O MAGAZINE: THIS MONTH'S MISSION
FEATURED ARTICLES
OPRAH'S CUT
GAYLE AND OPRAH—UNCENSORED
by Lisa Kogan
After 30 years of four-times-a-day phone calls, Oprah and Gayle sit down with O, The Oprah Magazine's columnist Lisa Kogan for a startlingly honest chat—about their friendship, working relationship and those tabloid rumors (who could forget that night in the Bahamas? Not the bellboy).
Lisa: Well, let's get right to it! Every time I tell somebody, "I'm interviewing Oprah and Gayle," the response is always the same: "Oh. [Long pause] Are they…you know…together?"
Oprah: You're kidding. People are still saying that?
Lisa: Every single person. And I say, "No, I don't think so." And invariably, they respond with something like "You know, you're very naive."
Oprah: I understand why people think we're gay. There isn't a definition in our culture for this kind of bond between women. So I get why people have to label it—how can you be this close without it being sexual? How else can you explain a level of intimacy where someone always loves you, always respects you, admires you?
Gayle: Wants the best for you.
Oprah: Wants the best for you in every single situation of your life. Lifts you up. Supports you. Always! That's an incredibly rare thing between even the closest of friends.
Gayle: The truth is, if we were gay, we would so tell you, because there's nothing wrong with being gay.
Oprah: Yeah. But for people to still be asking the question, when I've said it and said it and said it, that means they think I'm a liar. And that bothers me.
Gayle: Well, particularly given how open you've been about everything else in your life.
Oprah: I've told nearly everything there is to tell. All my stuff is out there. People think I'd be so ashamed of being gay that I wouldn't admit it? Oh, please.
Lisa: Do the rumors bother you, Gayle?
Gayle: Not anymore, but I used to say, "Oprah, you have to do something. It's hard enough for me to get a date on a Saturday night. You've got to go on the air and stop it!" And then you realize you really can't stop it. And, you know, somebody made a good point: "Well, every time we see you, you're together," which is true.
Oprah: We were just down in the Bahamas—I was giving a wedding for my niece there. And we're having this big party in my suite. And who comes walking in—
Gayle: With my suitcase.
Oprah: With her suitcase! And I knew what all the waiters, what everybody was thinking: They're gay. This proves it. Has to be, because Stedman isn't around.
Gayle: And sure enough, the tabloid headline was "Oprah's Hideaway with Gal Pal." Ridiculous. But that said, I have to admit, if Oprah were a man, I would marry her.
