People Magazine’s current issue is their 50th anniversary special edition. They got a wealth of A-listers to give them special interviews and most of these pieces are boring as hell (but exclusive, which is what counts for People). There were a couple of good ones though, like Oprah’s mini-interview with People. They asked Oprah about therapy and she confessed that she’s never actually been to a therapist. Y’all. This woman executive produced an AppleTV series about mental health and therapy!!

For 25 years on her hit talk show, Oprah Winfrey shared valuable wisdom to inspire personal growth and help others navigate their bumpy lives. But where did Winfrey turn for her own self-help?

“I’ve never been to a therapist because I had so many on the show, but my real therapy came from downloading whatever was happening in the day with Gayle every night,” she tells PEOPLE in an interview for the magazine’s 50th anniversary special issue.

Gayle, of course, is Gayle King, Winfrey’s BFF for nearly half a century. “There wasn’t a day that we missed being on some kind of phone call talking about what had happened in our days,” she says of their bond that dates back to WJZ-TV in Baltimore when Winfrey was a 22-year-old news anchor and King a 21-year-old production assistant/writer at the station.

The powerhouse duo have become a force of nature over the decades. Fiercely loyal and always truthful with each other (“even if you don’t want to hear it”, Winfrey told PEOPLE in 2022), they share similar values and philosophies about life and relish a good meal, a great movie and a spirited discussion around current events. And that nightly check-in.

“I realized years later, talking to an expert about something else, that that was my therapy, that was my release,” she says. “That was the way I not only kept myself grounded, but it was the way I regulated myself every day.”

Winfrey, 70, remains forever grateful for King’s guidance and ongoing mutual support. “I’ve had one of the best friendships anybody could have,” she says. “And you can only do that when somebody cares as much about your success, your sadnesses, your triumphs as you do.”

Along with King, Winfrey credits her late friends Maya Angelou and Sidney Poitier for helping her navigate life over many years. She says: “Those were the people who kept me grounded.”

[From People]

Imagine saying “no, I don’t have a therapist, I just talked to MAYA ANGELOU and Sidney Poitier!” Like, I think it’s fine for normal people to have that best friend who they talk to every day. That one person who helps them compress, that one person who really listens to them. That’s great. But honestly, Oprah should have also tried therapy, if only to avoid the daily trauma-dump on poor Gayle. Even if it didn’t really help Oprah, that experience would have been educational for her. I remember watching The Me You Can’t See, and so much of it was about Prince Harry’s education of the different kinds of therapies out there, and then whenever Oprah was on camera, she basically had zero bedside manner when she was dealing with people who were really going through some tough things.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.