Though Gayle claims she asked the media mogul—who has been with longtime partner Stedman Graham for nearly 40 years—to help silence the chatter on multiple occasions, it seems Oprah wouldn’t budge. As Gayle recalled telling her longtime bestie, “‘Well, that’s fine for you to say you have somebody. I don’t.’”
Today, Gayle—mom to kids Kirby, 40, and William Jr., 39, with William—is in a different place in terms of how she handles outside noise.
“I’ve now gotten to the point in my life that very few things get to me,” she explained. “Because, you know, when you go on social media, it is an accelerator on hate.”
“As long as I feel good about what I’m doing, the people I respect and trust are okay with it, who will say, ‘Well mom, maybe you shouldn’t have done that or somebody whose opinion I value,” she added. “Otherwise, you’ll drive yourself nuts. So now I really don’t care.”
