Smallscreen News

Lesbionics: Why does Oprah have to defend herself about her sex life?

By April MacIntyre Dec 8, 2010, 22:45 GMT

Leave the woman alone! Oprah Winfrey - Athletes Against Drugs Pairing Party - June 6, 2010 - Hotel Arista - Naperville , IL, USA © Daniel Locke / PR Photos

Constant badgering of "is she or isn't she" rumors have plagued Oprah Winfrey, who has flatly stated,  "I'm not a lesbian."

But even if she was, who cares? The woman runs a network, builds schools in impoverished countries, employs a ton of Americans and has the ear of the President of the United States.

No one bothers CNN's Anderson Cooper over the rumors of his sexuality.  In this era of primetime network television that celebrates gay teen love affairs (Glee) and Gay married couples (Modern Family) the gay-finger pointing seems petty and dated.  Major networks are run by gays; major stars are gay; your cousin in Debuke, probably gay.

"I'm not even kind of a lesbian," the talk-show queen, 56, tells Barbara Walters in an upcoming 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."

At the center of all this much ado about nothing is her lifelong friend Gayle King.

"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 tells Barbara, according to ABC news.

The interview airs Thursday at 9 p.m. ET on ABC, is the end of Winfrey's syndicated show next May and the beginning of OWN, The Oprah Winfrey Network.