Oprah's 'mesmerizing' interview: 'I'm not a lesbian'

&quot;She is the friend that everybody deserves,&quot; says Oprah of longtime friend Gayle King.

(Image credit: Screen shot/ abc.com)

The video: In a clip from the upcoming "A Barbara Walters Special: Oprah, The Next Chapter," which airs tomorrow on ABC, Barbara Walters asked Oprah about her relationship with her best friend Gayle King and the lesbian rumors that have surrounded them for years. (View video below.) The queen of daytime talk let down her guard, breaking into tears as she said, "She is... the mother I never had... She is... the sister everybody would want... I don't know a better person." Walters then asked her directly about the "dumb" lesbian rumors. Regaining her composure, Oprah declared "I'm not a lesbian. I'm not even kind of a lesbian."

The reaction: Oprah's response to the lesbian question was "well put," says Jessica Wakeman in The Frisky. "It's absolute BS that powerful women, especially single women, are dogged with lesbian rumors to try to take them down." Her denial isn't even the most noteworthy moment, says Jeff Labreque in Entertainment Weekly. Her "sincere, heartfelt description of her relationship" with Gayle is "mesmerizing" and "eloquent." Indeed, the emotion she displayed was "surprising," says Mark Joyella in Mediaite. "Oprah Winfrey can talk to anyone about anything, but rarely opens up about her own life." Watch for yourself, below:

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