Oprah Winfrey and Gayle King have been thick as thieves for over four decades, meeting in 1976 while woking at a Baltimore TV station, BuzzFeed reported. Over the years, the pair have given fans an intimate look into their friendship via multiple interviews and TV specials. What’s the key to their lifelong friendship? They say a lack of jealousy and an instant connection is what keeps them close.

“I understand why people think we’re gay,” the daytime TV icon once said in O, The Oprah Magazine. “There isn’t a definition in our culture for this kind of bond between women. So I get why people have to label it — how can you be this close without it being sexual? How else can you explain a level of intimacy where someone always loves you, always respects you, admires you? … Wants the best for you in every single situation of your life. Lifts you up. supports you. Always! That’s an incredibly rare thing between even the closest of friends.”

Like Winfrey and King, Jada Pinkett Smith and Queen Latifah’s friendship started in Baltimore — Smith was an eager teenager and the rapper was performing in a club, BuzzFeed reported. Their BFF status was cemented while filming the 1996 hit film Set It Off — in fact, the “U.N.I.T.Y.” emcee credits the mom of two for jumpstarting her acting career.

“Jada and I can have whole conversations where we haven’t really said anything, but we’ve said a lot,” Queen Latifah told People in 2017.

The rapper and expert homemaker may be an unlikely pair, but their friendship is just as tight as the other BFFs on this list. As reported on Martha Stewart’s website, Snoop Dogg said he considers Stewart “the big sister I never had,” and the cookbook author likes “his laid-back energy,” “outspokenness” and his way around the kitchen.

“I like his sense of timing, and I really enjoy to watch him cook,” Stewart said, per the site.

Mary J. Blige has fans around the world, but one of her biggest supporters is her BFF and former costar Taraji P. Henson, Marie Claire reported. The pair starred in Tyler Perry’s I Can Do Bad All by Myself, and since then, they’ve been through good times and bad together. Last year, the singer was the actor’s biggest cheerleader  when she received her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Essence reported. 

Janelle Monaé has a squad of celebrity friends she’s often spotted with, but her relationship with Tessa Thompson is especially close. Thompson told Entertainment Tonight in 2018 that the pair have “been really good friends at this point for about three and a half years” and she feels “so lucky to have her in my life.”

Their close friendship even sparked romance rumors, which Monáe responded to in 2018 by sharing her love and appreciation for all women, The New York Times reported.

“I want it to be very clear that I’m an advocate for women,” she said. “I’m a girl’s girl, meaning I support women no matter what they choose to do. I’m proud when everybody is taking agency over their image and their bodies.”

Serena Williams and Meghan Markle have been BFFs since 2010, and since then, the pair have been there for each other during some of the most difficult and triumphant moments in their lives, BuzzFeed reported. Markle has attended many of Williams’ tennis matches, and the tennis pro co-hosted the duchess’ under-the-radar baby shower in 2019. They’ve been vocal about their friendship as well — Markle wrote in her now-defunct blog The Tig that the two “hit it off immediately, taking pictures, laughing through the flag football game we were both playing in, and chatting not about tennis or acting, but about all the good old fashioned girly stuff,” Us Weekly reported.

“She couldn’t be a better friend to me. Low moments, high moments — she’s always there. That’s all I want to be to her,” Williams said, according to E! News.

Though it may not seem like Regina King and Gabrielle Union are BFFs, the two are incredibly close, and have spoken about their love for each other in several interviews, BuzzFeed reported. In 2020, the Bring It On actor gushed about the Oscar winner, saying she can do anything.

“She’s not pigeonholed by genre or character type or generation or time period. She moves effortlessly through all of it,” Union said, Glamour reported.

Plus, they’ve worked together. King directed an episode of Being Mary Jane, which starred Union, in 2015.

Sanaa Lathan and Regina Hall have cracked the code on being forever friends, BuzzFeed reported. They’ve been close for over two decades, and have been vocal about their BFF status. In 2019, Lathan presented Hall with an award at the 2019 Essence Black Women in Hollywood Awards luncheon, during which they called each other their “human diaries.” Two years later, Lathan gave fans a closer look at their friendship again, saying that they’ve found a way to stay close even when they were competing for the same roles, Atlanta Black Star reported.

These children of destiny have managed to stay tight for more than 20 years. And even know Destiny’s Child is no more (although that 2018 Coachella reunion was epic), the trio have managed to stay tight-knit and supportive of each other. According to Michelle Williams, part of why they’re still a trio is their dedication to keeping their bond private.

“I would just say respect and keeping our friendship kind of between us,” the mental health advocate told Us. “We don’t share.”

Spike Lee and Samuel L. Jackson are some of the most influential Black figures in Hollywood, and throughout the years, they’ve stayed close. According to Marie Claire, their bromance was born during the filming of Lee’s School Daze, and the two shared a touching moment at the 2019 Oscars when Jackson gave Lee his first Academy Award for best screenplay for BlacKkKlansman.