Quarantine Diary: Gayle King is playing Zoom games with famous friends, calls singledom 'difficult'

Going stir-crazy in quarantine? You’re not alone. Celebrities are cooped up in their homes across the country just like the rest of us. As we collectively navigate this uncharted territory, USA TODAY presents Quarantine Diaries, which give readers a peek into how our favorite stars are spending their time at home.

Today's diarist is "CBS This Morning" co-host Gayle King, who is accomplishing several of her day jobs from her apartment in New York City. She begins her day focusing on her anchor duties as she broadcasts from her family room. Later in the afternoon, she enters "magazine mode," tackling her role as editor-at-large of O, The Oprah Magazine. Recently, she adopted a new gig as host of a six-week call-in SiriusXM radio show – "Gayle King in the House" – which she does from her kitchen. Here’s what a day of King's quarantine is like, running on her usual amount of little sleep. – As told to Erin Jensen

Gayle King on new COVID-19 radio show, wanting 'justice' for Ahmaud Arbery, Nick Cordero and family

3:24 a.m. My alarm still goes off at the same time, 3:24. I need three snoozes still. I sleep with a jar of Vicks VapoRub by my bed 'cause I want to make sure I can still smell. So, I wake up and do that.

4 a.m. I’m not hungry, even though breakfast is my favorite meal of the day. Who wants to eat at 4 in the morning? Not me. Then I bathe. I take a bath every single day. Then I get dressed. I put on a big, old T-shirt to get hair and makeup (done).

4:30 a.m. Normally I have a hair person and a makeup person, now I just have one person who’s had to do double duty. I’m not gonna sit here and act like, "Yes, I did this myself" because if I did it myself, we’d have no viewers 'cause they’d think, "What happened to Gayle King?" So I have Eneida (Bailey) who’s been doing me for over 30 years. She’s been doing my hair and she can now add makeup skills to her resume. She’s been going online looking at YouTube classes and she’s been talking to different makeup artists about how to do it, and I think she’s done a really good job. And she knows how to put on a false eyelash, which I am forever grateful for that.

Gayle King accepts Snoop Dogg's apology, says she 'doesn't always get it perfect'

On saying so long to shapewear: Let’s just say I haven’t seen Spanx since we are working at home. I do actually have things on at the bottom. I’m not sitting here nude or in my underpanties. But I don’t feel the need to wear Spanx when I’m sitting here at home.

6:15 a.m. We normally have to do what we call the greeting: “Good morning, it’s May 11. Welcome to 'CBS This Morning,' I’m Gayle King..." We normally pretape that because it’s so dicey sometimes with the setup that we have, incoming from three different locations.

8 a.m. For the first hour ("CBS This Morning" airs from 7 to 9 a.m.) I don’t wear glasses. The second hour, I put on glasses. That’s my nod to accessorizing. I normally wear contacts (but) the doctor told me that I shouldn’t wear my contacts as much. So, I’m just trying to amuse myself and change it up and I look at the glasses as an accessory.

‘I was frustrated’: Snoop Dogg, on 'Red Table Talk,' expresses regret over Gayle King drama

9 a.m. If I’m hungry, I’ll eat at 9-something when I get off the air, but most of the time, I’m not really hungry. Normally, I don’t get hungry 'till about noonish. It just depends. Your body clock is all messed up on this schedule. It really is. So I eat when I’m hungry.

On her quarantine diet: I don’t know how to cook, so I have food that’s been delivered. I’m very good with Frosted Flakes with bananas and raisins. That’s my go-to meal. I eat a variety of things. I’m trying not to fall victim to the Quarantine 15 or in some cases, Quarantine 30 because you are at home all the time. It’s very easy to just sort of graze all day long.

I found this chef in Brooklyn who now delivers, Chef Jumoke Jackson. I don’t do five days a week because normally the food goes bad, just because my eating is so irregular and sometimes. I just enjoy a bowl of cereal for dinner. So I get a delivery every Monday for three days during the week.

More Quarantine Diaries:

Derek Hough's neighbors wonder why he's outside in full Disney costume

Lindsey Vonn talks 'Tub Time,' daily workouts with fiance P.K. Subban

Henry Winkler is eating dinner mid-day and waiting to hug his grandkids again

10:30 a.m. We have a big (Zoom) meeting at 10:30 where we go over the show and then talk about what’s coming up for tomorrow. We go through the rundown that we have on paper – people will start throwing out ideas about what they think we should be covering.

12 p.m. That’s when our (magazine) meetings start, and they can go all the way 'till 4 or 5, sometimes. We’re going over different layouts, different ideas for the magazine, looking at covers. Looking to see how Oprah’s lookin’ on the cover. (Also) I’ve done a bunch of interviews just by Zoom. I do that in the afternoon.

How I'm staying in shape: I try to work out. I have a treadmill at home so I do try to get on the treadmill (a fast walk for 30-45 minutes) but some days you just don’t feel like working out. I use the treadmill time to catch up on shows. I love "Insecure." I love this show "Run." There’s a movie called "Bad Education," really good with Hugh Jackman. When Oprah was on, I only watched Oprah on the treadmill. Now I watch "Dr. Phil," "Real Housewives," I watch all sorts of different stuff.

Then I do sit-ups, and I have a tape that’s for weights and so those run between 30 and 45 minutes.

6 p.m. Dinner is normally between 6 and 7. It’s always something prepared. Sometimes – you know, I can make a bacon, egg and cheese sandwich. I know how to do that. Peanut butter and jelly, tuna fish, egg salad, I can do that. But yeah, ever since I found this chef, it’s fresh food. Favorite daughter Kirby sent me a whole bunch of frozen dinners, and no matter how good it is, it still feels like a frozen dinner, even if it’s fresh.

Quarantining while single: I keep thinking it would’ve been nice to have somebody to quarantine with, and then I talk to some of my married friends. They go, "No, you’re really lucky! That you don’t have anybody." I don’t buy that. To all of them, I go, "Yeah, but you’re glad he or she is there. You’re glad about that." So it’s just one of those things that – I do think it’s difficult, but it’s not something that we (single people) can’t get past.

Kyra Sedgwick is baking banana bread and wiping down groceries just like the rest of us

Read Jimmy Fallon's Quarantine Diary

6:30 p.m. I always watch the evening news with Norah (O'Donnell, "CBS Evening News" anchor). Then I watch Billy Bush on "Extra." I love Billy Bush. And I watch "Entertainment Tonight."

On evening Zoom games with famous friends: Some people call it Werewolf and Villagers, some people call it Mafia, it’s the same thing. There’s a town and you, as a group, have to decide who are the werewolves or who is the Mafia... And everybody assumes a role. The other day, I said, "My name is Gayle, and I run the local convent in the town." You don’t want people to know that you’re either the Mafia or you’re a werewolf, and through process of elimination, people have to guess who is who based on the clues, and the more deceptive you are, the better player you are... This is a group of some well-known people. It’s very interesting to see how deceptive people can be.

10 p.m. I’m normally in bed by 10 or 11, but I don’t fall asleep.

On going outside for the first time after 32 days: I was very afraid. But the weather was so nice I thought, let me just stick my toe in the water and see how it is. I heard birds and people were laughing and talking and I saw trees and just the smell of air. I have a very lovely apartment in New York but it doesn’t have outdoor space. So I really do crave the outside, more than I ever thought that I would. I walked down by the water. It was so exciting.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Gayle King on single status in quarantine, Zoom games with famous pals