Gayle King addresses Oprah Winfrey dating rumours saying they used to 'really bother' her

Gayle King has said rumours about a romantic relationship between her and pal Oprah Winfrey ‘really bothered’ her in the past.

Rumours and speculation that the King and Winfrey were more than friends have been around for decades.

Now, King has addressed the rumours in a new episode of Alex Cooper’s Call Her Daddy podcast, after she was asked how the speculation felt and how she handled the headlines.

“Well, it used to really bother me,” she admitted.

“I was recently divorced. The National Enquirer did a story about that [being] the reason for the divorce, because they're secretly gay.

Gayle King said the rumours used to 'really bother' her (Getty)

“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.”

King went on to say that she asked Winfrey to use her show to shut the rumours down, but that the TV personality thought it was better to just ‘leave it alone’.

In response, King said she told Winfrey: “Well, that’s fine for you to say, you have somebody, I don’t.”

However, while the rumours surrounding her love life used to get to her, the 71-year-old revealed that these days she couldn’t care less.

“Even today, there are still people that say, ‘Well, you know, the truth is...’” she told Cooper.

“I don’t care. I've now gotten to the point in my life that very few things get to me. Because when you go on social media, it is an accelerator on hate.

The two women have been friends for decades (Getty)

“As long as I feel good about what I'm doing, the people I respect and trust are OK with it - who will say, 'Well, Mom, maybe you shouldn't have done that,’ - or somebody whose opinion I value. Otherwise, you'll drive yourself nuts. So now I really don't care.”

A couple of years back, Winfrey also addressed the rumours while appearing on Melinda French Gates' Moments That Make Us alongside King.

"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," she said.

The two women have been friends for around 50 years, after initially meeting in the 1970s and striking up a friendship.

Winfrey went on to say that she thought rumours came about because people ‘aren't used to seeing women with this kind of truth bond’.