many things that I’ve forgotten, but this day you’ll never forget," she said.
After the trip, King told CBS News that being in space was "oddly quiet" and "peaceful."
"You look down at the planet and you think that's where we came from? To me it's such a reminder about how we need to do better, be better," she said.