Oprah Winfrey: 'I'm Not a Lesbian'

The rumors have been around for years. She even made light about them recently. But Oprah Winfrey has once again stated flatly: "I'm not a lesbian."

"I'm not even kind of a lesbian," the talk-show queen, 56, tells Barbara Walters in tonight's interview on ABC. "And the reason why [the rumor] irritates me is because it means that somebody must think I'm lying. That's number one. Number two ... why would you want to hide it? That is not the way I run my life."

The rumors have focused on Winfrey's friend Gayle King. But Winfrey says that relationship is extremely close in a whole different way.

"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. I don't know a better person," Winfrey says while choking up.

"It's making me cry because I'm thinking about ... how much ... I probably have never told her that. Tissue, please. I now need tissue. I've never told her that."

The occasion for the interview, airing tonight at 9:00 pm (ET) on ABC, is the end of Winfrey's syndicated show next May and the beginning of her new cable network – OWN, The Oprah Winfrey Network.

On that subject, Winfrey admits to having been afraid of how daunting the new project is. "I was very scared," she says. "I would wake up in the middle of the night literally like clutching my chest, like, 'What have I done? What have I done?'"

Kitty Kelley Biography Explores Oprah's 'Secrets'

In her latest unauthorized celebrity biography, Kitty Kelley takes on Oprah Winfrey, and aims to shed some light on a woman who is hugely famous and powerful but who Kelley says keeps much of her real self hidden from view.

"There are so many secrets in her life," Kelley, 68, said Monday on NBC's Today show. "Secrets about her relationship, secrets within her family."

Kelley was unable to talk to Winfrey, 56, for the book but scoured countless interviews the talk-show queen has given through the years, and also quotes friends, family members and employees – some on the record, others not – to get a glimpse inside Winfrey's closely guarded world.

Among the more personal topics Kelley attempts to address: whether Winfrey is gay, and the extent of the sexual abuse she suffered as a girl.

On the issue of whether Winfrey and best friend Gayle King are lesbian partners, Kelley concludes there is "no foundation for the rumors of a lesbian relationship." But in excerpts published by USA Today, Kelley quotes Rosie O'Donnell (from a 2009 Howard Stern interview) saying Winfrey and King are the "emotional equivalent of a gay couple," and author Erica Jong saying, "I would not be surprised if Oprah is gay."

Questionable Motives

Likewise, Kelley says Winfrey was molested as a girl, but quotes Katharine Carr Esters, an 81-year-old cousin of Winfrey's, who questions that assertion.

"I don't believe a bit of it," Esters tells Kelley. "No one in the family believes her stories [of sexual abuse], but now that she's so rich and powerful everyone is afraid to contradict her."

But as The New Yorker points out, Esters's motives could be questionable, as she reportedly holds a grudge stemming from Winfrey's failure to help her publicize a memoir.

Kelley also claims that Esters told her who Winfrey's real father is – but that she left that out of the book because Winfrey's mother has been unwilling to tell her daughter over the years.

Kelley claims to be having trouble getting booked for interviews about the biography, saying everyone from Barbara Walters to Larry King to David Letterman have turned down her publisher's requests. But at the core, she says, her book is uplifting.

"I can't think of a better life story [than Oprah's]," she says. "You come away being inspired."

Friends React to Oprah Winfrey's Decision to End Show

As the realization sinks in that, after a quarter of a century, Oprah Winfrey will be ending her syndicated talk show September 9, 2011 – a decision she intends to explain on her program Friday – rivals, admirers and industry analysts are chiming in with their reactions.

As with most things Oprah, there's admiration mixed with a sense of awe.

Martha Stewart, attending Diddy's 40th birthday bash at New York's Plaza Hotel Thursday night (the news about Winfrey had broken late that afternoon), pointed out that Oprah was not retiring.

"She'll do another show," said the domestic diva, 68. "She's evolving. She's fabulous."

Only don't be so sure. Winfrey, 55, whose current program reaches about 7 million viewers a day, is preparing to start her own cable channel. And while it has been widely rumored that she would bring her program to OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network, a joint venture with Discovery Communications, on Friday's Today show, during a news report on Winfrey's impact on TV, it was said that there will be no Oprah show once she pulls the plug on the current program.

Gayle King's Reaction

Winfrey's best friend Gayle King, 54, dismissed any thought of risks involved with something new, and said at the Diddy party, "When you think about it, Oprah Winfrey has been No. 1 every single year since she started."

King, who is an editor-at-large for O, The Oprah Magazine, and is close to the media queen, said in response to a question that she was not consulted about Winfrey's move. "This was definitely Oprah's decision, and Oprah's decision alone."

As for any sense of loss Winfrey might feel about her show, King laughed and said, " I think that Oprah always makes the best decision for herself. I really do. And I have a feeling she will come up with some things to do. She has a very full life … We don't need to worry about her filling her time, I promise you that! Life is good for her."

Ellen's Announcement

For Ellen DeGeneres, who is the cover girl (along with Winfrey) on the December issue of O magazine, the news about Winfrey's decision was so big that she announced it to her in-studio audience Thursday.

"Hey listen, I'm going to tell you some news you're going to hear as soon as you go out into the world, when you leave here. Right before I came out here, I got a call from Oprah and she told me that she is announcing that next year will be her last year. It will be her 25th year, and she feels like it's time for her to stop."

Putting her own career into perspective, DeGeneres, 51, went on to say, "I don't think I could be here without her. I think she has blazed a trail ... She is an amazing woman."

In terms of Winfrey's legacy, "She will always be the Queen of Daytime Television," said Ellen, "and she also said she is leaving me all of her money. I was like, thanks Oprah, thank you."

Heartbroken Fans?

In Winfrey's hometown of Chicago, reaction is bittersweet – even in a Windy City sweet shop.

"Oprah is huge in Chicago," candy store worker Sara Crane tells the Chicago Tribune. Despite the rumbling that Oprah is planning to uproot from Chicago and settle in Los Angeles, Crane said, "I think it'd be more detrimental if she left Chicago and went to a different city. I think people would be offended.

Still, looking at the big picture, Crane says, "People will support anything Oprah does. She could run for president and probably win."

Oprah: "How Do You Know If Someone Is Gay?"

Hey, if we wanted to talk about “How do you know if someone is gay?” why not gather this team: Oprah Winfrey, Gayle King and Hugh Jackman who people are always saying are gay but who say they are not; and Nate Berkus who IS gay.

Also throw in Jenny McCarthy who is not gay but shares her life with Jim Carrey who very convincingly played gay in the movie "I Love You Phillp Morris."

Watch what happens!