Oprah Winfrey and Gayle King shut down decades-old lesbian rumors: ‘If we were gay, we would tell you!’

Oprah Winfrey and Gayle King are once again addressing rumors about their sexual orientations.

Winfrey, 70, and King, 69, talked about their decades-long friendship in an interview released Wednesday, July 24, with Melinda French Gates on her new series on YouTube, Moments That Make Us .

Speaking to why some interpret their relationship as something more than platonic, Winfrey said, “I think we’ve shared pretty much everything and I would have to say, it wasn’t even a matter of navigation.”

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

King then chimed in and shared how the lesbian rumors impacted her personal life.

“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,'” the CBS Mornings anchor quipped. “Because if we were gay, we’d tell you!”

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Winfrey went on to say that she believes many people think they are gay because they “aren’t used to seeing women with this kind of truth bond.”

Winfrey and King met 50 years ago while working together at Baltimore news station WJZ-TV. The pair became fast friends after Winfrey let King crash at her place during a major snowstorm.

Winfrey also said that she and Gayle’s friendship works 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,” the Oscar winner added. “You cannot out-happy her. I am equally as happy for her.”

The media mogul explained that, from her point of view, friendships cannot work “with anybody who has a hint of jealousy about anything that you’re doing — certainly about your success or your being celebrated.”

The rumors initially baffled King because she never thought her friendship with Winfrey was exceptional, saying, “I just assumed everybody had a really good friend.”

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“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 honesty is a key component of their friendship, especially given that many people are prone to flatter Winfrey, given her celebrity status.

“In Oprah’s life, everybody is always very flattering and is always very agreeable with things that she says,” King told French Gates. “And sometimes I’ll just go, ‘That’s just not true. Your hair does not look good.'”

“We’ve both done that,” they added.

This isn’t the first time Winfrey and King have denied rumors that they are gay.

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In 2006, Oprah took to the pages of her O Magazine to address the incessant speculation .

“I understand why people think we’re gay,” Winfrey wrote. “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?”

Winfrey would again say she is not gay in a 2010 interview with Barbara Walters .

“I’m not lesbian,” Oprah told Walters. “I’m not even kind of lesbian.”

At the time, she said that the chatter about her sexual identity “irritates” her because “it must mean somebody must think I’m lying.”

“That’s not the way I run my life,” Oprah explained.

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