The longtime pals address Gayle King's sobriety during an interview with Charles Barkley.
Gayle King prefers milk to champagne. The King Charles co-host took a bit of ribbing from Charles Barkley and longtime pal Oprah Winfrey during Wednesday's episode of the CNN show, with Winfrey revealing a fun tidbit involving the late Tina Turner's 2013 wedding to Erwin Bach.
King and Barkley welcomed Winfrey to their show to discuss her recent TV event, An Oprah Special: Shame, Blame, and the Weight Loss Revolution, but got sidetracked momentarily when Barkley jokingly declared that he prefers to hang out with Winfrey over King.
"I love you more because we go out and drink tequila anytime," he teased.
"I go out with this woman," he continued, gesturing toward King, "she don't even drink."
He cracked, "She is no fun whatsoever."
Winfrey agreed, "I know! 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."
An unfazed King replied matter-of-factly, "No, I don't."
Winfrey doubled down with another story as she and Barkley giggled.
"We were at Tina Turner's wedding and she asked for milk, OK?"
King interjected to defend herself, proclaiming, "OK, because I like milk with my cake!"
The 69-year-old CBS Mornings anchor recently addressed her sobriety in an interview with the Wall Street Journal in November, answering the question, "I haven't been drunk since..."
"I was a teenager at a Christian youth leadership conference," she shared. "I threw up for three days. I never want to feel that way again. Oprah tells me there are very good wines I can try, but I don't drink."
The lighthearted exchange comes days after Gayle shared a video on Instagram of her pulling the viral oil rig prank on both Winfrey and Barkley.
The oil rig prank is a simple one: call someone pretending that you've been offered a job in underwater welding. King tailors the prank for each phone call -- when she calls Winfrey, she tells her that they've been pitched the opportunity to learn how to cap an oil rig with ExxonMobil for Adventures of Oprah and Gayle.
"No. I'm not interested in learning how to cap an oil rig," Winfrey says concisely. When King asks her to approach the idea as "stepping outside your comfort zone," Winfrey responds that learning how to cap an oil rig is "not something that I want to do in this lifetime, OK? It's not on my list. Thank you for the opportunity!"
When King persists, Winfrey suggests that she "ask your other friend," which leads the mother of two to Barkley.
Cut to her asking her King Charles co-host, who loudly answers, "F**k no!"
"I'm not going underwater, Gayle, they got sharks and s**t out there," Barkley adds. "You don't watch shows?"
Despite her reassurance, Barkley adamantly refuses, telling her it's "not gonna happen."
When King asks if "that's your way of saying you're going to think about it," Barkley tells her yes, adding, "And I'll tell you no again next week."
Leading up to Winfrey's weight loss special, 70-year-old mogul spoke with ET at the 55th NAACP Image Awards about the project.
"I am so excited about this show that I am doing... on shame and blame and the weight loss revolution," Winfrey shared. "I am so excited about it because, as you know, I've spent years in this business and been shamed myself. And I just want people to be liberated, and know that, for so many people in this country who are suffering from weight and obesity, it's really not your fault -- it's your brain."
"So once you figure that out, you can begin to get help to help you manage it, however you choose to do that," she added. "So I want people to stop being blamed for the choices that they make about their health."
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