Oprah Winfrey has no regrets about not starting a family, because 'something would have had to suffer' .........'If I had kids, they would hate me"

She has famously never married or had children, although has been in a relationship with businessman Stedman Graham since 1986.

But Oprah Winfrey has no regrets, commentating it would have been difficult making time for a family amid her busy career. 

'If I had kids, my kids would hate me,' she tells The Hollywood Reporter in its new issue. 'They would have ended up on the equivalent of the Oprah show talking about me; because something [in my life] would have had to suffer and it would've probably been them.'

No regrets: Oprah Winfrey says any kids would have 'hated her' in a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter and is their cover star

Oprah, who grew up in poverty in rural Mississipi, says her attitude about children is in stark contrast to her best friend Gayle King who is a mother of two. 

'Gayle [now a mother of two] was the kind of kid who, in seventh grade Home Ec class, was writing down her name and the names of her children,' she says. 'While she was having those kind of daydreams, I was having daydreams about how I could be Martin Luther King.'

Celebrating her Sherry Lansing Leadership Award with a new interview, the 59-year-old businesswoman and talk-show host candidly discusses the struggles launching her TV network OWN, her financial success, and reports she suffered a nervous breakdown last year. 

Long term love: Oprah has been in a relationship with Steman Graham since 1986

'I never had a nervous breakdown,' she says, explaining how the original report took comments she made about her workload out of context. 'I thought that was such sensational exploitation.'

Fame and success has its price, and Oprah reveals that being worth billions can cause strain among her family and friends.

'When you're the most successful person in your family, in your neighbourhood and in your town, everybody thinks you're the First National Bank,' she says, 'And you have to figure out for yourself where those boundaries are.

She adds: 'I got to the point where nobody ever asked me for anything less than $5,000. I felt pressured for a long time to say yes, because I thought, "I can't lie and say I don't have it. 

'My salary is printed in the paper,"' I've bought more houses and cars than I can even tell you."

Oprah is well known for her philanthropic efforts, having opened a successful school for girls in South Africa, donating around $100 million to the institution. 

OWN has since turned its fortunes around after initial struggles in the ratings, and Oprah has received a nomination for a SAG Award for her work in The Butler. 

She was seen celebrating with Daniels at The Beverly Hills Hotel before Sherry Lansing presented her with her award.