In an appearance on Melina French Gates' podcast Moments That Make Us, Oprah Winfrey and Gayle King addressed the longstanding rumors that they were in a romantic relationship.
“You know, for years, people used to say we were gay, and listen, we were up against that forever,” said Winfrey, 70, around the 13-minute point of the video, as seen above. "And People still may think it." King, 69, joked that she wanted Winfrey to do a segment on her show addressing these rumors. "I used to say [to her], 'You got to do a show on this, 'cause it's hard enough for me to get a date on Saturday night with people thinking we're gay,'" King said.
The two said that they're very open with the public and are willing to share a lot about their lives, so if they were gay everyone would already know. "If we were gay we would tell you," said King. In response, Gates suggested people might have believed those rumors because they weren't used to seeing women having "deep, true friendships." Winfrey agreed that people "aren't accustomed to seeing women" with such a close bond, at least not when those rumors first circulated.
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This isn't the first time the friends have addressed these rumors, as they spoke about them in a 2006 issue of Winfrey's magazine, O. Writer Lisa Kogan opened the interview by telling them that she had people ask if King and Winfrey are "together," to which Winfrey replied, "You're kidding. People are still saying that?"
"I understand why people think we're gay," she continued. "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?" King echoed her sentiment in the new interview with Gates, and added, "The truth is, if we were gay, we would so tell you, because there's nothing wrong with being gay."
Check out the full interview with Gates above.