Oprah Winfrey played a crucial role in ensuring that her longtime best friend Gayle King’s son William Bumpus Jr.’s proposal to his girlfriend Elise Smith went smoothly.
In a sweet video taken before her 36-year-old got down on one knee and popped the question to the love of his life, the 69-year-old CBS Mornings co-host could be heard asking for the media mogul’s thoughts on where The An engagement photographer must stand to capture the moment.
“What’s your suggestion, Oprah, about where (the photographer) should be?” King asked her friend, who was wearing a tracksuit and a Peloton fanny pack.
The former talk show host helped instruct the photographer, named Brett, on where to hide while he took photos of the happy couple who agreed to spend the rest of their lives together.
Oprah Winfrey played a crucial role in ensuring that the proposal of her longtime best friend Gayle King, son of William Bumpus Jr., to his girlfriend Elise Smith went smoothly.
Once they found “the right place” and Smith accepted Bumpus Jr.’s proposal. had accepted, the lovebirds met their loved ones to celebrate the milestone.
King shared photos and videos from the day on her Instagram account with her more than one million followers.
‘It has happened! Favorite son @willgb3 has found his person and I now have a favorite daughter-in-law: the sweet @elisemariesmith!’ she captioned the slideshow. “There were a lot of chefs in the kitchen and a lot of planning going on at this point, so here’s a little behind the scenes…now waiting for the wedding date!”
One image showed Winfrey and King, along with other friends and family, watching the proposal unfold through a window.
King’s comments section was filled with well wishes, including messages from Sharon Stone, Viola Davis and the Oprah Daily account.
“Why am I so excited,” asked Stone, 65, while Davis, 58, wrote: “Beautiful!!! Congratulations ❤’
King shares her son with her ex-husband William Bumpus, to whom she was married from 1982 to 1993.
The exes are also parents to a daughter named Kirby, 34, who recently walked down the aisle in a small ceremony at godmother Oprah’s house in December 2020.
In a sweet video taken before her 36-year-old got down on one knee and popped the question to the love of his life, the 69-year-old CBS Mornings co-host could be heard asking for the media mogul’s thoughts on where The An engagement photographer must stand to capture the moment
“What’s your suggestion, Oprah, about where (the photographer) should be?” King asked her friend, who was wearing a tracksuit and a Peloton fanny pack
The former talk show host helped instruct the photographer, named Brett, on where to hide while he took photos of the happy couple who agreed to spend the rest of their lives together.
Once they found “the right place” and Smith accepted Bumpus Jr.’s proposal. had accepted, the lovebirds met their loved ones to celebrate the milestone.
Kirby married FAMU alum and former Marching 100 drum major Virgil Miller in front of just six people at a “super small service” while adhering to “strict Covid rules.”
A year later they welcomed a son named Luca Lynn.
King has a close bond with both of her children and previously expressed her fear for her son as a black man in America.
In 2020, following the killing of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man who died at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer, King said she was “concerned” about him when she appeared on The Talk.
Despite her son living in Santa Monica, which she described as a “very affluent city,” the journalist said she feared for his safety just by “walking his damn dog.”
King shared photos and videos from the day on her Instagram account with her more than one million followers
‘It has happened! Favorite son @willgb3 has found his person and I now have a favorite daughter-in-law: the sweet @elisemariesmith!’ she captioned the slideshow. “There were a lot of chefs in the kitchen and a lot of planning going on at this point, so here’s a little behind the scenes…now waiting for the wedding date!”
King recalled asking him, “Would you please not walk (your dog) Scott. Please don’t take him for long walks.’ She also advised him not to wear a black mask when leaving his home.
“I’m afraid he’s a black man, period,” she said. “And now everyone is so excited about everything. I do, I worry a lot about his safety…Welcome to being black in America. This is not new.’
Winfrey is the godmother of both of King’s children.
The friendship between the two ladies dates back more than 46 years when they met in the early 1920s while working at WJZ-TV in Baltimore in 1976. Winfrey as news anchor and King as production assistant and writer, according to Yahoo.