Gayle King is once again speaking out about the long-standing rumor that she was dating Oprah Winfrey, and explaining why the iconic host refused to publicly shut it down on “The Oprah Winfrey Show.”
Speaking with Alex Cooper on her viral “Call Her Daddy” podcast, the CBS Mornings co-host was asked how she used to “handle” rumors that she was secretly dating Winfrey: “It used to really bother me. I was recently divorced and the National Enquirer did a story about [how] that’s the reason for the divorce, because they’re secretly gay.”
She continued, “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. I prefer a man.”
King recalls urging Winfrey to say something on her talk 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 gotta say something.” Winfrey’s response was to “just leave it be.”
Although Winfrey’s handling of the situation used to bother King, especially because Winfrey has been married since 1986, King says she doesn’t care anymore: “I’ve now gotten to the point in my life that very few things get to me. Because, you know, when you go on social media, it is an accelerator on hate.”
