Oprah Winfrey Responds To Rumors About Her Secret Lesbian Relationship With Gayle King
Oprah Winfrey addressed the longstanding rumors about her relationship with Gayle King.
During an interview on Melinda French Gates' 'Moments That Make Us' series published Wednesday, Winfrey and King discussed the nature of their five-decade long friendship. The duo met while working as journalists at WJZ-TV in Baltimore. They became close after Winfrey offered King a place to stay during a snowstorm.
Winfrey, 70, and King both acknowledged the rumors about the pair being more than just friends.
"For years, people used to say we were gay. We were up against that forever and people still may think it," the billionaire said. King, 69, added that the rumors even impacted her dating life, quipping, "It's hard enough for me to get a date on Saturday night with people thinking we're gay. Because if we were gay, we'd tell you!"
"We bonded because we had very like philosophies about people," King, who encouraged Winfrey to move to Chicago to pursue her broadcasting career, said. "We were so in sync about so many different things."
"I just assumed every woman had at least one [such friend]," King said. "In Oprah's life, everybody is always very flattering and agreeable with things she says. Sometimes I'll just go, 'That's just not true. Your hair does not look good.' "
Ever since they met, Winfrey says they "talked every night since — about everything and nothing."
Winfrey called Gayle "the mother, sister, friend that I never had."
