Gayle King: Oprah's Tears on Barbara Walters Made Me Cry

Friends that cry together, stay together?

When Oprah Winfrey appeared on Barbara Walters' ABC special in December, the talk show queen teared up while speaking about her BFF Gayle King. Those tears made King, who was in Tasmania at the time, cry in turn.

PHOTOS: Surprise celeb BFFs

"I had just ordered room service and I was sitting there and I watched it," King told USA Today. "And I called her and said, 'I'm sitting in my room crying all by myself." King then asked her friend why she was moved to tears. "And she said, 'I was just caught off guard. No one had asked me the question that way," King said.

During the interview, an emotional Oprah described her friendship with King: "She is ... the mother I never had. She is ... the sister everybody would want. She is the friend that everybody deserves. I don't know a better person. I don't know a better person."

PHOTOS: Oprah and other celebs get dramatic makeunders

Although King knows her friend of more than 30 years values their relationship, it was the first time she heard Oprah speak so explicitly about it. "Why would she say, 'You're the mother I never had?!' Why would she say that to me? I know we mean a lot to each other, but no, we don't go around expressing our love for each other," King said. "It just is."

PHOTOS: Inside Oprah and other stars' dream homes

King also addressed those pesky lesbian rumors. "It used to bother me, and now I say, 'OK, if people believe it, there's nothing we can do to change their minds," King said. "It's just silly that we would deny or hide that because it implies something is wrong. That's what bothers me more than anything. There's nothing wrong."