On Wednesday, Oprah Winfrey, 70 and Gayle King, 69, sat with Melinda French Gates’ “Moments That Make Us” interview series and discussed the nature of their friendship, including one pesky rumor that has followed them for decades.
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The duo met after working at the Baltimore-area news station WJZ-TV and have been friends for 50 years
“I think we’ve shared pretty much everything and I would have to say, it wasn’t even a matter of navigation,” Winfrey said. The media mogul also stated that she understood that people have mistaken their friendship 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.” King added that if they were in a relationship, the pair would have owned up to it.
“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 joked. “Because if we were gay, we’d tell you!”
Winfrey told Gates that the gay rumors have been so prominent over the years 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. And I feel as happy as she does...I can’t be happier than, cannot surpass Gayle,” Winfrey said. “You cannot out-happy her. I am equally as happy for her.”
“I just assumed everybody had a really good friend,” King stated. “I just assumed every woman — maybe not for men — but I just assumed every woman had at least one.”
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