'The Secrecy Knocked My Socks Off,' Kitty Kelley Says of Oprah Winfrey 
 
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 In 'Oprah: A Biography,' Kelley leaves few rocks unturned in a quest to expose more about Winfrey, who is already known for being pretty open about her life's journey. 
 
 
 
 Oprah Winfrey has secrets -- enough to fill a book apparently. Luckily, author Kitty Kelley is still in the unauthorized biography business, and her latest tome delves deep into the heart of the icon's personal life, examining subjects as touchy as Winfrey's sexuality and the identity of her father.In 'Oprah: A Biography,' Kelley leaves few rocks unturned in a quest to expose more about Winfrey, who is already known for being pretty open about her life's journey. 
 
 "The secrecy knocked my socks off, because we think we know everything about Oprah,"on the eve of the book's release. "We think that she's told us all about her drug use and her relationships with people, but in this book I found out differently. I was just astounded by it."Winfrey's love life figures prominently in the book, with much ink reserved for her longtime relationship with Stedman Graham and her rumored one with best friend Gayle King. Though Kelley has determined there is "no foundation" to rumors she's a lesbian, she believes Winfrey has made her sexuality part of the conversation by her actions. "She's been engaged to Stedman since 1992 and has never married him," she tells us. "She is seen far more often in public with Gayle, then she is with Stedman. So if you put those two things together, then you have public questions."The book includes this tidbit from friend and author Erica Jong: "I would not be surprised if Oprah is gay. If she is, she is. It certainly fits."Kelley has different take, telling us, "If you asked me to classify her, I'd have to say she was asexual in this stage of the game."Kelley also writes that Winfrey once dated and even lived with former 'Entertainment Tonight' host John Tesh back when they were reporters for a local station in Nashville. Tesh confirmed Monday to the NY Daily News that the two "dated for a short time" nearly 40 years ago but isn't commenting on whether they lived together or on Kelley's claim that he left her in the middle of the night.Not surprisingly, Kelley did not actually speak to Winfrey or members of her inner circle for the book -- the TV mogul allegedly requires everyone around her to sign confidentiality agreements.In fact, Camp Winfrey has used a single response since word came down that Kelley was working on a book: "Oprah hasn't participated in or read Kitty Kelley's book, so she is unable to comment."Yet after over 850 interviews with former insiders and other authors, she has determined there is a "world of secrets" around Winfrey. King joked on 'Good Morning America' today that "Oprah doesn't even know 850 people."Among those who DID talk to her were members of Winfrey's family, including her cousin Katharine Esters and father Vernon Winfrey. Kelley uncovered perhaps the biggest revelation of the whole book in discussions with Winfrey's family: that Vernon is not Winfrey's biological father and that Esters revealed to Kelley the person's identity."I spent three days with her," Kelley said of Esters in a 'Today' show interview on Monday, "and over that time she told me who Oprah's real father was and swore me to secrecy."She added: "So here I am writing a book about a secret keeper and I get pulled in and I keep a secret myself."Winfrey's mother, Vernita Lee, refused to be interviewed for the book, but Kelley said it's not because the two are close. In the book, she alleges Winfrey refuses to give her mother a direct phone number to reach her. Instead, Lee must go through one of Winfrey's assistants.'Oprah: A Biography' also gets into the sensitive area of Winfrey's youth. She has spoken of being the victim of sexual abuse between the ages of 9-14, but Esters told Kelley that the family simply does not believe it."Her family, I think, is in great denial of her sexual molestation," Kelley tells us. "I believe Oprah. I know that she was sexually abused because she shows all the scars of someone who has been abused. Now, her family doesn't believe her, but that's part of her life story. That she wasn't believed, that there was nobody she could confide in."Winfrey has already recalled the painful experience of having a baby boy at age 14, then to deal with his death six weeks later. But Kelley adds in the book that Winfrey never saw the child after giving birth and that there was no funeral or death notice. Kelley also reveals the child's name.Kelley has said the book "tries to show how these secrets, these awful secrets, controlled Oprah for most of her life."Dealing with one of the world's most powerful human beings comes with its pitfalls, and Kelley has been met with her share of backlash when it comes to promoting the book. She has been turned down by Barbara Walters, Larry King, David Letterman and Charlie Rose, among others."I think it's an indication of how powerful Oprah Winfrey is," she said in our PopEater interview. "It doesn't have anything to do with the content of the book quite frankly, because the book wasn't out there yet!"She added: "You can't say it's skepticism" that's driving talk show host's to give her the cold shoulder, "because they don't know what's in the book."One group of people that likely won't be urged to read the book is Winfrey's legion of adoring fans. Aptly put by her best friend King, "I'm thinking it's not going to make her book club selection."- Oprah told author James Frey, of 'Million Little Pieces' infamy, that she too had smoked crack before.- Oprah once ordered and ate two pecan pies in the span of an hour.- There were rumors at ABC that Oprah had romantic feelings for Diane Sawyer.'Oprah: A Biography,' published by Crown, hits bookstores Tuesday. 

 Oprah Winfrey's story is selling fast. 
 
 As of this morning when it officially went on sale, "Oprah," Kitty Kelley's unauthorized 525-page, revelation-filled biography about the media mogul, ranked No. 3 on Amazon.com's list of bestsellers. 
 
 CLICK HERE to see photos of Oprah Winfrey's childhood from "Oprah." 
 
 No doubt, Kelley's portrait of a woman far different from the one who graces TV screens everyday has helped whet readers' appetites. True to form, Kelley -- who has exposed other boldfaced names, including Elizabeth Taylor, Frank Sinatra and Nancy Reagan in her tomes -- reveals eyebrow-raising tales about Winfrey's private life and rise to fame, including a romance with singer John Tesh and the identity of Winfrey's biological father. 
 
 'View' Blasts Kitty Kelley's Oprah Book 
 
 Winfrey has never shied away from telling all about the more challenging aspects of her life -- her battle with weight, her struggle to make it as a black talk show host in a mainly white market. But on these splashy subjects, she's staying quiet. 
 
 "She declines to comment," Winfrey's spokeswoman, Lisa Halliday, said in a statement to ABCNews.com. 
 
 Winfrey's good friend, Gayle King, offered a wry response to the buzz surrounding the book on "Good Morning America" Monday. 
 
 "I'm thinking it's not going to make her book club selection," King said. 
 
 Gayle King on 'Words That Matter' 
 
 While Winfrey did not participate in the book, Kelley culled close to 3,000 transcripts of Winfrey's past interviews and conducted 850 of her own for material. Below, check out seven of the most shocking claims and tales from "Oprah." 
 
 -- During the 1970s, Winfrey lived with and dated John Tesh, then a local news anchor. The two shared an apartment in Nashville, Tenn., and worked together at WTVF-TV. But according an ex-girlfriend of Tesh's that Kelley interviewed, the stigma surrounding interracial dating forced him to ditch Winfrey and their apartment, abruptly. "He said one night he looked down and saw his white body next to her black body and couldn't take it anymore," Tesh's ex told Kelley."He walked out in the middle of the night. ... He told me he later felt very guilty about it." 
 
 Oprah Winfrey's new show 
 
 Monday, Tesh confirmed his past relationship with Winfrey. 
 
 "Oprah and I were cub reporters in Nashville nearly 40 years ago, and we dated for a short time," he told the New York Daily News. "We remain friends to this day." 
 
 Kelley claims she knows the identity of Winfrey's biological father. The author writes that on July 30, 2007, one of Winfrey's relatives told her the secret the talk show host has been yearning to know for ages: the name and details surrounding her biological father. But Kelley won't reveal the information until Winfrey's mother, Vernita Lee, tells her daughter the news herself, something she has refused to do for decades. 
 
 At one point, according to a landscape gardener Kelley interviewed, Winfrey got too fat to feel comfortable using the pool at her Indiana farm -- she feared the paparazzi would photograph her. 
 
 Winfrey "will not give her mother her telephone number." In an interview with The New York Times, Kelley said that Winfrey's mother must go through the talk show host's assistant to reach her, and "Oprah has her mother on a very short leash." 

 John Tesh acknowledged Monday that he and Oprah Winfrey were once an item - one of the juicy tidbits in a new tell-all biography about the talk show queen. 
 
 
 
 "Oprah and I were cub reporters in Nashville nearly 40 years ago and we dated for a short time," Tesh told the News, which first reported the story on Sunday. 
 
 
 
 The odd pairing is revealed in Kitty Kelley's "Oprah," which hits bookshelves Tuesday. 
 
 
 
 Exclusive excerpts obtained by the News said Winfrey and the New Age musician were live-in-lovers during the 1970s when they both lived in Nashville. 
 
 
 
 The book claims Tesh bolted in the middle of the night because of the "social pressure" of being half of an interracial couple. 
 
 
 
 Neither Tesh, 57, nor Winfrey, 56, would comment on Kelley's claim. 
 
 
 
 The much-anticipated book says that Winfrey mentioned Tesh during a 1996 taping of her show - but copped only to a platonic dinner date. 
 
 
 
 "We remain friends to this day," Tesh told the News. 
 
 
 
 knelson@nydailynews.com
– We’ve already heard all about the inevitable sexual orientation speculation in Kitty Kelley’s Oprah Winfrey tell-all, but there’s more to the book than that. The five revelations ABC News considers the “most shocking”: Her mother: Oprah keeps her mother "on a very short leash," says Kelley. Translation: She won't give her mother her phone number. To contact Oprah, mom has to call Oprah's assistant. John Tesh: He confirms they dated, telling the New York Daily News: "Oprah and I were cub reporters in Nashville nearly 40 years ago, and we dated for a short time. We remain friends to this day." Her real father: Kelley claims to have been told the identity of Winfrey’s biological father, a piece of information even the talk show queen herself doesn’t know. Unfortunately for the voracious tell-all readers of the world, Kelley won’t reveal his name. More hilarious than shocking: After being asked to walk upstairs at an art gallery to view three paintings she had requested to see, Winfrey told the gallery owner, “Oprah does not do stairs,” and stormed out. The book is out today. For the complete list, click here. For even more on the book—including Gayle King’s reaction to it—click here.