Oprah Winfrey and Gayle King are reflecting on their decades-long friendship, even responding to the longstanding rumor that they’re actually in a romantic relationship.
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The longtime best friends made an appearance on Melinda French Gates’ Moments That Make Us interview series on July 24. During their time on the show, Winfrey and King opened up about just how powerful their friendship is.
The friendship between Winfrey, 70, and King, 69 began about 50 years ago when they both worked at the Baltimore-area news station WJZ-TV. During a major snowstorm, Oprah told Gayle she could stay at her place for a night, and the two of them immediately bonded.
“I think we’ve shared pretty much everything and I would have to say, it wasn’t even a matter of navigation,” Winfrey said of their bond, according to PEOPLE. “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 noted.
That’s when Gayle chimed in to insist that the world would know by now if their relationship was something more.
“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,’” King joked. “Because if we were gay, we’d tell you!”
Winfrey went on to tell Gates that she thinks the lesbian rumors run rampant because people “aren’t used to seeing women with this kind of truth bond.”
“I just assumed everybody had a really good friend,” King said of their close relationship. “I just assumed every woman – maybe not for men – but I just assumed every woman had at least one.”
“The reason why I think our friendship has worked is because Gayle is happier, not happy, but happier for me for any kind of success or victory or challenge I get through than I am for myself,” Oprah gushed. “And I feel as happy as she does — I can’t be happier than, cannot surpass Gayle. You cannot out-happy her. I am equally as happy for her.”
The talk show host went on to say that friendships “with anybody who has a hint of jealousy about anything that you’re doing — certainly about your success or your being celebrated” probably won’t work.