Oprah Winfrey may have kept her milestone 70th birthday low-key, but she pulled out all the stops to surprise her best friend Gayle King on hers.
Over the weekend, Winfrey threw King an epic birthday bash at the New York City restaurant Ci Siamo and gave her BFF the shock of her life. In video footage uploaded to Instagram, Winfrey leads an unsuspecting King through the restaurant. As those gathered yell out, “Surprise!” the CBS anchor jumps back, throws her purse, and grabs her chest in awe.
Luckily, King quickly recovered from the shock and was later serenaded with the traditional “Happy Birthday” and Stevie Wonder’s soulful rendition before cutting a rug with her high-profile guests. Those in attendance included Angela Bassett, Ava DuVernay, Tina Knowles, Dave Chappelle, Sherri Shepherd, David Oyelowo, Kevin Liles, Stephen Colbert, and more. Guests from King’s family included her son Will Bumpus, her daughter Kirby Bumpus, her sister Lynn King Schwab, and more.
“Oprah is theeeeeeee best of the best,” King began the caption of a post on Instagram. “There will be no words to properly thank her for my 70th extravaganza. I feel like she gave me the party I wanted HER to have back in January. It was a good ole fashion dance party with dancing and food and good friends. I rarely feel like the belle of the ball but I sure did that night….. still floating.”
According to King, she was told the gathering was the holiday party for Winfrey’s Oprah’s Daily team, in which King is editor-at-large. She even arrived wearing a Christmas green dress for the occasion. In another post that included more intimate photos and video clips from the big bash, King explained in the caption, “Unbeknownst to me it was a surprise party six months in the making and I had no idea!”
She continued, “Everybody kept the secret which made this party even more special to me! More to come.”
In a post of her own, Winfrey confirmed just how challenging the surprise was to pull off. In the caption, she wrote, “My bestie of 50 years is turning 70 so we gathered everyone that loved her to celebrate. Hard thing to surprise her, O the stories we have made up, the lies we have told to keep this a secret.”
She concluded the caption by wishing King a happy birthday and apologizing for “almost” giving her a heart attack.
“Talk about a surprise,” King wrote.
