6 Rumors About Oprah Winfrey We Can't Ignore

For all the perks of fame, one major drawback is that unkind (and even at times slanderous) chatter can very quickly do the rounds. As one of the most famous people on the planet, Oprah Winfrey has been on the receiving end of that on a number of occasions — and while she's laughed some rumors off, there have been others she's felt compelled to call out in no uncertain terms. Either way, this is our roundup of the rumors we can't ignore. 

Starting off with something light, some may have heard the rumor that Oprah and her best friend,  Gayle King, are (drum roll) more than friends. Evidently, many find Oprah and Gayle's friendship strange because of how close they are, but they've clarified on a number of occasions that there is no truth to the rumors that they're an item. Moreover, as Oprah once pointed out in an interview with Barbara Walters for ABC News, "I have said we are not gay enough times, I'm not lesbian, I'm not even kind of lesbian, and the reason why it 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."

Oprah and King have also poked fun at the rumors in the past. When they went on their camping trip to Yosemite in 2010, King joked about their shared camper van for the excursion, "Let's just add to that lesbian rumor ... come on in, baby!" (via Radar). Oprah described King to Walters as "the mother I never had ... the sister everybody would want ... the friend that everybody deserves." Secret girlfriend? Never part of the equation.

Longtime fans of "Rachael Ray Show" may recall that Oprah Winfrey once made an appearance on it and was asked to recount the most bizarre rumor she'd heard about herself over the years. Oprah put her hand on her hip, shook her head, then quipped, "Heard a lot of bad ones." As for the wildest she'd heard, though, she recalled, "The craziest one is that I had stabbed Stedman and put him in the hospital." Cue riotous laughter from the audience, and Ray chiming in, "We love you Stedman! That didn't happen!"

Oprah confirmed that it certainly had not happened (which, duh), but it's worth noting that the situation had become rather dramatic back when the rumor first began doing the rounds. That was in 1989, when gossip columnist Ann Gerber ran a story about a rich woman (whose name Gerber omitted, but the fact that she was dubbed "one of our richest women" didn't exactly do much to hide who she was talking about) who had found her partner in bed with another woman. Making matters worse, once Oprah's team saw the story and called the columnist out, Gerber published another eyebrow-raising piece. "Rumors that TV talk show star Oprah Winfrey and her hunk Stedman Graham had a major rift (one version has Oprah shooting him) just aren't true, friends insist," she wrote (via Reader). Perhaps unsurprisingly, Gerber was ultimately fired. 

Speaking to Reader, Gerber explained that the piece had been specifically geared towards clearing Oprah's name, noting, "I think a rumor that becomes that widespread, and it had a life of its own, is news. ... Everybody was talking about it, and by airing it it would kind of be laid to rest." Maybe, maybe not, but Oprah wasn't amused. 

Moving from a very negative rumor to a significantly more positive one, like we said, Oprah Winfrey is one of the best-known names and faces in the world. However, back in 2021, there was some speculation as to whether she may get an even fancier title (than, y'know, being one of the most recognizable names in media). That would be godmother to Princess Lilibet. 

The rumor that Oprah was headed for godmother-dom came soon after the birth of Meghan Markle and Prince Harry's second child. As Kevin Frazier pointed out to Oprah in an interview with ET, "You know the internet is like, 'Please let Oprah be the godmother!'" Unfortunately for the internet, however, Oprah implied that that wasn't the case. We say implied, because her exact response was, "I don't need to be the godmother. I mean, I'm a godmother by default." Oprah added that she thought a godmother should be someone closer in age to Lilibet's parents ... but she didn't say she wouldn't accept the honor if Harry and Meghan did ask her about it. 

Jokes (and conspiracies) aside, we don't think Oprah was selected as Lilibet's godmother, and some rumors have suggested that it was actually Harry's nanny, Tiggy Legge-Bourke, who was chosen for the role. That said, godmother to a princess sounds a little too much like a fairy godmother for this particular rumor not to stay at the back of our minds. BRB, envisioning Oprah arriving in a blue ballgown and singing "Bibbity, bobbity, boo."

On the flip side of the godmother chatter, there has also been a very different rumor about Oprah Winfrey's friendship with the Sussexes. That would be a feud between the former senior royals and their famous interviewer. However, just like the godmother rumor, this one turned out not to be true. 

One of the main drivers of this particular rumor was none other than Paul Burrell, aka Princess Diana's butler. Speaking to Closer, Burrell mused, "Harry and Meghan's circle is getting smaller and smaller. I think the A-list stars are dropping like flies. Some already have done — Oprah no longer seems involved with them and some other celebrities have also dropped them" (via The U.S. Sun). TBH, it would be sad if it were true. However, as seems to be the case with most of the rumors surrounding Oprah, it doesn't look like it was. 

Case in point: Burrell's comments were published in June 2024, and Oprah and Meghan Markle put their feud rumors to bed that September at a bookstore opening. The two were pictured in a tight hug, and Oprah even sat front row while Meghan spoke on stage. Given Meghan and Harry's bombshell interview with Oprah a few years prior, a sudden feud would be juicy, but we're glad this one seems to have been embellished. 

Oprah Winfrey's romance with Stedman Graham has spanned decades, and the pair even got engaged in the early '90s, so it's not that surprising that some have wondered if they're actually married. However, when a rumor began doing the rounds that Oprah and Stedman had finally said their "I dos" in 2016, Oprah herself made it clear that that was nothing more than a rumor. 

Oprah's denial came after she started getting calls from people in her circle. "6 people who know me well have called today congratulating me or surprised they weren't invited to my wedding. IT's NOT TRUE!!" she wrote in a post on X, then known as Twitter. An OWN ambassador then shared a snap of where some of the intel was coming from. "It was in Star magazine!!!!!" they wrote. Gayle King also poked fun at the rumors and what had been published, responding, "Whaaaat?? It's not true?? But I heard I gave my blessing! Are you sure no wedding I wanted to clear the calendar ... "

FWIW, those who've followed Oprah for years will know that she's long sworn off the possibility of marriage. In fact, in a 2020 article she wrote for Oprah Daily, the media powerhouse admitted, "The moment after I said yes to his proposal, I had doubts. I realized I didn't actually want a marriage. I wanted to be asked. I wanted to know he felt I was worthy of being his missus, but I didn't want the sacrifices, the compromises, the day-in-day-out commitment required to make a marriage work." Case closed — Oprah isn't married, nor is she planning on changing that.

"Oprah's Oval Office" has a nice ring to it, and we just know her televised meetings with world leaders would have everyone tuned in. However, the rumor that Oprah Winfrey was thinking of running for president proved false. 

This particular rumor first began in 2017, when she discussed the idea in an interview for "The David Rubenstein Show." Oprah had joked that she'd never even thought it was a possibility because she didn't think she knew enough, but after seeing Donald Trump's election, "I just thought, 'Oh!'" She did clarify a few moments later that she was just kidding, noting, "No, that won't be happening." Even so, her rousing speech at the next year's Golden Globes amid the Time's Up and Me Too movements earned her a standing ovation and renewed questions over her potential candidacy. It certainly didn't help that neither Stedman Graham nor Gayle King completely denied the possibility. Graham was quoted by the Los Angeles Times as saying, "She would absolutely do it." King later shared on CBS Mornings that he had been confused by the question and "would never just throw it out there like that." King also said she thought Oprah was probably "intrigued" by the possibility of a run, but added, "I don't think at this point she is actually considering it."

Oprah herself would later confirm that she wouldn't run, telling "60 Minutes," "I am actually humbled by the fact that people think that I could be a leader of the free world, but it's just not in my spirit. It's not in my DNA." Well, as King shared on "CBS Mornings," Oprah's shows have always highlighted that you can change your mind — and this is one rumor we'd be here for she did.