Oprah denies rumor she's gay

CHICAGO, July 18 (UPI) -- Oprah Winfrey, 52, and Gayle King, 51, have been close friends for 30 years, but the Chicago television host denies the relationship is sexual, a report says.

"I understand why people think we're gay," Winfrey said. Because American culture doesn't have a name for unconditional love between women, Oprah said, people have to label it, the New York Post reported on excerpts obtained from the August issue of O, The Oprah Magazine.

Winfrey has never been married, although she has dated businessman Stedman Graham for several years. King is divorced with two children. Because the women are often together, gossip begins.

At a wedding in the Bahamas, for example, questions arose when the friends were together.

"They're gay. This proves it," Winfrey said observers believed. "Has to be, because Stedman isn't around."

If they were gay, the women said, they would have no problem admitting it. What bothers Winfrey, however, is that those who doubt her are insinuating she's lying.