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Given that Oprah Winfrey, 57, has been dating Stedman Graham for 26 years, you'd think that stories about her love life would be old news. But this week, an ex-boyfriend of Winfrey's came out of the woodwork to claim that Graham, 59, stole Oprah from him!
Reginald Chevalier, a 51-year-old Haitian filmmaker and ex-model, tells Gawker that he met Winfrey in 1985 when he appeared on a celebrity look-alikes episode of her show. (His resemblance? Billy Dee Williams.) Chevalier, then 25, recalls that Winfrey took him out to lunch after the show, and they immediately began a four-month affair. Winfrey was the older woman at 32, but he says that didn't stop them from getting serious; they moved in together, and Chevalier claims that she even talked marriage. However, he tells RadarOnline.com that their relationship ended abruptly once Stedman came onto the scene.
"When I was dating Oprah, I know for a fact that Stedman was courting her," says Chevalier -- who, ironically, appeared in magazine ads with Graham back when both of them were male models.
Chevalier says that he knew Stedman was pursuing Oprah when they attended a New Year's Eve party together. Graham came with another girl, he says, and that girl spent the whole party trying to "distract me from Oprah" so that Graham could make his move. And, in the end, "Stedman won the battle." Chevalier says that Winfrey broke up with him by changing the locks to her apartment.
"On a yellow envelope she had written: 'Sorry, things aren't working between us. Oprah Winfrey,'" he recalls to Gawker. "That was it. No phone call. No good-bye... A few weeks later Stedman was on the scene -- full time."
Winfrey hasn't verified Chevalier's story -- although Gawker has confirmed that Chevalier was Oprah's date for the premiere of her 1985 film The Color Purple. Last year, singer John Tesh also revealed that he had once dated Oprah. She didn't comment on that relationship, so we doubt she'll comment on this one, either.
Do you think Stedman really stole Oprah from Reginald Chevalier? Chime in below!
