My guest tonight
is an Emmy award-winning journalist
who is the co-host of CBS This Morning
and editor-at-large of O magazine.
She has a new book, a collection of letters called
Note to Self: Inspiring Words From Inspiring People.
Please welcome Gayle King.
-♪ ♪ -(cheering and applause)
Hey! Hey!
Hello, audience!
Wow!
This is so great, Trevor.
-I'm so glad to finally have you on the show. -This is so great.
This is great for us.
-This is my first time on the Trevor Noah show. -Yeah.
-This is great. -And I'm psyched.
This is great to have you.
-Trevor. -Because-because we watch you...
we watch you every single day.
Obviously we watch all the news, but we love
watching your show every single morning.
How do you do it where...
Like, we report on news all the time,
and we make jokes about it,
-and the audience laughs at it. -Yeah.
And you're in a position where sometimes
you have to report the most outlandish story
and then with a straight face
just carry on like nothing happened.
-Well, you know what... -This is live, as well.
-It is live. -Are there no moments where you...
And sometimes you just have to bite the inside of your cheek
as hard as you possibly can.
Somebody told me once
if you grab the inside of your-your skin right here
and pinch it as hard as you can,
that will prevent you from laughing.
-Wow. -So I... A couple of times I've had to do this.
But I was watching you at the top of the show
where you were talking about the apology.
I know we're not gonna talk a lot about news,
but don't you think, Trevor,
-that if they finally come out and apologize now, -Right.
would it still mean something
when I have to beat you up to give me an apology?
Does that really... Does that feel good to you
-if I have to sort of embarrass you -Well, here's...
to apologize for something?
-Here's my honest opinion on it. -Yeah.
I-I think that many people
would like the White House to apologize
because it restores the pretense of normalcy
-in what's happening in Washington -Oh.
as opposed to the actual act of apologizing.
So people are just like, "Just say it's normal again."
Yes, but in the past,
it seems that when you're asked to apologize
at this particular White House,
-they double down and do the opposite. -Yes, right.
So I don't know if even if you get the apology
if it's gonna mean anything.
-So if they're doing the opposite, -I don't know.
-maybe journalists... -I don't think the apology's coming,
by the way. I just don't.
I don't think they've ever apologized.
-No. -Yeah. I don't think they've ever, ever...
I think the only apology I've ever heard Trump give
was about the pussy grab tape.
-Yes. -That was the only one.
Which I think he regrets, because then, afterwards,
he couldn't take it back. He was like, "I don't know
if that tape was real." People are like, "You apologized."
-And he's like, "Damn it. -Yeah. Yes.
-That's why I don't apologize." -Yeah. Yes.
But I don't want to inundate you with news.
-You-you talk about that news all the time. -Yes.
I want to talk to you about all the other exciting news
you get to do. You get to cover really serious stories,
and then, like, for instance, the story coming up now,
you get to go and cover
-the royal wedding. -The royal wedding!
(cheering and applause)
I am psyched about that!
I am leaving tomorrow on a jet plane,
going to England, and I'm so excited about this.
Why? Because, listen, I got up at 4:00 in the morning
to watch Princess Diana when she got married.
-Right. -Got up at 4:00 to, unfortunately,
watch the funeral.
And I still remember William and Harry
-walking behind their mom's casket. -Wow.
That was heartbreaking. He was 12.
And, you know, he's... Harry's been through some stuff.
He's been very "mischievious," done some things.
But it's so nice to see him come out on the other side
-and in love. And look at Meghan Markle. -Right.
Biracial, American, divorced,
older by three years-- so that doesn't really count.
But it's... It-it doesn't. That doesn't really count.
But she is so opposite of what you would expect
-in the monarchy. But yet they've embraced her. -Right.
And I-I'm just nuts about this girl.
I don't know her either.
But everything I read and see--
we've interviewed her friends, we've talked to people
who have worked with her-- she just seems like the real deal.
She had a life before him.
And the two of them together, I just think, are magical.
-I just love love, Trevor. -It does feel like a fairy tale.
-Don't you love love? -I love love.
-I do. I love love. -I love love. I really love love.
-I do, too. I do, too. -It's like a fairy tale story...
(cheering and applause)
-In many ways... -Should we ask if you're in love, Trevor Noah?
-I'm always in love. 'Cause I love love. -Are you?
-I love love. Let-let me talk to you about the book. -Very good.
-Very good. -(laughs)
-Very good. -Let me talk to you about the book.
-Yes. -Note to Self.
-Note to Self. -I feel like, in many ways,
that's what this book is about. It's about love.
It's about love that people have for themselves,
-a love that they may not have, like, have... -Yes.
have had expressed to them by others,
and now, as adults, they get to talk to themselves about...
Where did the idea come from and how do you get somebody
to truthfully write a note to their younger selves?
Well, it's just a matter of reflecting on your life
and-and, if you could go back,
what would you tell your younger self?
We all have life lessons that we've learned along the way.
And I think that it's interesting for people.
It's cathartic for some,
it's empowering for some,
-it's painful for some, -Right.
fun and funny.
And I'm always amazed at how seriously people take it.
-Yes. -And so, you know, you put a lot of thought into it.
I think... I would ask the audience.
Just think about, if you had to reflect on your life,
what would you tell yourself back then?
It's-it's interesting, because you have, uh,
Oprah Winfrey, you have Joe Biden,
-you have Tyler Perry. -Joe Biden, yes.
-You-you have these beautiful stories. -John Lewis.
-John Lewis. How 'bout John Lewis' story? -I wanted to read
this passage of-of Tyler Perry's
-that-that really got to me. -Yes.
He says here, he says,
"I know that you didn't know...
you don't know this right now--"
-writing to his younger self-- -Yeah.
"but who you become is being shaped inside
"of every one of those bad experiences,
-"the good, the bad, and, yes, even the ugly ones. -Yeah.
They're all going to work together for your good."
-Yes. -And it's powerful,
because you feel like, in this story,
I learned about Tyler Perry in a tiny little note to himself
-more things than I've learned in most interviews. -Yeah, yeah.
You know, it's interesting. He was the one that told me
that that was cathartic for him,
that he had never really thought about it.
Look at Tyler's life, who is now a mogul,
as you know, in Hollywood.
But he, you know, was writing the plays.
He was expecting a big audience.
Only 32 people showed up the first night.
But he has now turned that into Tyler Perry Studios,
which is bigger than Warner Brothers.
It's bigger than Warner Brothers.
-What Tyler Perry has created in the city of Atlanta, -Right.
his own studios with his own sound stages, he's huge.
And so to come from where he came from and was abused--
he talks about how he was abused as a child--
to come from where he's come from to now is amazing.
-It really is beautiful. -Amazing.
It's inspired me to write a note to myself as a kid.
I thought to myself, if I could write a note to myself,
what would it be? And the note I thought of was...
-Would you think about doing it for us? -Yeah.
-Okay. -Mine-mine was 13-26-18-47-5-3,
which was the winning lottery numbers that I wish I knew
-as a kid. -You-you guys started laughing.
I'm like, "What does that mean?
-What does that mean?" -Thank you so much for being
on the show. Gayle will be co-hosting
CBS News' royal wedding coverage live from London, May 19,
from 4:00 to 9:00 a.m. Eastern.
And Note to Self is available now.
Gayle King, everybody.