Winfrey, 70, and King, 69, have a decades-long friendship that some people speculate is romantic. When the two appeared on Melinda French Gates' Moments That Make Us interview series on Wednesday, the women cleared the air about their close friendship.
"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 said.
"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!"
The longtime pals ' relationship dates back some 50 years and began when they both worked at the Baltimore-area news station WJZ-TV. And they have a snowstorm to thank for their friendship. The story goes King couldn't get home one night due to the inclement weather, and it was Winfrey who invited King to stay at her place that night.They bonded like sisters, and the rest is history. While speaking with Gates, Winfrey pointed out that she believes lesbian rumors swirl because people "aren't used to seeing women with this kind of truth bond."
Gayle King and Oprah Winfrey.
Getty Images
"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 friendship.
She later noted, "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. You cannot out-happy her. I am equally as happy for her."
Winfrey 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 pointed out that their bond remains strong because they remain honest with one another, even when other people aren't.
"In Oprah's life, everybody is always very flattering and is always very agreeable with things that she says," King said. "And sometimes I'll just go, 'That's just not true. Your hair does not look good.'"
"Oprah said, 'You and I have two different ideas of fun. You would enjoy that.' I go, 'I do, I do," she told ET's Rachel Smith. "But she said, 'It's so you, you should go for it.' and I do feel it's going for it."
King said that if her bestie or either of her children, Kirby or Will , weren't on board, she would have opted against it.
"If Oprah, favorite daughter Kirby, favorite son-in-law and favorite son, if any of them said, 'Eh I don't think you should do it,' it would have given me pause, but nobody said that."
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