Gayle King and Oprah Winfrey are ready to put the rumors to rest.
The longtime friends sat down with Melinda French Gates during a recent episode of her podcast Moments That Make Us to reflect on their decades-long friendship and their respective careers as successful television personalities.
But their strong bond was sometimes mistaken for something more romantic by fans.
“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 on the podcast.
King added that it sometimes caused trouble in her own love 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.’” she said, before swiftly announcing: “Because if we were gay, we’d tell you!”
But imagine what a power couple they would be!
The pair have been friends since they met in 1976 as young journalists working at Baltimore’s WJZ station. Winfrey suspected the rumors came about because people “aren’t used to seeing women with this kind of truth bond.”
While the rumors may not be true, King revealed during a recent appearance on The Drew Barrymore Show that she certainly considers Winfrey’s opinions when she’s dating.
“I think when you’re younger, your friends’ approval really matters,” King told Drew Barrymore on the show. “I think when you get older, you feel you know better, you know yourself.”
She continued, “But it would bother me, even today at my age, if Oprah didn’t like, or favorite daughter Kirby, or favorite [son] Will, didn’t like [someone that I’m dating]. That would actually give me pause. After that, it doesn’t matter.”
She added that her good friend can be “very blunt.”
“I think — and it depends on the nature of the friendship, too — if I didn’t approve of somebody and we were close, I would say that,” King concluded. “If we weren’t that close and I could tell they were happy, I would say nothing. But I think it depends on the nature of the friendship.”
The post Gayle King Admits It Was “Hard” To Date Because People Thought She Was Dating Oprah Winfrey: “If We Were Gay, We’d Tell You!” appeared first on Decider.
