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By Root 1048 0

she became Tina’s most famous groupie. Besotted with the rocker’s personal story of survival, Oprah wore a blond-frosted Tina Turner wig, performed with her onstage, and gushed about her on the air the way she used to burble about Stedman when they first started dating. “Tina is our goddess of rock ’n’ roll.… She is just the hottest.… I feel about Tina how men feel about football,” Oprah said, giving rise to a rash of comments about a “girl crush.” She told Vibe magazine that the most fun she has is “when me and Stedman and the dogs are in the Bentley and the top’s down. And I’m wearing my Tina Turner wig, holding on to make sure it doesn’t come off. That is a cool thing—the whole idea of it.” Stedman finally told her to lose the wig. “Nobody’s telling you that you are not Tina Turner, so I have to be the one to tell you. Take the wig off and stop pretending that you are Tina Turner.” Oprah gave the wig to a cousin.

Shortly after the tour, Oprah sat down with Jamie Foster Brown of Sister 2 Sister, a black entertainment magazine. The article was titled “Everything Negroes Ever Wanted to Ask Oprah.” During the interview Stedman telephoned, and Brown reported Oprah’s side of the conversation: “Now Oprah starts talking about the Liz Smith column that said a prominent [television] person who is an icon is gay. Oprah had sent out a press release saying she wasn’t gay,” Brown wrote, before quoting what Oprah said to Stedman:

“No. Right. Okay, honey. So you’re gonna tell them no? Whatever. I already sent out a press statement. Just say, ‘I think she said it all.’ Why can’t you say that? You can say, ‘I’m sick of this. We’re so sick of this gay stuff.’ Why does everybody want to think you’re gay? Okay. Bye.”

“So Oprah,” asked Jamie Foster Brown. “Are you gay?”

Oprah laughed. “I think if you’re gay, that’s fine; it’s your business and it’s fine. But what offends me about anybody implying that I’m gay or Stedman is gay is this: that means that everything I’ve done or said is a sham.… It means it’s a lie. The whole thing’s a lie. It would mean that everything you’ve ever done or said, the whole thing is one great, big, faked-up lie.”

Despite such denials, speculation persisted over Oprah’s sexual preferences. She continued living with Stedman, but they maintained separate lives, which they said was necessary because of their careers. They came together for occasional weekends, holidays, and vacations. “This is what our life is like,” Oprah explained to one writer. “I call it two ships passing.” She made a loud tooting noise. “We just check at the beginning of the week:

“ ‘Where are you gonna be?’ I say. ‘Okay, I’m going to Maya’s this weekend.’

“[He says:] ‘Well, I’m gonna be in Colorado Springs.’

“ ‘When do you think you’ll be home? Sunday? Okay. Could you take an early plane and get here Sunday afternoon? Maybe we can have dinner together.’ That’s what our life is like.

“ ‘Where are you gonna be?’ ‘I’m gonna be gone for the summer.… I’ll try to get a house on the weekends so you can come up … and see me and the dogs.’ ”

To some, Stedman looked like Oprah’s cover story—the presentable male partner she needed to be accepted by heterosexual society, nothing more than camouflage. Her close friends argued otherwise, saying he was the grounding force of her life. Others did not care one way or the other. “I would not be surprised if Oprah is gay,” said her friend Erica Jong. “If she is, she is. It certainly fits. Stedman is probably gay or neutral, but they have a bond because of where they come from. Her being gay would be the right reaction to the sexual abuse she says she’s suffered and the mistrust she’s always had of men. Remember, many people don’t want to be outed, and I don’t think everyone needs to declare themselves publicly. Besides, people, mostly women, can slide easily from one sexual preference to the other. If Oprah is gay, I can understand that she does not want that fact known in a society that is homophobic and might judge her negatively. As a businesswoman, to declare herself publicly as a lesbian might be