‘Oprah Daily’ Staff and Family React to Gayle King’s Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Cover

Family, friends and the journalist herself are embracing her 2024 brand debut with joy.

Gayle King was photographed by Yu Tsai in Mexico. / Yu Tsai/Sports Illustrated

The news is out: Gayle King is a 2024 SI Swimsuit cover model.

For months, she had known she would be in the annual issue. She traveled to Mexico for a swimsuit photoshoot and to Hollywood, Fla., for the 60th anniversary legends photo shoot, both captured by Yu Tsai. A place in the pages of this year’s issue was a given. What she didn’t know until yesterday was that she would be on the cover of the magazine.

View Gayle King’s 2024 SI Swimsuit gallery here.

View Gayle King’s 2024 Legends gallery here.

During a CBS Mornings segment, where King serves as a cohost, fellow cover models Kate Upton and Hunter McGrady surprised her with the news that she’d landed the cover. Her family and friends at Oprah Daily had been kept in the dark about the surprise, too, until yesterday morning.

Ahead of the reveal to King, staff at Oprah Daily reached out to tell her family the news. In an Instagram post from earlier today, the publication shared the reactions from her children, sisters, nephews and nieces and, of course, Oprah Winfrey herself. In the clip, the talk show host is seen celebrating the announcement.

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The 69-year-old King comes to the SI Swimsuit Issue as an accomplished award-winning journalist, with several Emmys to her name. Admittedly, accepting the title of legend wasn’t easy for her, she noted during the photo shoot in Hollywood, Fla.. But, she leaned into it anyway. “I’m embracing all of this. I will say that. I love this experience. I’m embracing it all,” she said. And it seems her family and friends are embracing it, too.