Oprah Winfrey and Gayle King Reflect on Longstanding Lesbian Rumors: ‘If We Were Gay, We Would Tell You!’

Oprah Winfrey and Gayle King are discussing their deep, years-long bond.

Oprah Winfrey said her decades-long friendship with Gayle King remains strong because the pair are “equally as happy” for each other’s successes. As Winfrey, 70, and King, 69, appeared on Melinda French Gates’ Moments That Make Us interview series on Wednesday, July 24, the women spoke with Gates, 59, about the life-nourishing power of their close friendship.

“I think we’ve shared pretty much everything and I would have to say, it wasn’t even a matter of navigation,” Winfrey said of their effortless bond that at times has been mistaken for something more.

“You know, for years, people used to say we were gay, and listen, we were up against that forever. And people still may think it,” Winfrey noted.

“I used to say Oprah, ‘You gotta do a show on this, because it’s hard enough for me to get a date on Saturday night with people thinking we’re gay,’ ” King added. “Because if we were gay, we’d tell you!”

Winfrey and King’s friendship dates back some 50 years and began when both women worked at the Baltimore-area news station WJZ-TV. Winfrey offered King to stay at her place for a night during a major snowstorm and the pair grew close overnight. While speaking with Gates, Winfrey pointed out that she believes those rumors swirl because people “aren’t used to seeing women with this kind of truth bond.”

“The reason why I think our friendship has worked is because Gayle is happier, not happy, but happier for me for any kind of success or victory or challenge I get through than I am for myself,” Winfrey said. “And I feel as happy as she does — I can’t be happier than, cannot surpass Gayle. You cannot out-happy her. I am equally as happy for her.”

The two-time Academy Award winner added that friendships with “with anybody who has a hint of jealousy about anything that you’re doing — certainly about your success or your being celebrated” do not necessarily work.

“I just assumed everybody had a really good friend,” King said of her bond with Winfrey. “I just assumed every woman – maybe not for men – but I just assumed every woman had at least one.” 

The pair also noted during the conversation that their bond allows them to cut through outside noise they receive from people in their lives who are perhaps not as honest with them. “In Oprah’s life, everybody is always very flattering and is always very agreeable with things that she says,” King noted. “And sometimes I’ll just go, ‘That’s just not true. Your hair does not look good.’ “