Who doesn’t love a good “remember the time when…” session? Famous besties Oprah Winfrey and Gayle King sat down for some good old nostalgia and reminisced about the time they got to be on set together for the iconic film, “The Color Purple.” 

In a video posted to Instagram, Winfrey and King laugh about the day King accidentally became a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it extra in the movie. 

“I was filming ‘The Color Purple’ in North Carolina in 1985,” Winfrey started. King interrupted a bit and said, “I was watching and I said, ‘Oprah’s a movie star!’

Winfrey continued, “And Steven Spielberg let you be in the scene in the church where I got married.” They both chimed in with the iconic line from Winfrey’s character, Miss Sofia, “I’s married now!”

“If you look quickly with the movie, you have to put it on pause,” King said. 

You have to look carefully, but you’re able to see Gayle in the right corner, just over Miss Sofia’s shoulder. 

“I was excited that they gave me wardrobe!” King said.

King said that she popped onto the set to support her bestie when she landed the role as Miss Sofia. She even took off days from work to cheer her on.

She told Time magazine the full tale: “The first time I got to go on a set was when they were shooting the movie. It was Oprah’s first movie, so I was just going as a looky-loo just to see what she was doing because I was so psyched that she had gotten a part. Not only a part, but a bona fide part. I was her friend and was just going to cheer her on. I was like, “Can I come?” We’d already been friends for at least 10 years, and we were clearly best friends, so that didn’t seem like an inappropriate ask. I was a news anchor in Hartford, Conn., at the time, and I took vacation days to go. I’d never been on a movie set before, so I thought everything was cool: the craft table, lights, camera, action, all the costumes. And then to see her in her first acting job—that added to it.

For Winfrey, “The Color Purple” was a career-defining leap. Producer, the late and legendary Quincy Jones spotted her while she was still a Chicago TV host. She auditioned and landed the part of Sofia, despite having no acting experience. The role earned Winfrey an Academy Award nomination and set her on a new course.

She later named her company Harpo—the name of Sofia’s husband in the film, and just so happens to be “Oprah” spelled backward. “This is meant to be,” Winfrey said in 2023. She went on to produce the Broadway adaptation and served as a driving force behind the 2023 musical. Her’s affinity for Alice Walker’s classic has turned it into an unforgettable cultural moment. 

Winfrey and King have come so far together, sharing front row seats to each other’s successes through all these years. This clip is such a beautiful reminder of the power of friendship and support.