Oprah Winfrey and Gayle King -- Can Two Female Friends Love Each Other Without Sex?

Oprah Winfrey and Gayle King are close friends who love each other, but Oprah tells Barbara Walters, "I'm not a lesbian," as reported at ABC. Barbara interviewed Oprah for her "A Barbara Walters Special: Oprah, the Next Chapter" which will air Thursday, December 9, 2010 on ABC.

How close are Oprah Winfrey and Gayle King?

If you've never seen Oprah cry and get incredibly emotional over a friend, you can see it on Barbara Walters' upcoming special "A Barbara Walters Special: Oprah, the Next Chapter." Oprah announced that she's leaving her long running "The Oprah Winfrey Show" after 25 years, in May of 2011, to launch a new cable TV network, OWN, in January.

Gayle King is an editor-at-large for "O, The Oprah Magazine," and has been friends with Oprah Winfrey for years. Gayle is Oprah's best friend. Oprah's long time partner is Stedman Graham, but you rarely see her with him or hear her talk about him. However, you see and hear a lot of Gayle King. Hence, the rumor that Oprah Winfrey and Gayle King are gay.

"They fish together...they camp together...they shack up together..., " as reported at TMZ. "Gay people are everywhere, that's the beauty," Gayle says to a TMZ interviewer. But she insists that the gay rumors are "ridiculous."

And so does Oprah. Despite the fact that she shows enough emotion for Gayle that she has to wipe away tears.

"A lot of women have close friends. Very few have friends as close as yours. Describe that," asked Barbara.

After a long pause, and after welling up with emotion, Oprah responded. "She is the mother I never had. She is the sister everybody would want. She is the friend that everybody deserves. I don't know a better person," Oprah said. "I don't know a better person," she repeated.

"Why is it making you cry?" asked Barbara.

"It's making me cry because I'm thinking about how much I probably have never told her that," said Oprah.

Can two female friends love each other without sex?

Are Oprah Winfrey and Gayle King lovers? In response to Barbara's question about lesbian rumors, Oprah was clear. "I'm not lesbian. I'm not even kinda lesbian. And the reason why it irritates me is because it means somebody must think I'm lying." Oprah said. "Why would you want to hide it? That is not the way I run my life."

No. But can two female friends love each other without sex? Says Sarah Hampson, in her article "Soulmates - without the sex," "Few people - especially men - understand the nature of female relationships. Many women I know, married or in relationships with men, have described how their romantic partners worry about a Sapphic love between best girlfriends. They cannot fathom such closeness, such complete connection, without sexual tension. And that could be because for most men, sex is how they best express such tenderness."

Married women know that girlfriends often give them what their husbands cannot, even though they love their men. Oprah Winfrey has been with Stedman Graham for a long time, but Gayle is arguable more important to her.

Oprah Winfrey and Gayle King love each other and whether Oprah is truly gay or not, some would say it would not do her any good to come out of the closet. Until we live in a society where homophobia does not exist, especially for celebrities, some would say it's better to stay in it.

Sources:

"I'm Not a Lesbian" Says Tearful Oprah Winfrey, ABC

Oprah cries during Walters interview, YouTube (Video)

Gayle King -- Ain't No Gay Vibe With Oprah, TMZ

Sarah Hampson, Soulmates - without the sex, The Globe and Mail