{"id":3659,"date":"2026-05-27T14:57:04","date_gmt":"2026-05-27T14:57:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/login9ja.com\/global\/why-gayle-king-oprah-winfrey-fought-over-rumors-theyre-secretly-gay\/"},"modified":"2026-05-27T14:57:04","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T14:57:04","slug":"why-gayle-king-oprah-winfrey-fought-over-rumors-theyre-secretly-gay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/login9ja.com\/global\/why-gayle-king-oprah-winfrey-fought-over-rumors-theyre-secretly-gay\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Gayle King, Oprah Winfrey fought over rumors they&#8217;re secretly gay"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/pagesix.com\/wp-content%2Fuploads%2Fsites%2F3%2F2026%2F05%2Fking-08.jpg?quality%3D90%26strip%3Dall\" \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Gayle King got upset with Oprah Winfrey for refusing to shut down <a href=\"https:\/\/pagesix.com\/2024\/07\/25\/entertainment\/oprah-winfrey-and-gayle-king-address-lesbian-rumors\/\">rumors that they were secretly dating<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>During Wednesday\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Fj9YNo_cUgU\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\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<p>\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,&#8217;\u201d King recalled.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><figcaption>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 <span class=\"credit\">Call Her Daddy\/Youtube<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><figcaption>King recalled asking Winfrey to go on her show and clarify the truth about the pair\u2019s relationship. <span class=\"credit\">Call Her Daddy\/Youtube<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module aligncenter wp-block-nypost-editor-primary-tag\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>But King, 71, said Winfrey, 72, felt differently and demanded they \u201cleave\u201d the speculation alone.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI said, \u2018Well, that\u2019s fine for you to say. You have somebody. I don\u2019t,&#8217;\u201d King remembered telling Winfrey, who has been in a relationship with Stedman Graham since 1986.<\/p>\n<p>While people still accuse her and Winfrey of being a couple, King has now learned to ignore the comments.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve now gotten to the point in my life that very few things get to me,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><figcaption>However, Winfrey (pictured above in 2025) refused to do so and insisted they should \u201cleave\u201d the rumors alone. <span class=\"credit\">Getty Images for Tony Awards Productions<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><figcaption>\u201cI said, \u2018Well, that\u2019s fine for you to say. You have somebody. I don\u2019t,&#8217;\u201d King (pictured above in 2024) remembered telling Winfrey, who has been in a longterm relationship with Stedman Graham. <span class=\"credit\">CBS<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>King reiterated that there isn\u2019t any truth to the rumors, which she said started after her 1993 divorce from William G. Bumpus, who <a href=\"https:\/\/pagesix.com\/2016\/07\/06\/gayle-kings-ex-apologizes-for-cheating-on-her\/\">cheated on her<\/a> with one of her friends.<\/p>\n<p>\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<p>\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<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><figcaption>King (pictured above in 2001) said she\u2019s finally learned to ignore the rumors about the pair\u2019s friendship. <span class=\"credit\">Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><figcaption>King did, however, reiterate that there\u2019s no truth to the rumors about herself and Winfrey (pictured above with Graham in 2019). <span class=\"credit\">WireImage<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>King and Winfrey\u2019s friendship started 50 years ago when they both worked at the Baltimore-area news station WJZ-TV.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Despite Winfrey\u2019s massive success, King insisted on the podcast that she\u2019s never felt inferior to the billionaire.<\/p>\n<p>\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.&#8217;\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><figcaption>King (seen above in 2023) insisted, \u201cIf we were gay, we would tell you because believe me, there\u2019s nothing wrong with it.\u201d <span class=\"credit\">Getty Images for Academy Museum of Motion Pictures<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><figcaption>Winfrey and King (seen above in March) have been friends for 50 years. <span class=\"credit\">Dave Benett\/Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>King, however, noted the pair also have many differences, such as that King likes to go out while Winfrey prefers staying in.<\/p>\n<p>Later in the conversation, King said there\u2019s nothing that could lead to the duo having a falling out.<\/p>\n<p>\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<\/p><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/pagesix.com\/2026\/05\/27\/celebrity-news\/why-gayle-king-oprah-winfrey-fought-over-rumors-theyre-secretly-gay\/\" target=\"_blank\">Source link<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Gayle King got upset with Oprah Winfrey for refusing to shut down rumors that they<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3660,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3659","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/login9ja.com\/global\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/king-08.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/login9ja.com\/global\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3659","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/login9ja.com\/global\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/login9ja.com\/global\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/login9ja.com\/global\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/login9ja.com\/global\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3659"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/login9ja.com\/global\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3659\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/login9ja.com\/global\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3660"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/login9ja.com\/global\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3659"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/login9ja.com\/global\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3659"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/login9ja.com\/global\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3659"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}