‘Queen Sugar’ Stars Recall the First Time They Met Oprah

If you’re ever lucky enough to meet Oprah Winfrey, it’s likely a moment you’ll never forget — and it’s no different for the stars of Winfrey’s OWN series Queen Sugar.

The three younger leads of the drama co-created by Winfrey and Selma director Ava DuVernay recalled during a Facebook Live chat with Yahoo TV the first time they met the Divine Miss O. (That part of the conversation begins at around the 20-minute mark.) Kofi Siriboe describes a chance encounter with Winfrey when he was a kid, long before Queen Sugar existed. “It was at the Precious premiere!” he recalls with a laugh, referring to the 2009 film that Winfrey helped produce. He ended up photobombing Winfrey and fellow producer Tyler Perry. “I literally jump in the picture, I take a photo with her, she’s looking at me like… .”

Even Winfrey could not have known at the time that the photobombing kid would become a star for her some seven years later. Rutina Wesley, meanwhile, wasn’t so bold when she first met Winfrey at the Queen Sugar read-through. “I hid,” she admits sheepishly.

Watch the rest of the boisterous Facebook Live chat to hear why Wesley needed new pants to play Nova, how she and co-star Dawn-Lyen Gardner knew each other before the show, and how Siriboe got cast on the show.

Queen Sugar airs Wednesdays at 10 p.m. on OWN.