Gayle King Addresses Rumors of Romance With Oprah

It’s a well-known fact that whenever you see Gayle King, you’ll likely see her bestie Oprah Winfrey nearby. Unfortunately for these two women, their closeness has only led others to speculate about the nature of their relationship for years, with some folks feeling there may be an underlying romantic layer.

Now, King herself is finally taking the time to dispel all the rumors and lay to rest the untrue chatter. The CBS Mornings host recently sat down with Alex Cooper for her popular “Call Her Daddy” podcast, where they discussed a variety of topics, including King’s longstanding friendship with Oprah.

At one point, Cooper asked King whether she had felt as if she was living in Winfrey’s shadow, something the morning news host denied. Shortly after that, King finally gave her two cents on the frequent internet chatter that she and Winfrey had been in a secret, romantic relationship with each other.

Specifically noting that the rumor used to “bother” her, King explained: “I was recently divorced, and there was The National Enquirer did a story about [it], that’s the reason for the divorce because they’re secretly gay. Number one, if we were gay, we would tell you because, believe me, there’s nothing wrong with it. It’s just, I prefer a man. I prefer a man. So, so we would tell you.”

She then explained how the rumors became so problematic that she asked Winfrey to address them on her show years ago, so that folks would stop making assumptions. “The Color Purple” star opted not to.

“I would say to [Oprah], ‘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 gotta say something.’ And she said, ‘No, we should just leave it.’…I said, ‘Well, that’s fine for you to say you have somebody. I don’t.’ So it used to really bother me,” King shared.

She went on to explain that despite her and Winfrey’s romantic relationship being untrue, there are still a handful of people who try to push the narrative to this day. However, it doesn’t affect her the way it once did.

“I don’t care. 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,” King said. “As long as I feel good about what I’m doing, the people I respect and trust are okay with it…Otherwise, you’ll drive yourself nuts. So now I really don’t care.”