Oprah Lovingly Teases Meghan Markle for Her Sussex Last Name

Oprah Winfrey has made many friends in the world of celebrity through the years, but none have been quite as impactful as her friendship with Meghan Markle.

For the most part, however, the doyenne of daytime has kept mum about her relationship with the Duchess of Sussex. Still, her appearance on Kelly Ripa's Let's Talk Off-Camera podcast on Wednesday, July 16, changed that.

The conversation immediately took a delightfully unexpected turn: What would Lady O do if someone handed her a basket of baby chicks? She didn’t even blink—“Oh, I’d run them straight over to the Sussexes,” she said, stretching that last syllable into a giggly “-xesssses” for good measure.

Remember, Oprah scored a front‑row seat at their 2018 fairy‑tale wedding and snagged that blockbuster tell‑all interview in the couple’s backyard, which included a gaggle of baby chickens (and grown chickens, too).

Meanwhile, in best friend news that’s truly out of this world, Oprah’s other ride‑or‑die, Gayle King, blasted off with Blue Origin back in April. Watching Gayle float among the stars alongside Katy Perry, Lauren Sanchez, Aisha Bowe, Amanda Nguyen, and Kerianne Flynn had Oprah dabbing away happy tears.

After the capsule touched down in West Texas, Oprah told BET she’d felt zero nerves—just cosmic-level calm. “Everyone kept asking if I was anxious,” she said, still a little misty‑eyed. “I wasn’t. Between the engineers and the hand of God, all of it was lining up exactly the way it was supposed to for her.”

“From the moment she said yes, I was like, ‘Now that she’s said yes, we’re all committed to it working," she added. "So I wasn’t emotional at all. I was just in the moment.”

The moral of the story: When your best friend launches into space, trust the process and the universe, just like Oprah did.