Last Updated: 17 Jan 2011

Oprah: I'm not a lesbian

There have been hundreds of rumours over the years about the nature of Oprah's close relationship with her best friend Gayle King, and now that her talk show is nearing its finale, she is opening up about her private life.

In an interview with American presenter Barbara Walters Oprah dismissed claims that she and Gayle are in a lesbian relationship. She said, "I am not lesbian. I am not even kind of lesbian. I have said we are not gay enough times. That irritates me because it means somebody must think I'm lying. That's No.1. No.2 - why would you want to hide it? That is not the way I run my life."

During the interview she broke down as she spoke about how important her friendship with Gayle is. Oprah explained, "She's the mother I never had. She is the sister everybody would want. She is the friend everybody deserves. I don't know a better person. Shoot, I wasn’t going to cry here. It's making me cry because I'm thinking how much I probably never told her that. I’ve never told her that."

Such a shame that two women with such a strong friendship must instantly be whispered about as being lesbians. We think Oprah and Gayle are very lucky to have the support and trust they get from each other.