William Shatner Scares 'the Beep' Out of Gayle King Before Her Trip to Space: 'They're Going to Give You Diapers!'

03/27/2025 01:50 PM

"This is soo not helpful!" the 'CBS Mornings' anchor told Shatner at one point

William Shatner knows what it's like to go to space, having made the voyage on Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin space shuttle back in October 2021. So it's no surprise that Gayle King, with her own ticket booked on Blue Origin's all-female flight next month, turned to him for a little advice to calm her nerves.

But that's not exactly what King got when chatting with Shatner on CBS Mornings on Thursday, March 27.

Appearing via video call from Los Angeles, as the 94-year-old Star Trek legend encouraged her to "embrace the adventure" and "take control of your emotions," he also accidentally installed some fear into King.

"You're lying there waiting to take off — that's the most exciting moment of all, because the G-forces that are going to be on you," Shatner continued. "You're going to think, 'I'm going to die.' But you're not going to die, Gayle! You're on an adventure!"

"You are scaring the beep out of me now!" King, 70, told him.

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But Shatner only continued. "Gayle, say a mantra! Say something," he said. "When I was lying there and aware the hydrogen was being poured into the ship, and the Hindenburg had burned with hydrogen, I'm thinking, 'What's going to be?' The guy says over the earphones—"

"This is soo not helpful!" King interrupted, trying to change the conversation by asking, "Were you nervous?"

"Yes!" Shatner said. "The nitrogen! And going up! The G's! That's frightening, girl! But embrace the adventure, embrace it. You're on an exciting trip that you'll never do again. You're going to live through it and you'll be fine."

Continuing, he added, "It's the adventure of a lifetime and you're going to see the world like nobody… only 600 people have seen it and you're going to see it."

That seemed to connect more with King. During the episode, the Emmy-winning journalist told Shatnerthat she's "stepping way out" of her comfort zone, and has already started meditation to settle her fears while in the ship.

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She still had questions for Shatner though, including what it feels like to be in zero gravity.

"There are no words in the English language to explain what weightlessness is like. It is the strangest feeling. Nothing is like it — not swimming in a pool where they have the exercise, the astronauts," he said. "That's what you're going to practice for days on end and you know what, no matter how much you practice, you can't imitate it."

"For me, I wanted to see outside so I didn't hover around," Shatner recalled. "I went to the window to take a look out the window and I advise you to do that because the voyage is over so quickly."

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Just when it looked like Shatner had settled King's scares, the actor dropped another bomb.

"Oh and there's one more thing," he said. "Between the time you leave your bed and get to the ship and deal with the press and go up in the air and come back down and deal with the press, a long time. And there's no bathroom facilities. So they're going to give you diapers."

Sadly, the CBS Mornings segment ended before King had a chance to react to that last piece of news.

Related: 'Space Gal' Emily Calandrelli Poses in Upside-Down Photo from Blue Origin Flight: 'OMG'

Related: Gayle King, Katy Perry and Lauren Sánchez Are Going to Space! They'll Join All-Female Crew on Next Blue Origin Rocket

King's trip, the 11th human flight of Blue Origin's New Shepard program, departs on April 14. She'll be joined by pop star Katy Perry, philanthropist Lauren Sánchez, former NASA rocket scientist Aisha Bowe, civil rights activist Amanda Nguyen and film producer Kerianne Flynn on what will be the first all-female flight crew recorded since Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova's solo spaceflight in 1963.

"I don't know how to explain being terrified and excited at the same time," King said, when news of the flight was revealed. "It's like how I felt when I was about to deliver a baby."

CBS Mornings airs weekdays on CBS (beginning at 7 a.m ET).