November 25, 2025 • 28 mins
Journalist, broadcaster and ‘America’s best friend' Gayle King joins Ruthie to talk about the Turkish food that shaped her childhood, the origins of her 50-year friendship with Oprah, and the unexpected joy of singing in space with Katy Perry.
Preorder Table 4 at The River Cafe - the book inspired by the podcast: https://bit.ly/Table4AtRiverCafeBook
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
You're listening to Ruthie's Table for in Collaboration with Me
and m Intelligence Style for busy Women. Gail King is
known as America's best Friend. I didn't know countries could
have best friends, but if I was a country, I
definitely want her as mine. Anchor, producer, magazine editor, and
(00:22):
amazingly an astronaut. Gail is a friend to millions of
Americans who waked to her on CBS Mornings, Loved for
combining serious journalism with warmth, intimacy, and fun. Gail is
only in London for two nights, so there's no time
for our usual Ruthie's.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Table for at the River Cafe. We're recording our conversation
here right before we eat at home, which seems exactly
right for where else would you want to have America's
best friend? And I hope very soon in mine? But
at home.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
That was such a beautiful introduction. Thank you so much.
And I came and I brought my appetite.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
Tell them what you're eating?
Speaker 3 (01:02):
What do you know I have for katcha bread, yeah,
with sorell with some tomatoes.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
Yeah you have? So we always the drill, you know,
we always ask people to read a recipe. What have
you chosen?
Speaker 3 (01:13):
I wanted to pick a recipe where it looked like
you could look it off the page.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Okay, that's not rude, is it? No?
Speaker 3 (01:22):
Just also please know this, I don't cook. I chose
spaghetti with lemon serve six two hundred and fifty g's
of spaghetti.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
That's a gram gram. You've got the English like you
got the European version. But ge it means a gram.
Speaker 3 (01:37):
Okay, graham juice of three to four lemons, preferably a
Malfi lemons as opposed to those regular lemons.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
You know, a Malfia on the southern coast of Italy.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
One hundred and fifty mls of olive oil milli liters's
got it, one hundred and fifty milli liters of all
one hundred and fifty g's which I've just learned as grams.
A parmesan has to be freshly grated. Of course, two
handfuls are fresh basil leaves picked and finally chopped. We
have to pick our basil leaves.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
Well, you have to pick them off the stem.
Speaker 3 (02:09):
Oh, okay, okay, I told you I don't cook. Okay, finally,
but I'm a very good eater, Ruthie, that's more important.
Finely grated lemon zest. That's optional, but I highly highly recommend.
The only other ingredient needed is sun Oh my favorite
color is yellow, and my yellow because it's the color
of sunshine and butter, both of which I enjoy very much.
(02:30):
Cook the spaghetti and a generous amount of boiling salted water.
Then drain thoroughly and return to the saucepan. Ruthie, you're
cracking me up because you're looking at me like this
is the first time you've heard you're.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
Very good at you're very good at writing recipes. This
is really very pressed by a receivation.
Speaker 3 (02:47):
Meanwhile, with the lemon juice, I actually know what that is.
With the olive oil, then stir in the parmesan, it
will melt into the mixture, making it thick and creamy. Oh,
that's good season. With sea salt, not regular salt. Sea salt.
Why sea salt not.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
Regular sea salt has a saltier taste. It has a
grain and you can crumble it, so you do it yourself.
Speaker 3 (03:08):
And black pepper and add more lemon juice to taste.
Add the sauce to the spaghetti and shake the pants
so that each strand of pasta is coated with cheese.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
Do you know who Marcella has Ona, She was a
great Diana Italian cooking and cheer. Whole thing was toss, toss, toss,
and then toss again, toss again. That the whole thing
with pasta is making every because otherwise the stranda pasta
without the sauce, it's just flowering water and it's naked
and it's naked.
Speaker 3 (03:39):
So each strand is coated with cheese like that, finally
stirring the chopped basil and ideally some grated lemon zest
I'd never had the lemon with spaghetti before.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
Okay, well I'll have it. We'll go to Molfy one day.
We can make come in the summer to the river
cafe and we'll do very very But you you were
born in Ankra, Is that right?
Speaker 3 (04:03):
Well? I was born in China Neo Good, Tennessee. I
was only there for eighteen months, but my childhood was
in Opera, Turkey. So from first grade to sixth grade
that's where I lived. My dad worked for the government
and we were sent over there. I've been told ruthy
and I have no I do not know if this
is true that people say to me, Gail, your dad
probably worked for the CIO and think about this, a
(04:23):
black man in opera from sixty to sixty six. And
at our home, we had a room that we were
not allowed to go into the kids. I'm the oldest
of four girls. And he would be in there at
all hours of the day and night. My mom told
me that it was his hobby Morse code, so he'd
be in there with the radios. So we were told,
(04:45):
you're never allowed in that room at any time, and
he would go in there and that was his hobby,
how much as he choose to believe, he was electronic engineer.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
So that's what he said with it, but he was
an engineer theoretically. I really liked Turkey fruit. I think
it's a thing.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
You know what I remember about her. I remember the
Turkish bread. So in Turkey the breakfast is tea and bread.
You know, it's very It's not eggs and bacon and pancakes.
And I can remember going to a when I was
a kid, I could speak Turkish, going to a Turkish
girl friend's house for breakfast and they had you know,
(05:24):
the tea, the bread with the jam and stuff. I
had thirteen pieces of bread, the little ones. And the
father didn't know I could speak Turkish, and he said,
this little girl, what.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
Was there someone who cooked for you? Did your mother?
Speaker 3 (05:38):
We did? We did have a cook. Yes, we would
have bread in the cheese. We would have that, a
lot of fish. Potatoes. I love potatoes everything, Oh my god,
I love it. There is no such thing as a
bad potato, No such thing.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
And when you come home, would there be family? Do
you remember family meals? When we were all around the
table every night talk.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
Those houses that you all had to eat dinner together,
we didn't.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (06:03):
My thing when we came back from the States, my
favorite thing was McDonald's because I had never seen anything
like that. Yeah that was yeah sixty six. So McDonald's
was a treat. That was a treat for me.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
And your four sisters were older than you.
Speaker 3 (06:18):
I'm the oldest, you're the oldest.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
So there were people told.
Speaker 3 (06:22):
Me, Ruthie that I was very bossy as a child.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
I can't imagine, No, I can't.
Speaker 3 (06:26):
I call it good executive skills. I do not think
it was bossy.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
What was it like the home life of favor with
four girls? And your parents and.
Speaker 3 (06:36):
I had a really great childhood, was it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, no,
of four kids. Just think I think about my mom
by the time she was twenty five twenty sixty, had
four girls. I didn't have my first baby until I
was thirty one.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (06:53):
I can't imagine at twenty six having four girls. And
you know, my mom was in college, she was on
her way to law school, and she went to the
doctor and they thought she had a tumor and the
tumor turned out to be me.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
Oh, okay, how old were you.
Speaker 3 (07:08):
When you had your first baby?
Speaker 2 (07:09):
Twenty four twenty hours little? Yeah, that seemed that I
had three stepchildren when I was twenty one, twenty one, yeah,
twenty one. Yeah, so can you imagine? Okay, but you
just kind of did it, you know, you know you're
exactly right back then. You just did it. We didn't
and you.
Speaker 3 (07:26):
Didn't think about it.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
Yeah. Yeah. Actually we moved to Paris, and so again
I was twenty two to twenty three in Paris. Yeah,
and that was so have you have you ever had went.
Speaker 3 (07:37):
To Paris as a kid? Yeah, yes, you know.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
The father, the engineer.
Speaker 3 (07:42):
Well, the thing about living in Turkey, we traveled a lot.
So for a vacation we went to Paris, I would
go to the Acropolis, which is you know, as in Greece.
I was talking to somebody at the dinner the other
night that the majority of Americans don't have passports.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
Not only Americans, but our senators. Do you know that?
They founding to me A portion of Senators don't have
passports and they don't you know, travel.
Speaker 3 (08:06):
I don't mean even now, even now, most Americans do
not have passports. I mean, yeah, I'm sort of I'm
taken aback by that.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
Do your kids travel do they? Did you take your
kids everywhere? How many children do I have too?
Speaker 3 (08:20):
I think travel is I think exposure and travel, if
you can do it is very important for children.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
And food. That's the thing when you travel again, going
back to the food, is that when we travel. You know,
when you travel, now, do you think about where you're
going to eat and what you're going to eat and
if you're going to have tea in britten in London?
But how do you mean that?
Speaker 3 (08:43):
You know? You get there. I like to get the
lay of the land and then you like to find
out what are they And it doesn't have to be
I just like to really have great food.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
School where in California?
Speaker 3 (09:10):
So in the I lived in a place called me
I went to Menlo Athern and High So I lived
in something a place called Menlo Park, which is a
Bay area Palo A, Menlo Park. It's a big Silicon valley. Now,
when I was in high school, that wasn't the case,
but now it's you know, it's a it's a very
hot spot to live.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
And then you went to college where.
Speaker 3 (09:31):
I went to University of Maryland. My parents moved to
Chevy Chase, Maryland my senior year, and I stayed behind
to finish my senior year of high school. Where did
you stay?
Speaker 2 (09:40):
Where were you?
Speaker 3 (09:41):
So? I lived with a teacher. I lived with a
teacher and his he was he was my social studies teacher.
I ended up being with him and his wife and
his two children. And now I look at it when
you know kids today they have college tours and they're
going looking at different place. I only wanted to go
to University of Maryland because it would be put me
(10:03):
closer to the family. That was the only place I
wanted to get.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
Your sisters were still there, Yeah, Yeah, when you lived
with this teacher, was it was it a very different experience.
Speaker 3 (10:12):
No, no, because Peggy the mom could actually cook. I
can still remember her zucchini. She used to make this
sauteed zucchini with mozzarella cheese. Isn't that good?
Speaker 2 (10:23):
Sound?
Speaker 3 (10:24):
Sauted zucchini with onions garlic? God, it was so good.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
Do you think your parents discourage you from cooking?
Speaker 3 (10:32):
Because no, it wasn't that. My mom was an okay cook.
It's not like she was, you know, she did the basics.
But it's not that they discouraged me. I just I
think I just had no interest in it didn't fair enough.
But with you, I wish I could do you.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
Oh my god, what else would you do other than cooking?
What else you wish you could do?
Speaker 3 (10:50):
Sing?
Speaker 2 (10:51):
Sing? You can sing? We just sang, go on l
the way you.
Speaker 3 (10:56):
Look at me. I love I love singing. So yeah,
but I know that I can't sing. But I think
what a kick it must be. I just think to
be on a stage like Taylor Swift's new music just
and I just think what it must be like to
be on stage where you've just written something on a
piece of paper and then it becomes a hit song
(11:19):
that everybody knows the words. What a kick that is.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
I sometimes get a theater and I just must die
of jealousy because I just say, the awe of it.
Speaker 3 (11:28):
Music is very unifying. Music, sports, food or something. You know.
We live in the world now where everything is such
a meat show that you know, I crave moments of
sanity and joy, and I think food food does that.
Speaker 2 (11:43):
Going chronologically back to Baltimore, you were at the University
of Maryland. Yeah, and we're living by yourself. It was
in the dorm or did you stay with your parents?
Speaker 3 (11:53):
I was grown up. I was in the dorm. You
Not only was I in the dorm, I was an
r A.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
What does that mean?
Speaker 3 (11:59):
So I was a resident assistant. So I was the
one who was in charge of the floor of this.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
You said bossy, you said that. What did you enjoy that?
Speaker 3 (12:09):
Not bossy, RUTHI executive leadership. Go. This is thing about me.
I've always been a very curious kid, and I also
like hearing about other people's problems. And I'm very good
at listening to problems and giving unsolicited advice. Yes, that's
my son and daughter. I'm really good at it.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
I had this idea of writing a book called we're
so smart. Listen to us. You know how we always
want to giving advice, like to our kids. This is like,
we think we're so smart.
Speaker 3 (12:38):
We're so smart.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
Listen to us, because we're just so smart. Just about
so I'm giving.
Speaker 3 (12:44):
I think I have good common sense. I really, I
really do. I think I have good common sense. And
I always liked listening to how people are doing and
what they're thinking. Oh, Ruthie. I will sit in a
conversation and I go, I'm not going to say a word.
I'm just gonna listen, and somebody will say something and
I just friggin can't help it. I'll go, well, why
did you think so and so and so and so?
(13:05):
Why did you do so and so? This is even strangers.
I don't even know.
Speaker 4 (13:10):
So.
Speaker 3 (13:10):
I thought that I would either be a child psychologist.
I thought I'd be very good at that, or I'd
be a lawyer, because I saw myself arguing my case
in front of a jury, and I was never going
to represent the bad guy. I was always going to
represent the state. I had it all figured out, and
then life sec a turn. I got a job at
a TV station when I was in college, when in
the newsroom when I was hooked.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
What was your job?
Speaker 3 (13:32):
I had a very entry level job, you know, where
you see like if I was interviewing Ruthie Rogers and
I type out Ruthie Rogers and your title. I was
a person who did that. I'd get the scripts, rip
the scripts and you know, give them to the anchors,
roll the prompter back. Then you know where they're reading.
So it was very entry level. But I say, you
(13:53):
can if you're if you're really serious and really good,
you can parlay an entry level job to something else.
And that is what I did.
Speaker 2 (14:02):
Tell me about that.
Speaker 3 (14:04):
So this was at I graduated from University of Maryland.
I got a job. And while I was in college,
I was working at a TV station in Washington. And
then when I graduated, I got a job in Baltimore, Maryland.
You can do creative writing on your resume without lying,
but very creative writing. And I got a job. And
I always say to people, you want to make sure
(14:26):
the boss knows your name, not in a bad way,
like oh my god, she's so I'm not just da
da da da. You want somebody who knows I was
a kind of kid, you know. Is there anything I
can do, or can I go out on a story
with you? Or I tried writing this, could you take
a look? So you know, I volunteer to work on
holidays or weekends or whatever it took to make myself
(14:47):
useful is what I did. And then you get noticed
and people start calling on you and asking you to
do things.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
I think as on the other side, now that we're
both on the other side of that of that table,
don't you notice it when will do yes?
Speaker 3 (15:01):
Yes, yes, yes.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
Do you know David Putnam, producer in Great Films, he
was looking for an assistant. Everybody kept, you know, trying
to impress him, impress and then this young person said,
mister Putnam, I will make you the best cup of
coffee you've ever had yet You're hired. And it's just
something about the simplicity and the passion I'm wanting to
(15:22):
do something.
Speaker 1 (15:23):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (15:24):
Really, that's why when people come in and their interns,
you can tell there are some interns that are looking
at their watch like, oh my god, how much longer
is there's going to be and others that are that
are really eager and there's a way to do it
without kissing ass you.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
Yeah, as employers don't want to take the person necessarily
who make us the best cup of coffee. Want to
take somebody's curious, that's curious. That's the one. When people
ask me what I look for in an interview, I always
say curiosity.
Speaker 3 (15:50):
Yes, I think you know. I was told as a
kid that I was nosy. I hate that word nose.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
I don't like that. Man'll see not nosy, No.
Speaker 3 (15:57):
And I said, I'm not nosy. I am curious.
Speaker 2 (15:59):
Curious.
Speaker 3 (16:00):
There is a difference, yea.
Speaker 2 (16:02):
So tell me more about it.
Speaker 4 (16:04):
Me.
Speaker 3 (16:04):
So I got into a reporter training program back.
Speaker 2 (16:06):
At DC, and what year, what decade are we in?
Speaker 3 (16:09):
Like we're in the seventies.
Speaker 2 (16:10):
Do you think it's changed the Well.
Speaker 3 (16:12):
Digital makes it different, but I think, you know, the
work ethic doesn't change. I mean, I applied for this
reporter training program and I didn't get it the first time.
And I thought that I was a shoe in because
I knew everybody who was interviewing. It was at my
old station. I said, they know me. I think they
liked me, I think, and I didn't get it. They
only had four slots, and I remember being stunned that
(16:34):
I didn't get it, And so I went to the
boss and he's in his office and he's reading a
newspaper and his feed are up on the table, which
is never a good sign. And I walked in and
he went yes, and I went, well, I was just
curious about why I didn't get the reporter training program,
because you know, I've been here and I think you
(16:55):
all are familiar with my work, and it just it
just didn't see fair to me. And he's sitting there,
he doesn't miss a beat, he's reading the news. Baby
goes Gail, life ain't fair anything else. I mean you
just kind of go, uh no, sir, thank you for
your time. I mean, I was so thrilled by that.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
What a great thing.
Speaker 3 (17:17):
But it was such as life ain't fair. You don't
always get what you think you're supposed to get, you
don't always get even what you think you deserve. Sometimes
life ain't fair. It has nothing to do with you.
And so that was a really really uh defining moment
for me.
Speaker 2 (17:33):
And then what did you do to know?
Speaker 3 (17:34):
Well? So then I applied and got another job, and
then I ended up in Baltimore as a production assistant,
the entry level position, and I did that and then
I got my first real job where you're gayl okaying
Action News in Kansas City, Missouri. I applied all over
the country and got this job in Kansas City, Missouri.
I had my little resume tape and I can remember
(17:55):
being out on my first live shot. There was breaking news.
I was supposed to interview the police chief, and I
was very nervous. My clothes hadn't come, you know, from
moving cross country. I'm wearing the same thing i'd worn
two days in a row. So I called one of
my mentors and I said, Bruce, I'm so nervous, my
clothes haven't come. It's breaking news. I'm about to beat
the police chief and I'm not sure what to do.
(18:16):
Blah blah blah blah blah. And he goes, oh, grow
up and hung up the phone. That was less than
number two. You know where you go Hello because you
can't believe I've called you in distress and you're like, oh,
grow up. Click, But Ruthie, in the moment, it's shocking.
It's shocking, and then you got to put on your
(18:37):
big girl panties and figure it out. But at the
time I didn't think it was good. The time, I
was devastated by it. And another good lesson for me
was Maya Angelou. She was, you know, my Angelou. I
was friends with her, and she was like wisdom and
liquid poetry, and you know, Oprah and I would go
(18:58):
to her house and we feel like we needed a
notepad because everything she said was so good. And I
remember calling her something had happened at CBS, and I said,
and then then they said blah blah blah blah blah,
and then I didn't get to do blah blah blah
blah blah. And she goes, stop it. I go, wait, wait,
I'm not done. Yeah, it doesn't matter right now. Just
(19:19):
say thank you. I go, what am I saying thank
you about? Just say thank you? So I went thank you.
She goes, Gail whining is so unbecoming. It lets them
know there's a victim in the neighborhood. Isn't that good?
Speaker 2 (19:50):
How did it overha?
Speaker 3 (19:51):
How did Oprah? I met her when we went to
when I went and got the job in Baltimore.
Speaker 2 (19:57):
Oh, she was in Baltimore.
Speaker 3 (19:58):
Yeah, yeah, okay, So we met when we were twenty
one and twenty two. So I'm here in the newsroom
and she's here. She's the anchor. She's like, whoa, that's
Oprah Whiffy, she's the anchor. I used to go to
open and say, do you have any cairns for your piece?
Speaker 2 (20:12):
She was she was twenty two, and.
Speaker 3 (20:15):
We became friends there, and now we're seventy and seventy one.
We've been friends a long time. And I remember calling
my mom and saying, mom, my friend opened the newsroom.
She went to casual corner and she bought two sweaters
because I was putting mine on layaway. And I remember
Opah was twenty two and when she turned thirty, she
(20:36):
made thirty thousand dollars, And I said, wouldn't it be
cool if when you turn fifty you make fifty thousand dollars? Boy?
Speaker 2 (20:44):
Things have change?
Speaker 3 (20:45):
Did she a right?
Speaker 2 (20:46):
She liked food? No, she loves to eat. Yeah, tell
me about she comes.
Speaker 3 (20:51):
She's really great with pasta. Yeah, she makes really good pasta.
She makes lovely sandwiches with turkey and melted cheese, and
she likes crunchy bread. She's good.
Speaker 2 (21:03):
Do you remember those days and when you would go so, how.
Speaker 3 (21:05):
Did she do that? Now? She still she wasn't cooking
when we were younger.
Speaker 2 (21:09):
No, No, I think that's the thing when you're working,
and then when you had children, because you had children
while you were your career, So how did you manage
domestic life? And my search and.
Speaker 3 (21:19):
Mary and I had a husband. Unfortunately, my husband didn't
believe in monogamy, so that can be challenging. Okay, So
I got a divorce when my kids were four and five.
And I just think that you just, you know, a
working mother, you just juggle a lot of balls. You're
gonna have some. Yeah, that's going to drop some.
Speaker 2 (21:36):
Did you have help? Did you have was your family nearby?
Speaker 3 (21:40):
No? No, No, because I was anchoring the news in Connecticut. No,
but I had a nanny. I had a nanny. But
I just think, you know, when you're a mom and
you're working, you you don't get it right all the time.
And my thing is you drop some balls, but pick
the balls up and keep on going. What my children
did know is that they were the most important things
(22:01):
in my life. I tried to make it so I
was the first thing they saw in the morning and
the last thing they saw at night. I really did
try to do that very diligently.
Speaker 2 (22:09):
You know, he's an anchor.
Speaker 3 (22:11):
Yeah, Yeah, I was an anchor. I was a reporter. Yes,
I was started as a reporter. Then I was a
reporter slash anchor. Then I became a full time anchor.
And I just think, you know, I think when you're
happy at what you do, it actually makes you a
better mother.
Speaker 2 (22:25):
Yeah, I do.
Speaker 3 (22:27):
I didn't listen. Being a sting at home mom was
not something I wanted to do. You know, when I
started in my career, because he was a lawyer, the
plan was that I would be working and by you know,
he would go to law school, and then by the
time his career was up, then I would be ready
to leave mine. Say, when the kids were thirteen fourteen,
(22:48):
and it just didn't work out that way. They turned
thirteen or fourteen, I was thinking, I don't want to
leave my job. I was divorced by then, but I
was still thinking I don't want to leave my job.
I'm sitting here today at seventy thinking I don't want
to leave my jo. I keep waiting for that feeling.
Then after my grandchildren were born, people said, oh, she's
gonna quit, she's gonna go, she's gonna I don't want
(23:09):
to do that. I still really love what I get
to do.
Speaker 2 (23:13):
Still, of course you do. Still, I just thought about
doing a new restaurant this summer and I thought, yeah
and everything.
Speaker 3 (23:20):
You know, the restaurant business is very difficult.
Speaker 2 (23:22):
Every job is hard, and I you know, being a
restaurant person being not really well, maybe they are, Yeah,
I don't. I think the way you work in the
image of a restaurant, that old fashioned male image of
the angry chefs and they're screaming a bully and they're
screaming and they have to get the food out.
Speaker 3 (23:40):
I think back in the day, people like in the newsrooms,
you had people throwing typewriters and screaming and hollering at.
Speaker 2 (23:48):
You had people burning people's hands, and they would punish
chefs by you know, just getting the thing hot. I
have a chef and said she was taking soufleets out
of avan here in London. Yes, and the I won't
say it was, but the bent over to her and
he said that if those two plays don't rise, this
frying pan will be on your head. So he was
(24:09):
threatening to hit her over the head with a rhyme
pan and that's against the law, you know.
Speaker 3 (24:14):
That's what I think so too, that women today don't
take the stuff.
Speaker 2 (24:17):
They don't don't take it anymore. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (24:19):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:21):
Are there more women that you work with now than
before you find them?
Speaker 3 (24:25):
Ye? Yep. It's still not equal, but yes, there are
definitely more women. And I think women are lasting longer too.
You know, it used to be thirty five, forty fifty,
forget it. You know, because men can age, they can
get wrinkles, they can get fat tummies, they can go bald,
and they're just distinguished. When it happens to women, it's like, God,
(24:48):
she looks old. And I just think that that's changing.
I think that that's changing.
Speaker 2 (24:52):
Tell me about space, because we have to go up
to dinner soon.
Speaker 3 (24:55):
Tell me about it was terrifying. Tell me because Ruthie,
I am not a raper. I'm a very nervous flyer.
I don't get on a roller coaster. But there was
something I had said in January, I'm going to open
myself up to new adventures. I was referring to dating,
and I said, I'm going to open myself up to
new adventures.
Speaker 2 (25:13):
I found yourself instead with myself on.
Speaker 3 (25:15):
A friggin rocket, and I thought there's something about stepping
out of your comfort zone and being part of the
first all female crew was attractive to me. I have
to say, I just felt that that I'm going to
lean into it. I'm as afraid as I am, and
I was very afraid I'm going to lean into it.
(25:36):
I called Tyler Perry, he did a zoom prayer. I
called t D Jake's. I talked to my kitchen cabinet,
which is my favorite daughter, Kirby, favorite son, Will and
Oprah of course, and if any of the three of
them it said, I don't think you should do it,
I wouldn't have done it. If any one of them
they almost said, we do you think you should do it?
If you want to do it, you should do it.
And so we go up. It's very terrifying, and I
(25:57):
ask you what you may I eat anything? I wanted
my empty I wanted nothing just in case. But we
went up. And then when we're coming down, we had
said to Katie Katy Perry, are you going to sing
roar or are you going to sing fireworks? She goes,
shut the bleep up. I'm not going to sing a song.
And if I was, I'm not going to sing any
of my own friggin songs. But when we came back down,
(26:19):
I could feel myself getting really really lightheaded, and I thought,
oh my god, please don't let me pass out, please,
because that's how scared I became. I thought I'm about
to pass out. And the image I didn't want was
everybody comes off the capsule and they can stretch. But
as we broke through and we came back down, all
of a sudden, Katie starts singing iced dreams, What a
(26:41):
wonderful world. So we're in the capsule and you just
hear that Katy Perry voice in a cappella singing icy
dream That gave us all goosebumps. We were all like,
oh my god. It was just so special. So I'm
very proud of myself because I'm as I said, and
I'm not brave, but that I did it and that
(27:02):
we came back. I came back in one piece, didn't
use a diaper, and I.
Speaker 2 (27:06):
Was fine, and we were hungry, but it was great.
Speaker 3 (27:10):
It was great. I think we're forever bonded.
Speaker 2 (27:12):
Would you do it again?
Speaker 3 (27:13):
I would. I'm not going to do it anytime soon,
but I would definitely do it again.
Speaker 2 (27:18):
Well, we have to stop because we have to go
and eat. But before we do, we have a question
that we ask everybody. Then I hope you don't have
to seek comfort very often, Gail King, because I love you.
Speaker 3 (27:29):
Oh, thank you, Ruthie, thank you.
Speaker 2 (27:31):
If you do need comfort, if you seek comfort anyone,
it isn't food. Is there something that you would reach for?
Speaker 3 (27:38):
Anything? With icing?
Speaker 2 (27:39):
With icing? You love icing?
Speaker 3 (27:41):
I love our good cupcake. Yeah, a terrible, terrible sweet tooth.
The comfort of connection with other human beings matters more
than anything. You know this, and it's not necessarily. You
can create your own family as you see, but connection
with other human beings matters to me more than anything anything.
Speaker 2 (28:01):
Like connector We've connected.
Speaker 4 (28:03):
Thank you, Thank you.
Speaker 2 (28:08):
Ruthie's Table four is proud to support Leukemia UK. Their
Cartwheel for a Cure campaign raises funds for vital research
and more effective and kinder treatments for a cute my
Lord Leukemia. Please donate and to do so search Cartwheel
for a Cure.
Speaker 3 (28:28):
Ruthie's Table four was produced by Alex Bell and Zad
Rodgers with Susannahlock, Andrew Sang and Bella Selini.
Speaker 2 (28:35):
This has been an atomized production for iHeartMedia.
You're listening to Ruthie's Table for in Collaboration with Me
and m Intelligence Style for busy Women. Gail King is
known as America's best Friend. I didn't know countries could
have best friends, but if I was a country, I
definitely want her as mine. Anchor, producer, magazine editor, and
(00:22):
amazingly an astronaut. Gail is a friend to millions of
Americans who waked to her on CBS Mornings, Loved for
combining serious journalism with warmth, intimacy, and fun. Gail is
only in London for two nights, so there's no time
for our usual Ruthie's.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Table for at the River Cafe. We're recording our conversation
here right before we eat at home, which seems exactly
right for where else would you want to have America's
best friend? And I hope very soon in mine? But
at home.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
That was such a beautiful introduction. Thank you so much.
And I came and I brought my appetite.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
Tell them what you're eating?
Speaker 3 (01:02):
What do you know I have for katcha bread, yeah,
with sorell with some tomatoes.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
Yeah you have? So we always the drill, you know,
we always ask people to read a recipe. What have
you chosen?
Speaker 3 (01:13):
I wanted to pick a recipe where it looked like
you could look it off the page.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Okay, that's not rude, is it? No?
Speaker 3 (01:22):
Just also please know this, I don't cook. I chose
spaghetti with lemon serve six two hundred and fifty g's
of spaghetti.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
That's a gram gram. You've got the English like you
got the European version. But ge it means a gram.
Speaker 3 (01:37):
Okay, graham juice of three to four lemons, preferably a
Malfi lemons as opposed to those regular lemons.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
You know, a Malfia on the southern coast of Italy.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
One hundred and fifty mls of olive oil milli liters's
got it, one hundred and fifty milli liters of all
one hundred and fifty g's which I've just learned as grams.
A parmesan has to be freshly grated. Of course, two
handfuls are fresh basil leaves picked and finally chopped. We
have to pick our basil leaves.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
Well, you have to pick them off the stem.
Speaker 3 (02:09):
Oh, okay, okay, I told you I don't cook. Okay, finally,
but I'm a very good eater, Ruthie, that's more important.
Finely grated lemon zest. That's optional, but I highly highly recommend.
The only other ingredient needed is sun Oh my favorite
color is yellow, and my yellow because it's the color
of sunshine and butter, both of which I enjoy very much.
(02:30):
Cook the spaghetti and a generous amount of boiling salted water.
Then drain thoroughly and return to the saucepan. Ruthie, you're
cracking me up because you're looking at me like this
is the first time you've heard you're.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
Very good at you're very good at writing recipes. This
is really very pressed by a receivation.
Speaker 3 (02:47):
Meanwhile, with the lemon juice, I actually know what that is.
With the olive oil, then stir in the parmesan, it
will melt into the mixture, making it thick and creamy. Oh,
that's good season. With sea salt, not regular salt. Sea salt.
Why sea salt not.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
Regular sea salt has a saltier taste. It has a
grain and you can crumble it, so you do it yourself.
Speaker 3 (03:08):
And black pepper and add more lemon juice to taste.
Add the sauce to the spaghetti and shake the pants
so that each strand of pasta is coated with cheese.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
Do you know who Marcella has Ona, She was a
great Diana Italian cooking and cheer. Whole thing was toss, toss, toss,
and then toss again, toss again. That the whole thing
with pasta is making every because otherwise the stranda pasta
without the sauce, it's just flowering water and it's naked
and it's naked.
Speaker 3 (03:39):
So each strand is coated with cheese like that, finally
stirring the chopped basil and ideally some grated lemon zest
I'd never had the lemon with spaghetti before.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
Okay, well I'll have it. We'll go to Molfy one day.
We can make come in the summer to the river
cafe and we'll do very very But you you were
born in Ankra, Is that right?
Speaker 3 (04:03):
Well? I was born in China Neo Good, Tennessee. I
was only there for eighteen months, but my childhood was
in Opera, Turkey. So from first grade to sixth grade
that's where I lived. My dad worked for the government
and we were sent over there. I've been told ruthy
and I have no I do not know if this
is true that people say to me, Gail, your dad
probably worked for the CIO and think about this, a
(04:23):
black man in opera from sixty to sixty six. And
at our home, we had a room that we were
not allowed to go into the kids. I'm the oldest
of four girls. And he would be in there at
all hours of the day and night. My mom told
me that it was his hobby Morse code, so he'd
be in there with the radios. So we were told,
(04:45):
you're never allowed in that room at any time, and
he would go in there and that was his hobby,
how much as he choose to believe, he was electronic engineer.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
So that's what he said with it, but he was
an engineer theoretically. I really liked Turkey fruit. I think
it's a thing.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
You know what I remember about her. I remember the
Turkish bread. So in Turkey the breakfast is tea and bread.
You know, it's very It's not eggs and bacon and pancakes.
And I can remember going to a when I was
a kid, I could speak Turkish, going to a Turkish
girl friend's house for breakfast and they had you know,
(05:24):
the tea, the bread with the jam and stuff. I
had thirteen pieces of bread, the little ones. And the
father didn't know I could speak Turkish, and he said,
this little girl, what.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
Was there someone who cooked for you? Did your mother?
Speaker 3 (05:38):
We did? We did have a cook. Yes, we would
have bread in the cheese. We would have that, a
lot of fish. Potatoes. I love potatoes everything, Oh my god,
I love it. There is no such thing as a
bad potato, No such thing.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
And when you come home, would there be family? Do
you remember family meals? When we were all around the
table every night talk.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
Those houses that you all had to eat dinner together,
we didn't.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (06:03):
My thing when we came back from the States, my
favorite thing was McDonald's because I had never seen anything
like that. Yeah that was yeah sixty six. So McDonald's
was a treat. That was a treat for me.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
And your four sisters were older than you.
Speaker 3 (06:18):
I'm the oldest, you're the oldest.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
So there were people told.
Speaker 3 (06:22):
Me, Ruthie that I was very bossy as a child.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
I can't imagine, No, I can't.
Speaker 3 (06:26):
I call it good executive skills. I do not think
it was bossy.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
What was it like the home life of favor with
four girls? And your parents and.
Speaker 3 (06:36):
I had a really great childhood, was it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, no,
of four kids. Just think I think about my mom
by the time she was twenty five twenty sixty, had
four girls. I didn't have my first baby until I
was thirty one.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (06:53):
I can't imagine at twenty six having four girls. And
you know, my mom was in college, she was on
her way to law school, and she went to the
doctor and they thought she had a tumor and the
tumor turned out to be me.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
Oh, okay, how old were you.
Speaker 3 (07:08):
When you had your first baby?
Speaker 2 (07:09):
Twenty four twenty hours little? Yeah, that seemed that I
had three stepchildren when I was twenty one, twenty one, yeah,
twenty one. Yeah, so can you imagine? Okay, but you
just kind of did it, you know, you know you're
exactly right back then. You just did it. We didn't
and you.
Speaker 3 (07:26):
Didn't think about it.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
Yeah. Yeah. Actually we moved to Paris, and so again
I was twenty two to twenty three in Paris. Yeah,
and that was so have you have you ever had went.
Speaker 3 (07:37):
To Paris as a kid? Yeah, yes, you know.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
The father, the engineer.
Speaker 3 (07:42):
Well, the thing about living in Turkey, we traveled a lot.
So for a vacation we went to Paris, I would
go to the Acropolis, which is you know, as in Greece.
I was talking to somebody at the dinner the other
night that the majority of Americans don't have passports.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
Not only Americans, but our senators. Do you know that?
They founding to me A portion of Senators don't have
passports and they don't you know, travel.
Speaker 3 (08:06):
I don't mean even now, even now, most Americans do
not have passports. I mean, yeah, I'm sort of I'm
taken aback by that.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
Do your kids travel do they? Did you take your
kids everywhere? How many children do I have too?
Speaker 3 (08:20):
I think travel is I think exposure and travel, if
you can do it is very important for children.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
And food. That's the thing when you travel again, going
back to the food, is that when we travel. You know,
when you travel, now, do you think about where you're
going to eat and what you're going to eat and
if you're going to have tea in britten in London?
But how do you mean that?
Speaker 3 (08:43):
You know? You get there. I like to get the
lay of the land and then you like to find
out what are they And it doesn't have to be
I just like to really have great food.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
School where in California?
Speaker 3 (09:10):
So in the I lived in a place called me
I went to Menlo Athern and High So I lived
in something a place called Menlo Park, which is a
Bay area Palo A, Menlo Park. It's a big Silicon valley. Now,
when I was in high school, that wasn't the case,
but now it's you know, it's a it's a very
hot spot to live.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
And then you went to college where.
Speaker 3 (09:31):
I went to University of Maryland. My parents moved to
Chevy Chase, Maryland my senior year, and I stayed behind
to finish my senior year of high school. Where did
you stay?
Speaker 2 (09:40):
Where were you?
Speaker 3 (09:41):
So? I lived with a teacher. I lived with a
teacher and his he was he was my social studies teacher.
I ended up being with him and his wife and
his two children. And now I look at it when
you know kids today they have college tours and they're
going looking at different place. I only wanted to go
to University of Maryland because it would be put me
(10:03):
closer to the family. That was the only place I
wanted to get.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
Your sisters were still there, Yeah, Yeah, when you lived
with this teacher, was it was it a very different experience.
Speaker 3 (10:12):
No, no, because Peggy the mom could actually cook. I
can still remember her zucchini. She used to make this
sauteed zucchini with mozzarella cheese. Isn't that good?
Speaker 2 (10:23):
Sound?
Speaker 3 (10:24):
Sauted zucchini with onions garlic? God, it was so good.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
Do you think your parents discourage you from cooking?
Speaker 3 (10:32):
Because no, it wasn't that. My mom was an okay cook.
It's not like she was, you know, she did the basics.
But it's not that they discouraged me. I just I
think I just had no interest in it didn't fair enough.
But with you, I wish I could do you.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
Oh my god, what else would you do other than cooking?
What else you wish you could do?
Speaker 3 (10:50):
Sing?
Speaker 2 (10:51):
Sing? You can sing? We just sang, go on l
the way you.
Speaker 3 (10:56):
Look at me. I love I love singing. So yeah,
but I know that I can't sing. But I think
what a kick it must be. I just think to
be on a stage like Taylor Swift's new music just
and I just think what it must be like to
be on stage where you've just written something on a
piece of paper and then it becomes a hit song
(11:19):
that everybody knows the words. What a kick that is.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
I sometimes get a theater and I just must die
of jealousy because I just say, the awe of it.
Speaker 3 (11:28):
Music is very unifying. Music, sports, food or something. You know.
We live in the world now where everything is such
a meat show that you know, I crave moments of
sanity and joy, and I think food food does that.
Speaker 2 (11:43):
Going chronologically back to Baltimore, you were at the University
of Maryland. Yeah, and we're living by yourself. It was
in the dorm or did you stay with your parents?
Speaker 3 (11:53):
I was grown up. I was in the dorm. You
Not only was I in the dorm, I was an
r A.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
What does that mean?
Speaker 3 (11:59):
So I was a resident assistant. So I was the
one who was in charge of the floor of this.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
You said bossy, you said that. What did you enjoy that?
Speaker 3 (12:09):
Not bossy, RUTHI executive leadership. Go. This is thing about me.
I've always been a very curious kid, and I also
like hearing about other people's problems. And I'm very good
at listening to problems and giving unsolicited advice. Yes, that's
my son and daughter. I'm really good at it.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
I had this idea of writing a book called we're
so smart. Listen to us. You know how we always
want to giving advice, like to our kids. This is like,
we think we're so smart.
Speaker 3 (12:38):
We're so smart.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
Listen to us, because we're just so smart. Just about
so I'm giving.
Speaker 3 (12:44):
I think I have good common sense. I really, I
really do. I think I have good common sense. And
I always liked listening to how people are doing and
what they're thinking. Oh, Ruthie. I will sit in a
conversation and I go, I'm not going to say a word.
I'm just gonna listen, and somebody will say something and
I just friggin can't help it. I'll go, well, why
did you think so and so and so and so?
(13:05):
Why did you do so and so? This is even strangers.
I don't even know.
Speaker 4 (13:10):
So.
Speaker 3 (13:10):
I thought that I would either be a child psychologist.
I thought I'd be very good at that, or I'd
be a lawyer, because I saw myself arguing my case
in front of a jury, and I was never going
to represent the bad guy. I was always going to
represent the state. I had it all figured out, and
then life sec a turn. I got a job at
a TV station when I was in college, when in
the newsroom when I was hooked.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
What was your job?
Speaker 3 (13:32):
I had a very entry level job, you know, where
you see like if I was interviewing Ruthie Rogers and
I type out Ruthie Rogers and your title. I was
a person who did that. I'd get the scripts, rip
the scripts and you know, give them to the anchors,
roll the prompter back. Then you know where they're reading.
So it was very entry level. But I say, you
(13:53):
can if you're if you're really serious and really good,
you can parlay an entry level job to something else.
And that is what I did.
Speaker 2 (14:02):
Tell me about that.
Speaker 3 (14:04):
So this was at I graduated from University of Maryland.
I got a job. And while I was in college,
I was working at a TV station in Washington. And
then when I graduated, I got a job in Baltimore, Maryland.
You can do creative writing on your resume without lying,
but very creative writing. And I got a job. And
I always say to people, you want to make sure
(14:26):
the boss knows your name, not in a bad way,
like oh my god, she's so I'm not just da
da da da. You want somebody who knows I was
a kind of kid, you know. Is there anything I
can do, or can I go out on a story
with you? Or I tried writing this, could you take
a look? So you know, I volunteer to work on
holidays or weekends or whatever it took to make myself
(14:47):
useful is what I did. And then you get noticed
and people start calling on you and asking you to
do things.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
I think as on the other side, now that we're
both on the other side of that of that table,
don't you notice it when will do yes?
Speaker 3 (15:01):
Yes, yes, yes.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
Do you know David Putnam, producer in Great Films, he
was looking for an assistant. Everybody kept, you know, trying
to impress him, impress and then this young person said,
mister Putnam, I will make you the best cup of
coffee you've ever had yet You're hired. And it's just
something about the simplicity and the passion I'm wanting to
(15:22):
do something.
Speaker 1 (15:23):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (15:24):
Really, that's why when people come in and their interns,
you can tell there are some interns that are looking
at their watch like, oh my god, how much longer
is there's going to be and others that are that
are really eager and there's a way to do it
without kissing ass you.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
Yeah, as employers don't want to take the person necessarily
who make us the best cup of coffee. Want to
take somebody's curious, that's curious. That's the one. When people
ask me what I look for in an interview, I always
say curiosity.
Speaker 3 (15:50):
Yes, I think you know. I was told as a
kid that I was nosy. I hate that word nose.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
I don't like that. Man'll see not nosy, No.
Speaker 3 (15:57):
And I said, I'm not nosy. I am curious.
Speaker 2 (15:59):
Curious.
Speaker 3 (16:00):
There is a difference, yea.
Speaker 2 (16:02):
So tell me more about it.
Speaker 4 (16:04):
Me.
Speaker 3 (16:04):
So I got into a reporter training program back.
Speaker 2 (16:06):
At DC, and what year, what decade are we in?
Speaker 3 (16:09):
Like we're in the seventies.
Speaker 2 (16:10):
Do you think it's changed the Well.
Speaker 3 (16:12):
Digital makes it different, but I think, you know, the
work ethic doesn't change. I mean, I applied for this
reporter training program and I didn't get it the first time.
And I thought that I was a shoe in because
I knew everybody who was interviewing. It was at my
old station. I said, they know me. I think they
liked me, I think, and I didn't get it. They
only had four slots, and I remember being stunned that
(16:34):
I didn't get it, And so I went to the
boss and he's in his office and he's reading a
newspaper and his feed are up on the table, which
is never a good sign. And I walked in and
he went yes, and I went, well, I was just
curious about why I didn't get the reporter training program,
because you know, I've been here and I think you
(16:55):
all are familiar with my work, and it just it
just didn't see fair to me. And he's sitting there,
he doesn't miss a beat, he's reading the news. Baby
goes Gail, life ain't fair anything else. I mean you
just kind of go, uh no, sir, thank you for
your time. I mean, I was so thrilled by that.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
What a great thing.
Speaker 3 (17:17):
But it was such as life ain't fair. You don't
always get what you think you're supposed to get, you
don't always get even what you think you deserve. Sometimes
life ain't fair. It has nothing to do with you.
And so that was a really really uh defining moment
for me.
Speaker 2 (17:33):
And then what did you do to know?
Speaker 3 (17:34):
Well? So then I applied and got another job, and
then I ended up in Baltimore as a production assistant,
the entry level position, and I did that and then
I got my first real job where you're gayl okaying
Action News in Kansas City, Missouri. I applied all over
the country and got this job in Kansas City, Missouri.
I had my little resume tape and I can remember
(17:55):
being out on my first live shot. There was breaking news.
I was supposed to interview the police chief, and I
was very nervous. My clothes hadn't come, you know, from
moving cross country. I'm wearing the same thing i'd worn
two days in a row. So I called one of
my mentors and I said, Bruce, I'm so nervous, my
clothes haven't come. It's breaking news. I'm about to beat
the police chief and I'm not sure what to do.
(18:16):
Blah blah blah blah blah. And he goes, oh, grow
up and hung up the phone. That was less than
number two. You know where you go Hello because you
can't believe I've called you in distress and you're like, oh,
grow up. Click, But Ruthie, in the moment, it's shocking.
It's shocking, and then you got to put on your
(18:37):
big girl panties and figure it out. But at the
time I didn't think it was good. The time, I
was devastated by it. And another good lesson for me
was Maya Angelou. She was, you know, my Angelou. I
was friends with her, and she was like wisdom and
liquid poetry, and you know, Oprah and I would go
(18:58):
to her house and we feel like we needed a
notepad because everything she said was so good. And I
remember calling her something had happened at CBS, and I said,
and then then they said blah blah blah blah blah,
and then I didn't get to do blah blah blah
blah blah. And she goes, stop it. I go, wait, wait,
I'm not done. Yeah, it doesn't matter right now. Just
(19:19):
say thank you. I go, what am I saying thank
you about? Just say thank you? So I went thank you.
She goes, Gail whining is so unbecoming. It lets them
know there's a victim in the neighborhood. Isn't that good?
Speaker 2 (19:50):
How did it overha?
Speaker 3 (19:51):
How did Oprah? I met her when we went to
when I went and got the job in Baltimore.
Speaker 2 (19:57):
Oh, she was in Baltimore.
Speaker 3 (19:58):
Yeah, yeah, okay, So we met when we were twenty
one and twenty two. So I'm here in the newsroom
and she's here. She's the anchor. She's like, whoa, that's
Oprah Whiffy, she's the anchor. I used to go to
open and say, do you have any cairns for your piece?
Speaker 2 (20:12):
She was she was twenty two, and.
Speaker 3 (20:15):
We became friends there, and now we're seventy and seventy one.
We've been friends a long time. And I remember calling
my mom and saying, mom, my friend opened the newsroom.
She went to casual corner and she bought two sweaters
because I was putting mine on layaway. And I remember
Opah was twenty two and when she turned thirty, she
(20:36):
made thirty thousand dollars, And I said, wouldn't it be
cool if when you turn fifty you make fifty thousand dollars? Boy?
Speaker 2 (20:44):
Things have change?
Speaker 3 (20:45):
Did she a right?
Speaker 2 (20:46):
She liked food? No, she loves to eat. Yeah, tell
me about she comes.
Speaker 3 (20:51):
She's really great with pasta. Yeah, she makes really good pasta.
She makes lovely sandwiches with turkey and melted cheese, and
she likes crunchy bread. She's good.
Speaker 2 (21:03):
Do you remember those days and when you would go so, how.
Speaker 3 (21:05):
Did she do that? Now? She still she wasn't cooking
when we were younger.
Speaker 2 (21:09):
No, No, I think that's the thing when you're working,
and then when you had children, because you had children
while you were your career, So how did you manage
domestic life? And my search and.
Speaker 3 (21:19):
Mary and I had a husband. Unfortunately, my husband didn't
believe in monogamy, so that can be challenging. Okay, So
I got a divorce when my kids were four and five.
And I just think that you just, you know, a
working mother, you just juggle a lot of balls. You're
gonna have some. Yeah, that's going to drop some.
Speaker 2 (21:36):
Did you have help? Did you have was your family nearby?
Speaker 3 (21:40):
No? No, No, because I was anchoring the news in Connecticut. No,
but I had a nanny. I had a nanny. But
I just think, you know, when you're a mom and
you're working, you you don't get it right all the time.
And my thing is you drop some balls, but pick
the balls up and keep on going. What my children
did know is that they were the most important things
(22:01):
in my life. I tried to make it so I
was the first thing they saw in the morning and
the last thing they saw at night. I really did
try to do that very diligently.
Speaker 2 (22:09):
You know, he's an anchor.
Speaker 3 (22:11):
Yeah, Yeah, I was an anchor. I was a reporter. Yes,
I was started as a reporter. Then I was a
reporter slash anchor. Then I became a full time anchor.
And I just think, you know, I think when you're
happy at what you do, it actually makes you a
better mother.
Speaker 2 (22:25):
Yeah, I do.
Speaker 3 (22:27):
I didn't listen. Being a sting at home mom was
not something I wanted to do. You know, when I
started in my career, because he was a lawyer, the
plan was that I would be working and by you know,
he would go to law school, and then by the
time his career was up, then I would be ready
to leave mine. Say, when the kids were thirteen fourteen,
(22:48):
and it just didn't work out that way. They turned
thirteen or fourteen, I was thinking, I don't want to
leave my job. I was divorced by then, but I
was still thinking I don't want to leave my job.
I'm sitting here today at seventy thinking I don't want
to leave my jo. I keep waiting for that feeling.
Then after my grandchildren were born, people said, oh, she's
gonna quit, she's gonna go, she's gonna I don't want
(23:09):
to do that. I still really love what I get
to do.
Speaker 2 (23:13):
Still, of course you do. Still, I just thought about
doing a new restaurant this summer and I thought, yeah
and everything.
Speaker 3 (23:20):
You know, the restaurant business is very difficult.
Speaker 2 (23:22):
Every job is hard, and I you know, being a
restaurant person being not really well, maybe they are, Yeah,
I don't. I think the way you work in the
image of a restaurant, that old fashioned male image of
the angry chefs and they're screaming a bully and they're
screaming and they have to get the food out.
Speaker 3 (23:40):
I think back in the day, people like in the newsrooms,
you had people throwing typewriters and screaming and hollering at.
Speaker 2 (23:48):
You had people burning people's hands, and they would punish
chefs by you know, just getting the thing hot. I
have a chef and said she was taking soufleets out
of avan here in London. Yes, and the I won't
say it was, but the bent over to her and
he said that if those two plays don't rise, this
frying pan will be on your head. So he was
(24:09):
threatening to hit her over the head with a rhyme
pan and that's against the law, you know.
Speaker 3 (24:14):
That's what I think so too, that women today don't
take the stuff.
Speaker 2 (24:17):
They don't don't take it anymore. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (24:19):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:21):
Are there more women that you work with now than
before you find them?
Speaker 3 (24:25):
Ye? Yep. It's still not equal, but yes, there are
definitely more women. And I think women are lasting longer too.
You know, it used to be thirty five, forty fifty,
forget it. You know, because men can age, they can
get wrinkles, they can get fat tummies, they can go bald,
and they're just distinguished. When it happens to women, it's like, God,
(24:48):
she looks old. And I just think that that's changing.
I think that that's changing.
Speaker 2 (24:52):
Tell me about space, because we have to go up
to dinner soon.
Speaker 3 (24:55):
Tell me about it was terrifying. Tell me because Ruthie,
I am not a raper. I'm a very nervous flyer.
I don't get on a roller coaster. But there was
something I had said in January, I'm going to open
myself up to new adventures. I was referring to dating,
and I said, I'm going to open myself up to
new adventures.
Speaker 2 (25:13):
I found yourself instead with myself on.
Speaker 3 (25:15):
A friggin rocket, and I thought there's something about stepping
out of your comfort zone and being part of the
first all female crew was attractive to me. I have
to say, I just felt that that I'm going to
lean into it. I'm as afraid as I am, and
I was very afraid I'm going to lean into it.
(25:36):
I called Tyler Perry, he did a zoom prayer. I
called t D Jake's. I talked to my kitchen cabinet,
which is my favorite daughter, Kirby, favorite son, Will and
Oprah of course, and if any of the three of
them it said, I don't think you should do it,
I wouldn't have done it. If any one of them
they almost said, we do you think you should do it?
If you want to do it, you should do it.
And so we go up. It's very terrifying, and I
(25:57):
ask you what you may I eat anything? I wanted
my empty I wanted nothing just in case. But we
went up. And then when we're coming down, we had
said to Katie Katy Perry, are you going to sing
roar or are you going to sing fireworks? She goes,
shut the bleep up. I'm not going to sing a song.
And if I was, I'm not going to sing any
of my own friggin songs. But when we came back down,
(26:19):
I could feel myself getting really really lightheaded, and I thought,
oh my god, please don't let me pass out, please,
because that's how scared I became. I thought I'm about
to pass out. And the image I didn't want was
everybody comes off the capsule and they can stretch. But
as we broke through and we came back down, all
of a sudden, Katie starts singing iced dreams, What a
(26:41):
wonderful world. So we're in the capsule and you just
hear that Katy Perry voice in a cappella singing icy
dream That gave us all goosebumps. We were all like,
oh my god. It was just so special. So I'm
very proud of myself because I'm as I said, and
I'm not brave, but that I did it and that
(27:02):
we came back. I came back in one piece, didn't
use a diaper, and I.
Speaker 2 (27:06):
Was fine, and we were hungry, but it was great.
Speaker 3 (27:10):
It was great. I think we're forever bonded.
Speaker 2 (27:12):
Would you do it again?
Speaker 3 (27:13):
I would. I'm not going to do it anytime soon,
but I would definitely do it again.
Speaker 2 (27:18):
Well, we have to stop because we have to go
and eat. But before we do, we have a question
that we ask everybody. Then I hope you don't have
to seek comfort very often, Gail King, because I love you.
Speaker 3 (27:29):
Oh, thank you, Ruthie, thank you.
Speaker 2 (27:31):
If you do need comfort, if you seek comfort anyone,
it isn't food. Is there something that you would reach for?
Speaker 3 (27:38):
Anything? With icing?
Speaker 2 (27:39):
With icing? You love icing?
Speaker 3 (27:41):
I love our good cupcake. Yeah, a terrible, terrible sweet tooth.
The comfort of connection with other human beings matters more
than anything. You know this, and it's not necessarily. You
can create your own family as you see, but connection
with other human beings matters to me more than anything anything.
Speaker 2 (28:01):
Like connector We've connected.
Speaker 4 (28:03):
Thank you, Thank you.
Speaker 2 (28:08):
Ruthie's Table four is proud to support Leukemia UK. Their
Cartwheel for a Cure campaign raises funds for vital research
and more effective and kinder treatments for a cute my
Lord Leukemia. Please donate and to do so search Cartwheel
for a Cure.
Speaker 3 (28:28):
Ruthie's Table four was produced by Alex Bell and Zad
Rodgers with Susannahlock, Andrew Sang and Bella Selini.
Speaker 2 (28:35):
This has been an atomized production for iHeartMedia.
Host
Ruth Rogers
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.