AceShowbiz - Oprah Winfrey broke down in tears as she opened up about her relationship with best pal Gayle King in a U.S. TV interview, branding her the "mother I never had". The TV queen became visibly emotional while discussing King in a taped chat with broadcaster Barbara Walters, admitting she has relied on her pal for daily support for more than 30 years.

Winfrey says, "She's the mother I never had. The sister everybody would want. The friend everybody deserves. I don't know a better person... It's making me cry because I'm thinking how much I probably never told her that. We're not like, 'Oh, you, you're my dearest friend... thanks'."

"The therapy I didn't have and don't need is because of my thousands and thousands of hours on the phone with Gayle. I get to release the day by talking it through. And I just realized she's the friend everybody should have."

Winfrey also dismissed ongoing speculation about a lesbian romance with King, ranting: "I have said we are not gay enough times. I am not lesbian. Not even kind of lesbian. That irritates me because it means somebody must think I'm lying. That's No. 1. No. 2, why would you want to hide it? That is not the way I run my life."

The TV show, "A Barbara Walters Special: Oprah, The Next Chapter", will air in the U.S. on Thursday, December 9.