Gayle King confessed she’s “terrified” about her upcoming historic voyage to space.
The CBS Mornings star is part of the all-female crew traveling on Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin flight this spring, first announced on the morning program.
Gayle quickly received backlash for her participation due to her association with Bezos, founder of Amazon and Blue Origin.
During the initial CBS Mornings announcement, she mentioned it was an exciting opportunity and felt she should experience it.
Gayle credited several people with helping her decide to go on the space trip.
She also revealed one individual will be part of the Blue Origin New Shepard mission as her “support human.”
Gayle to confront her ‘terrifying’ flight to space on Blue Origin rocket
In an Entertainment Online exclusive, Gayle said she still couldn’t believe she was going on this space trip. She described herself as “nervous but psyched.”
Asked what she was most nervous about with this trip, Gayle said, “The obvious.”
“You just don’t want anything to go wrong,” she told ET, adding that if her favorite daughter, Kirby; her favorite son, Will; or her friend, Oprah Winfrey, told her “No,” she wouldn’t be going.
“I really would not have done it, but all of them [encouraged the trip], and they’re all gonna be there,” she shared.
Gayle admits she’s ‘terrified’ and called another crew member her ‘support human’
Joining Gayle on the Blue Origin rocket are Bezos’s fiancee, Lauren Sanchez, NASA scientist Aisha Bowe, civil rights activist Amanda Nguyen, film producer Kerianne Flynn, and singer Katy Perry.
During this weekend’s Vanity Fair Oscar Party after the 97th Academy Awards, ET Online caught up with Gayle and asked about the upcoming flight.
ET’s Denny Directo mentioned that Gayle’s fellow crew members, Sanchez and Perry, were also at the party.
“Oh, Katy’s here?” Gayle asked as she walked over, adding, “Good, because she’s my support human.”
Asked if the singer helped convince Gayle to go on the trip, she said, “No she is just so ready.”
“I’m really terrified. They are not,” she said of her fellow crew members.
Gayle mentioned that during a phone call about the approximately 11-minute-long space flight, she asked many questions until her friend spoke up.
“She said, ‘Could I just interrupt you for a second? Our trip to space is going to be shorter than this friggin’ phone call,'” Gayle told ET that Perry said.
The Teenage Dream singer celebrated Gayle in December last year when she showed up at a surprise 70th birthday bash that Oprah threw for Gayle.
In January, the singer surprised a special young fan who attended the FireAid benefit concert she performed at inside the Inuit Dome in California. Perry’s friend Gayle was part of arranging and documenting the emotional meetup during the event.