“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 told Gates.

King added, “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.’… Because if we were gay, we’d tell you!”

Winfrey and King have been close friends since meeting at a news station in Baltimore decades ago, TV Insider reported. Winfrey was a 22-year-old anchor at WJZ-TV then, while King, who was just 21, worked as a production assistant. The friendship began when Winfrey offered King a place to stay during a severe storm.

“We ended up talking all night long,” Winfrey told People in a 2022 interview. “We’ve literally been friends ever since.”

Winfrey said their friendship sparked lesbian rumors because people “aren’t used to seeing women with this kind of truth bond.”

The 70-year-old media mogul adds that she and King genuinely root for each other.

“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,” she said. “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.”

According to King, the other key factor in their friendship is honesty.

“In Oprah’s life, everybody is always very flattering and is always very agreeable with things that she says,” she said. “And sometimes I’ll just go, ‘That’s just not true. Your hair does not look good.’”

Check out the entire conversation below!