{"id":668523,"date":"2026-05-27T18:07:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-27T18:07:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/668523\/"},"modified":"2026-05-27T18:07:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T18:07:10","slug":"why-gayle-king-oprah-winfrey-fought-over-rumors-theyre-secretly-gay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/668523\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Gayle King, Oprah Winfrey fought over rumors they’re secretly gay"},"content":{"rendered":"

Gayle King got upset with Oprah Winfrey for refusing to shut down rumors that they were secretly dating<\/a>.<\/p>\n

During Wednesday\u2019s \u201cCall Her Daddy\u201d podcast episode<\/a>, the \u201cCBS Mornings\u201d anchor said speculation about the pair\u2019s relationship \u201cused to really bother\u201d her \u2014 so much that she asked Winfrey for help.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would say to her, \u2018You\u2019ve got to say something on your show, because it\u2019s hard enough for me to get a date on a Saturday night and now people think I\u2019m a lesbian, you\u2019ve gotta say something,’\u201d King recalled.<\/p>\n

Gayle King said on \u201cCall Her Daddy\u201d Wednesday that she got upset with Oprah Winfrey for not shutting down rumors they are \u201csecretly gay.\u201d Call Her Daddy\/Youtube<\/p>\n

King recalled asking Winfrey to go on her show and clarify the truth about the pair\u2019s relationship. Call Her Daddy\/Youtube<\/p>\n

But King, 71, said Winfrey, 72, felt differently and demanded they \u201cleave\u201d the speculation alone.<\/p>\n

\u201cI said, \u2018Well, that\u2019s fine for you to say. You have somebody. I don\u2019t,’\u201d King remembered telling Winfrey, who has been in a relationship with Stedman Graham since 1986.<\/p>\n

While people still accuse her and Winfrey of being a couple, King has now learned to ignore the comments.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve now gotten to the point in my life that very few things get to me,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n

However, Winfrey (pictured above in 2025) refused to do so and insisted they should \u201cleave\u201d the rumors alone. Getty Images for Tony Awards Productions<\/p>\n

\u201cI said, \u2018Well, that\u2019s fine for you to say. You have somebody. I don\u2019t,’\u201d King (pictured above in 2024) remembered telling Winfrey, who has been in a longterm relationship with Stedman Graham. CBS<\/p>\n

King reiterated that there isn\u2019t any truth to the rumors, which she said started after her 1993 divorce from William G. Bumpus, who cheated on her<\/a> with one of her friends.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we were gay, we would tell you because believe me, there\u2019s nothing wrong with it,\u201d King stated. \u201cIt\u2019s just, I prefer a man. So we would tell you.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you go on social media, it is an accelerator on hate,\u201d King continued. \u201cAs long as I feel good about what I\u2019m doing, the people I respect and trust are okay with it. Otherwise you\u2019ll drive yourself nuts. So now I really don\u2019t care.\u201d<\/p>\n

King (pictured above in 2001) said she\u2019s finally learned to ignore the rumors about the pair\u2019s friendship. Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images<\/p>\n

King did, however, reiterate that there\u2019s no truth to the rumors about herself and Winfrey (pictured above with Graham in 2019). WireImage<\/p>\n

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King and Winfrey\u2019s friendship started 50 years ago when they both worked at the Baltimore-area news station WJZ-TV.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Despite Winfrey\u2019s massive success, King insisted on the podcast that she\u2019s never felt inferior to the billionaire.<\/p>\n

\u201cI never see myself in her shadow. I always say I see myself in her light,\u201d King told listeners. \u201cAnd I do mean that. I never thought, \u2018God, I wish I could be her.’\u201d<\/p>\n

King (seen above in 2023) insisted, \u201cIf we were gay, we would tell you because believe me, there\u2019s nothing wrong with it.\u201d Getty Images for Academy Museum of Motion Pictures<\/p>\n

Winfrey and King (seen above in March) have been friends for 50 years. Dave Benett\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

King, however, noted the pair also have many differences, such as that King likes to go out while Winfrey prefers staying in.<\/p>\n

Later in the conversation, King said there\u2019s nothing that could lead to the duo having a falling out.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce you\u2019ve been in the inner circle of anyone\u2019s life, it\u2019s a really privileged place to be,\u201d she shared. \u201cAnd I hold that very sacred. I know I can trust her with anything. And she, me.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Gayle King got upset with Oprah Winfrey for refusing to shut down rumors that they were secretly dating.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":668524,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[236,7570,3172,91,88,94816,36061,138313,19142,2294],"class_list":["post-668523","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-celebrity-friendships","tag-celebrity-interviews","tag-celebrity-news","tag-entertainment","tag-gay","tag-gayle-king","tag-lgbtqia","tag-oprah-winfrey","tag-podcasts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/668523","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=668523"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/668523\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/668524"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=668523"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=668523"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=668523"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}