Gayle King addresses how rumors of her romance with Oprah Winfrey affected their relationship

Leigh BlickleyWed, May 27, 2026 at 4:51 PM UTC

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Oprah Winfrey and Gayle King in March 2026
Credit: Swan Gallet/WWD via GettyKey Points -

Gayle King says rumors that she and Oprah Winfrey were romantically involved used to really bother her.

The newscaster admits that she asked Winfrey to address the speculation on her talk show.

She says she lets the rumors slide now: "If we were gay, we would tell you."

Gayle King and Oprah Winfrey have faced rumors that they were romantically involved for years, but King says if they were together, people would know it.

King, 71, admitted that reports of her more-than-platonic relationship with her best friend of 50 years used to rub her the wrong way in a new interview.

"Well, I'll tell you this: It used to really bother me," King told host Alex Cooper during her appearance on the latest episode of the Call Her Daddy podcast. "I was recently divorced, and the National Enquirer did a story about that's the reason for the divorce — because they're secretly gay."

She continued, "Number one, if we were gay, we would tell you. Believe me, there's nothing wrong with it. It's just I prefer a man."

At one point the CBS Mornings host asked Winfrey to address the rumors on The Oprah Winfrey Show — but she refused. "I would say to her, 'You've got to say something on your show because it's hard enough for me to get a date on a Saturday night, and now people think I'm a lesbian. You've got to say something,'" King said on the podcast. "And she said, 'No. We should just leave it be. Just leave it alone.' [I said], 'Well, that's fine for you to say. You have somebody. I don't.' So it used to really bother me."

King added that even now people think that she and Winfrey, 72, are an item, despite Winfrey's four-decade relationship with her partner, Stedman Graham.

"The truth is, I don't care," King insisted to Cooper. "I've now gotten to the point in my life that very few things get to me because, you know, when you go on social media, it is an accelerator on hate. As long as I feel good about what I'm doing, the people I respect and trust are okay with it — who will say, 'Well, Mom, maybe you shouldn't have done that,' or somebody whose opinion I value. Otherwise, you'll drive yourself nuts. So now, I really don't care."

Throughout her Call Her Daddy interview, the journalist said her bond with Winfrey is like no other, calling their friendship one of the most significant relationships in her life. The rumor mill, she stressed, can't take that away from them.

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"Sometimes when the noise gets too much, I feel, at least let me say my piece, whether it's about that or something else, just so I'm on the record of it," King said of reacting to gossip about her. "My thing is, always be prepared. Sometimes you can just say, 'You know what? I don't wanna talk about that,' or, 'I don't have anything to say,' or, 'Good to see you.' But I don't wanna look like I'm running from something when I know I haven't done anything wrong."

Oprah Winfrey and Gayle King
Credit: Dimitrios Kambouris/WireImage

King added that she and Winfrey have sustained their friendship for so long partly because of their honesty and respect for one another. "I say I never see myself in her shadow. I always say I see myself in her light, and I do mean that," she told Cooper. "I have never, not once thought, 'God, I wish I could be her. I think I can do what she does,' because I don't believe that."

She and Winfrey are celebrating their 50th friendship anniversary this year, and might even throw a big bash to mark the momentous occasion.

"The other day, about a month ago I think, she said, 'I'm thinking about having a friendship party and telling everybody to come and bring their Oprah or bring their Gayle,'" King recalled, saying she is into the idea. "People that have a true friend understand what this is. The other people that don't, they go, 'Well, you know, they're blah blah blah blah' — fill in the blank about whatever you wanna say about us. But people who have a true friendship, women in particular, really get it. They get it."

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Winfrey has said King is "the mother I never had," once telling Barbara Walters in an interview that she is also "the sister everyone would want. She is the friend that everyone deserves. I don't know a better person."

"I got choked up watching that," King told Cooper of Winfrey's remarks. "I'm sitting there watching Barbara Walters, eating my popcorn, and then I called [Winfrey] and I said, 'Oh my God. I can't believe what you just said,' because I never thought about myself in that capacity, [being] all those things to her. But we do have a very unique bond."

She joked, "I got in trouble once because I'm single, alert, and available, and I said, 'If I could meet a guy that was like Oprah, I'd be done.' And then people took that all out of context, as they often do."

on Entertainment Weekly

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