They’re featured side-by-side in brown and gold shimmery outfits in their first joint cover for the magazine. King tweeted the cover photo on Wednesday, writing, “We’ve been friends since we were 21 & 22! 40 plus years later here we are!” 

She later added that Winfrey is her “ride or die.” 

In a story accompanying the cover, Winfrey reflected on the first time she met Gayle, who was working as a production assistant at a Baltimore TV news station where Winfrey was a co-anchor at the time. Winfrey said their friendship was sparked after one evening, in 1976, when Gayle was unable to get back to her home in the suburbs due to a snowstorm. 

“We were colleagues, not friends, but I invited her to spend the night at my place,” Winfrey wrote. “We sat up and talked till dawn and have been talking ever since.”

Winfrey later noted that people often ask King, who is now a co-host of “CBS This Morning,” how she felt being in Winfrey’s shadow for years. King left her job at a local television station to work for O magazine in 1999, shortly before it premiered, and remained there for 12 years.

“The truth is, she always felt not a shadow, but the light,” Winfrey wrote. “We couldn’t have remained friends if she’d perceived it as a shadow. I would have sensed that, and I wouldn’t have been able to be as open.”

She added, “A true friend can’t be jealous of you, or want to take advantage of you in any way.”

Talking about King’s work at “CBS This Morning” ? where the anchor garnered wide praise for remaining extraordinarily calm and on point during her March interview with a hysterical R. Kelly discussing his alleged sexual abuse ? Winfrey said her friend is “right where she’s longed to be.”

She added, “And no matter how many ventures or adventures we undertake — whatever life has to offer — we’ll be in each other’s corner. Solid. Timeless. Forever.”