Gayle King was 'really bothered' by her and Oprah Winfrey's lesbian romance rumours
Gayle King has once again insisted that there is nothing romantic between her best pal Oprah Winfrey.
Oprah Winfrey and Gayle King's lesbian romance rumours "used to really bother" the latter.
CBS Mornings anchor Gayle, 71, has shut down the hearsay, which was sparked following her divorce from ex-attorney William Bumpus in 1993, and reminded rumourmongers that she and the media mogul's relationship is platonic, and if they were gay and in love, the pair would say so.
On the latest episode of the Call Her Daddy podcast, host Alex Cooper, 31, asked the broadcaster: "Tell me how that feels when you guys have had to handle those headlines, handle those rumours, handle that speculation."
Gayle admitted: "It used to really bother me.
"I was recently divorced, and The National Enquirer did a story about, 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."
The TV personality even asked 72-year-old Oprah - whom she met in 1976 at WJZ-TV in Baltimore - to debunk the rumours on her now-shelved eponymous talk show.
Gayle continued: "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.'"
Oprah said the pair should "leave it alone" and not address it, and Gayle added to her friend, "Well, that's fine for you to say, you have somebody, I don't."
Gayle continued: "So it used to really bother me. And now, even today, there's still people that say, 'Well, you know, the truth is...' I don't care."
The journalist is now at a point in her life where "very few things get to me".
Gayle added: "As long as I feel good about what I'm doing, the people I respect and trust are OK 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."
In 2013, Oprah appeared on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen, and he asked the star if she had "taken a dip in the lady pond? Have you ever been with a lady?"
Oprah replied: "No, no, I have not. Thank you."
And in June 2024, Andy, 57, told Entertainment Tonight that his question is "probably one of my few regrets".
He added that Gayle reached out to him afterwards and noted that her pal may not have understood the question.
Andy said: "Gayle King told me later that week that Oprah didn't know what I meant by 'the lady pond. I thought I explained it pretty well there, but listen, I was so grateful that Oprah did the show, and I still am. That remains, I think, my favourite episode."
