It was a meeting of two iconic females last week on the Oprah Show.  Some people may have assumed this would be a clash of the titans, as the two are constantly vying for the top spot on daytime TV.  But what resulted was not a war of egos, but instead a very classy, touching and intimate interview between what appeared to be two close friends.  How could it not have been, with the gracious Ellen DeGenerous!  Portia DeRossi, also joined the two later on in the interview talking about life at home with her wife, Ellen.

Ellen was invited to appear on the Oprah show after she campaigned since the beginning of 2009 to join Oprah on the cover of “O” magazine.  As expected (because frankly who can say no to Ellen?) Oprah granted Ellen’s wish and the two produced a series of covers for the December issue of “O” magazine, two of which were chosen as the newsstand cover and the subscription cover.  Starting off the interview the two both talked about how much fun they had shooting the covers. “It was such a joyous thing, doing the whole shoot,” Oprah explained, while Ellen went on to say, “I can’t believe it actually happened. I’m really thrilled, and I love the cover. I love it.”

As for the rest of the interview — in pure Ellen style, she talked eloquently and candidly to Oprah about her road to success in both life and love. Here are some highlights:

Ellen on coming out on her prime time sitcom “Ellen”:

“I knew if I came out there was a possibility I would lose my career. But I didn’t do it for my career, I did it for me to live my truth,” she says. “I thought, ‘I don’t want to live and have any shame whatsoever.’ I should be proud of who I am, and I don’t care if people approve or not. It is who I am.”

Ellen when on to discuss about how her life changed after the cancellation of her sitcom.

“I didn’t have any money and I didn’t have any job offers, and I was really scared and I was depressed,” she says. “But I do believe that’s when you do your soul-searching. I think when you have these trials that life gives you, it is an opportunity to find out who you are. Not just who you are when everything’s great, but who are you when every thing is taken away from you and you have nothing.”

Ellen says there were some positive outcomes from the hard times. “I learned compassion from being discriminated against,” she says. “Everything bad that’s ever happened to me has taught me compassion.”

Ellen and Portia on their relationship:

“When Portia first walked into the room, I have to tell you, your face lit up,” Oprah says. “It was just so sweet.”

“I feel very fortunate,” Ellen says. “I feel really, really lucky that I found that connection.”

Ellen and Portia went on to tell the story of the evolution of their relationship.  Portia says for her it was love at first sight.  Ellen apparently had no idea however, saying, “I didn’t know until we got together, when she finally told me how she was feeling.”

Portia goes on to say “It took me three years to actually tell her how I felt about her, because I was on Ally McBeal at that time and I was not living as an openly gay person,” she says. “I was closeted and very, very afraid that if I talked about being gay it would be the end of my career. So I wasn’t about to then date the most famous lesbian in the world.”

On the importance of their marriage:

Portia explains to Oprah, “It’s a legal stamp of validity. It’s hard to know it feels until it happens. I hope everyone gets to have that feeling. The thing about being a gay couple is that, in the past, you referred to your wife and there was quotation marks around it and people could snicker about it. Now, it’s fact, it’s law — she’s my wife. I get to say she’s my wife and it’s a fact.”

Ellen chimes into the conversation saying that being married is a totally different feeling than dating, that you can’t really understand until it happens.  “It feels like you’re home. There’s an anchor. There’s a safety,” she says. “We are all equal citizens, and we should have the same right that anybody else on this earth has.”

All in all, the interview was very heart-warming, as you are able to really feel the love between all three of the women.  Oprah, an advocate for gay rights, did a great job of not only asking the right questions but also making Ellen and Portia’s relationship and marriage seem very natural as if she were interviewing a married man and woman.

Check out the entire recap of the interview on Oprah.com.  You can see videos of Portia and Ellen’s wedding as well as the behind the scenes from Ellen and Oprah’s cover shoot.