GAYLE KING may be ready to betray her closest friend OPRAH WINFREY by penning an explosive tell-all that would answer ALL those rumors about their secret life together!
And sources say, a publishing deal like that could easily be worth a staggering $10 million.
Major publishers are salivating at the thought of being able to secure the rights to the no-holds-barred account of Oprah’s private life, as told by the one person she trusts the most.
“This would be the ‘get’ of the year,” a publishing insider told The ENQUIRER. “And it’s a looming possibility that Gayle would be willing to sit down and write the memoir because of recent stress in her relationship with Oprah.”
Gayle, 57, currently a co-anchor on “CBS This Morning,” has seen her career take off in recent months, while 58-year-old Oprah has been locked in a desperate struggle to keep her OWN network afloat.
“It’s a source of tension between the women,” said the insider.
“Publishers are hoping that with her to stay at the pinnacle of fame, Gayle will agree to write what they are certain will be an instant best-seller. And $10 million is a fair number if she’s willing to disclose some of Oprah’s closely guarded secrets.”
That information is sure to include bombshells, says the insider. The book could contain details about Oprah’s stunning overdose and rehab secret, her out-of-control drinking binges and the TRUTH about her relationship with Gayle.
“The public sees one face of Oprah, but Gayle sees the whole picture – particularly when it comes to Oprah’s drinking,” said a close source.
“As things in her professional life seem to be hitting snags, and her network’s ratings drop, Oprah’s drinking is getting out of hand.”
According to recent reports, OWN may have lost as much as $330 million since its launch in 2011, and industry insiders are predicting it will not survive another year if Oprah doesn’t find a hit show.
“Oprah’s gone from drinking vodka and cranberry juice to champagne,” noted the insider. “Now, with her network sinking, she’s into doing tequila shots.”
Oprah’s excessive drinking nearly turned deadly early in her career, when she was working as host of the “AM Chicago” morning talk show. She admitted to friends that she suffered alcohol poisoning from doing shots of the potent Greek liqueur ouzo during a dinner with soap opera star Anthony Geary, says the insider.
According to Dr. Gregory Smith, author and producer of the documentary film “American Addict” as well as a leading addiction expert in Beverly Hills, alcohol poisoning “is life-threatening, and the person who has overdosed on alcohol needs to be rehydrated as soon as possible to restore the electrolyte balance in the body – or else your heart can stop or you can suffer seizures which can cause brain damage or death.”
Oprah used to laugh off suggestions that she was drinking too much, said the insider.
“But there was nothing funny about it. Oprah was loud, overly animated and seemed to lose all her common sense when she drank too much.
“If there was something bothering her, she’d go on crying jags, or she’d shamelessly flirt with attractive men and throw herself at them – married or not! And when she started telling people she did so
many shots that she got alcohol poisoning, friends stepped in and suggested she get professional help by checking into the Betty Ford Center.
“But Oprah ignored them and kept living the life of a party girl. Now, decades later, she’s still tipping the bottle and gets outraged at the slightest suggestion she should put down her glass.
“She still likes to overindulge and ends up stumbling around like a circus clown.
“The tales of Oprah’s adventures with booze will be solid gold for some publisher.”
There’s also publishing gold in the intimate details of Gayle’s close friendship with Oprah – especially if they’re in Gayle’s own words. It’s long been rumored that the women were secretly carrying on a lesbian affair behind the back of Oprah’s longtime boyfriend, Stedman Graham.
“Oprah and Gayle have lived together, slept in the same bed together, worn each other’s clothes and discussed everything from sex to kids to finances,” the insider said. “Gayle is her soul mate.”
The insider divulged that Oprah sometimes lied to Stedman about her frequent “sleepovers” with Gayle. “Oprah and Gayle love spending nights together watching old movies in their pajamas and munching on their favorite snacks. Oprah realized that Stedman might be surprised at the amount of time the women spend together, so she started telling him little white lies. She’d say she was staying at the studio, or had an early business meeting and stayed at a hotel.”
If Gayle were to admit in a memoir that she and Oprah had carried on a lesbian affair, says the insider, “it would change the public view of Oprah forever, not to mention make Stedman look foolish.” The insider concluded that the time is ripe for Gayle to write a tell-all.
“Gayle believes she’s waited in the wings for far too long and now she wants to be the big star.
“If coming clean in a tell-all will add to Gayle’s fame, you’ve got to believe that’s what she’ll do.”
