Gayle King reflects on Oprah Winfrey's legacy: "There's nobody like her"
"CBS This Morning" co-host Gayle King was with Oprah Winfrey when the media mogul got her first look at the "Watching Oprah" exhibit at the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday. King, Oprah's best friend, said the exhibit was "a great trip down memory lane." But what's really a "game-changer" for Winfrey is when she hears from people directly about the impact she's had on them – including King's driver that morning.
"He's from Pakistan. He said he came here in 1992 – because he heard that we were talking about Oprah – he started watching 'The Oprah Winfrey Show' and he would see her walk in the aisle with the audience and some of the issues she would cover and he said, 'I just knew that she was a good human,'" King said with emotion. "I'm so sorry, because I'm so used to talking about her, but it's the way that he said it this morning, and when I see all the things that are in this room, it is getting to me."
"At the bottom line, she really is a good human who just wants to do good in the world and this exhibit is a testament to that," King added.
King also gave a special shout-out to Amy Weinblum, Winfrey's chief of staff.
"I know this [exhibit] isn't the kind of thing that Oprah would have ever done for herself and Amy just stayed on it, stayed on it, bugging her, bugging her. Even at points when Oprah would say, 'Just leave it alone. I don't wanna do it. No no no no.' Thank you Amy Weinblum for that and the staff here," King said.
King said what's happened in the exhibit room is "beyond amazing."
"I've been there from the beginning, so to see it like this, I am full and I am so proud. There's nobody like her," King said.
The exhibit, "Watching Oprah: The Oprah Winfrey Show and American Culture," opens to the public on Friday, June 8.
