Oprah Winfrey got emotional over her best friend Gayle King’s Blue Origin spaceflight Monday morning.
The former talk show host was filmed breaking down in tears when the rocket took off with King, Lauren Sánchez, Katy Perry and more women inside.
Winfrey, 71, explained during the livestream that she has “never been more proud” of her pal after nearly 50 years of friendship.
“Because this is bigger than going to space for her,” Winfrey noted, adding that whenever King, 70, is on an airplane, she ends up “in somebody’s lap if there’s the slightest bit of turbulence.”
The media mogul gushed that the spaceflight would be “cathartic in so many ways” for King as she overcame “a wall of fear, a barrier.”
The “CBS Mornings” host, notably, kissed the ground upon landing.
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Winfrey, who wore yellow as a tribute to King, wanted her friend to go to space so she wouldn’t “regret” the missed opportunity later on.
She said, “I think life is about continuing to grow into the best of yourself and the fullest expression of yourself. And … I didn’t want to hear about it for the next 50 years, ‘I wish I had gone.'”
Winfrey recalled telling King, “There’s only one time that all the women are going for the first time. There will be other trips but there’s only one first time so to be a pioneer is great.”
This is a developing story…