Arguably the “power lunch” of the year for A-list women in media, the Matrix Awards (New York Women in Commu­ni­cations) Luncheon proved to be yet another knockout event.

Brian Williams was emcee, and both the honorees and the presenters included some of the biggest boldface names in town, including Oprah Winfrey, who was there to present an award to Gayle King, her best friend and editor-at-large of O, The Oprah Magazine and host of The Gayle King Show, on Sirius XM. Oprah’s appearance generated extra buzz, as guests wondered how she would handle the controversial allegations in Kitty Kelley’s new “biography” of her. Turns out she was a graceful trouper and took it all in stride with humor.

“Last week was a rough week for Gayle [King], when a so-called biography came out,” Oprah quipped. “Every day she’s getting herself more and more worked up about all of my new daddies that are now showing up. New daddies who are saying, ‘Hello daughter, call me, I need a new roof.’” The comments were met with lots of laughter, as most people had heard about the 84-year old Navy veteran who claimed to be the star’s real father. We thought she didn’t seem to take the Kelley biography too seriously—it seemed to upset Gayle more. “Well, this too shall pass,” said Oprah.

Oprah continued to tell how she and Gayle met and how Gayle had always encouraged her. “She’s always been there for me,” said Oprah. “When we met at Baltimore Newsroom … she said yes you can go to Chicago … and yes you can be Phil Donahue … She is my mother, my sister, my friend … she is the nicest person I know … There would be no ‘O’ if there wasn’t a ‘G’ [for Gayle]… When we started ‘O’ we were like Stevie Wonder and Jose Feliciano ...” King accepted the award and announcing, “I’m wearing two body slimmers.”

Other honorees and guests included Sheryl Crow, Tina Fey, Ina Garten, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Anne Keating, Marissa Mayer, Natalie Morales, Hoda Kotb, Kathie Lee Gifford, Ann Curry, and Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York.

It was a spectacular gathering of powerful women. As advertising icon Linda Kaplan Thaler commented, “There’s enough estrogen in this room to make Arnold Schwarzenegger ovulate.”