Controversy Heats Up Over Book About Oprah

Kitty Kelley's unauthorized biography on Oprah Winfrey is sparking controversy from friends and colleagues of the talk show legend. INSIDE EDITION has the story.

Things are heating up in the controversy over the new tell-all book about Oprah Winfrey.

Now Oprah's best friend Gayle King is speaking out on her XM Satellite radio show about author Kitty Kelley's just-released Oprah, A Biography.

King said, "I'm not buying it, don't intend to read it. You will see its a lot of hashed-over things. Oprah's been such an open book about her life, that for Kitty Kelley to do a book and claim that she has all of these secrets, describing Oprah as secretive, is very laughable to me cause anybody who knows and watches Oprah, sometimes I think she shares too much."

Oprah's stepfather Vernon Winfrey, cooperated with the book and is quoted as calling Gayle a "dirt hog" and blames her for causing a rift between him and Oprah.

"Oprah's dad, Vernon Winfrey, who of course I know, has said some very unkind and very unflattering things and very hurtful things about me and there's just really nothing you can do about it. The problem is it's now in a book that lives on forever," said King.

King also says she was shocked by the revelation that former TV personality John Tesh dated Oprah 40 years ago when both were young broadcasters in Nashville.

"Then there's all over the news about John Tesh and Oprah, I go, 'You and John Tesh? Really? Really? Seriously?' I think it's a bit of a stretch to call them lovers," said King. 

Meanwhile, Kitty Kelley was back on the Today Show defending her book at the same time Gayle was criticizing it.

Kelley said, "They're not dirty little secrets, they're Oprah's life."

"But is it more biography or an expose?" asked the Today Show's Natalie Morales.

"It's a biography," replied Kelley.

Kelley and her publisher claim she's been banned from television's top shows over the book. On The View Tuesday, Barbara Walters said Oprah had nothing to do with her decision not to interview Kelley.

Walters said, "Oprah has not called me. I have not discussed this with Oprah. But it is true, if someone wrote a very nasty book about me, and I've had that happen, I would hope that friends of people I admire and respect, a friend like Oprah, would not put that person on."