Long before either became a household name, John Tesh and Oprah Winfrey were young reporters working in Nashville television. Decades later, Tesh is revisiting what it was like to date Winfrey in the 1970s—and the resistance they encountered as an interracial couple in the South.
Speaking to Page Six about that time, Tesh described the climate as tense. It was, he said, “very uncomfortable back then for an African-American woman and a very, very white guy” to be seen together.
Both were employed at competing local news stations, grinding through long days in a regional media market that was far removed from the national spotlight they would later command.
Tesh acknowledged that their relationship stood out. “It was unusual in the South,” he explained, noting that he grew up there and understood the social codes that shaped public reactions.
Instead of allowing the scrutiny to define them, he said they developed a private sense of humor about it. After work, he recalled, one of them would joke, “Which restaurant do you want to empty tonight?”—a reference to the visible discomfort their presence sometimes caused.
Despite the friction, Tesh has said he recognized early on that Winfrey possessed rare star power. He remembered that colleagues sensed it too. Covering stories alongside her made routine assignments feel electric.
“We all knew that she was something special,” he said, adding that working the same stories made the job more fun.
However, Tesh downplayed the romantic intensity of the relationship, describing them as extremely close friends. When asked whether Winfrey was a good kisser, he laughed off the question and said he doesn’t even recall them kissing, emphasizing instead the bond they shared.
The relationship eventually faded as their careers pulled them in different directions. Winfrey left Nashville for Baltimore and later Chicago, where she would launch the talk show that reshaped daytime television.
This isn’t the first time Tesh has addressed the relationship publicly. Per CBS News, in 2010, amid renewed attention sparked by Kitty Kelley’s unauthorized biography about Oprah, he confirmed that he and Winfrey “dated for a short time” while working as “cub reporters in Nashville nearly 40 years ago.”
He added at the time that they had even discussed it during one of his appearances on Winfrey’s show and that they “remain friends to this day.”
Kelley’s book, which drew widespread media coverage upon release, painted a more dramatic picture of their relationship. According to the biography, Kelley spoke to a former Tesh paramour, who had a very different take on why they split.
"He said one night he looked down and saw his white body next to her Black body and couldn't take it anymore,” the ex said.
Today, Winfrey has been with Stedman Graham since the mid-1980s. Tesh married actress Connie Sellecca in 1992, and beyond television, he continues to tour and host his syndicated radio program, Intelligence for Your Life.