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TRENTON (AP) ― Former New Jersey Gov. James E. McGreevey revealed during an exclusive interview with Oprah Winfrey that he was having an affair with the man who would become a central figure in his downfall while his own wife was hospitalized after the birth of their child, according to audience members who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

The nation's first openly gay governor told Winfrey he believed he was in love with the man, said two audience members who agreed to speak only on condition of anonymity because the talk show host asked them not to divulge the contents of the broadcast.

McGreevey said the encounter was one of countless lies and betrayals he felt compelled to perpetuate during his rise to power as a closeted gay man, according to the audience members who attended Tuesday's two-hour taping of the show in Chicago.

The dozen friends of McGreevey who attended the taping had to sign confidentiality agreements for Regan Books, which is publishing McGreevey's political memoir. The hourlong program will be broadcast Sept. 19, the day McGreevey's much-anticipated "The Confession," hits bookstores and he embarks on a national book tour.

McGreevey, 49, stunned the nation on Aug. 12, 2004, when he told a live television audience that he had been involved in an affair with a man and would resign. McGreevey later identified the man as Golan Cipel, though Cipel repeatedly has denied being gay. The lawyer who represented Cipel, Allen Lowy, would not comment Wednesday.

The audience members did not reveal other details about McGreevey's statements on his affair.

McGreevey has been publicly silent since stepping from the public eye. A Georgetown-educated lawyer, he has quietly pursued education policy initiatives, including work on behalf of a Kean University campus in China. He has not returned to the Statehouse for the hanging of his official gubernatorial portrait, which is sitting in storage.

McGreevey's partner, Australian financial adviser Mark O'Donnell, also appears on the program. The couple exchange a kiss on the lips when O'Donnell comes on stage, and McGreevey sits with his hand on O'Donnell's knee during much of the interview, the audience members said.

Winfrey landed the interview with McGreevey because of her sense of faith and spirituality, according to friends of the former governor. McGreevey is said to be a fan of Winfrey's education and anti-poverty work, two issues to which the former governor is devoting more time in his post-political life.

In the interview, the audience members said Winfrey explores McGreevey's lifelong struggle with his sexuality, beginning when he discovered differences between himself and other boys.

McGreevey recounted going to the library as an adolescent to look up the word 'homosexual' in a dictionary. When he read terms like 'perverse' and 'psychiatric disorder' were in the definition, the Irish-Catholic boy said he realized he didn't want to be that, and he quickly learned to repress the feelings he knew the church and his community would abhor, the audience members said.

McGreevey also told the audience of a time at camp when he overheard other boys referring to him using homosexual slurs. He said he was devastated that others might have discovered his deeply buried secret.

The interview also explores how McGreevey managed a life of deception, how he came out to his wife and parents, how his life is more authentic today, and what life is like with O'Donnell, whom he refers to as his "life partner," the audience members said.

Julie Everett, a Cincinnati nurse who attended Catholic University with McGreevey for three semesters and who was in the audience Tuesday, praised the former governor's candor on the program.

"I thought he did remarkably well," Everett said Wednesday. "He was very honest, forthcoming. He's very much in touch with his spirit and his spiritual base."

Everett declined to reveal the contents of the show, saying that the show's staff urged the audience not to talk to the media.

"I thought it was very intimate in the sharing that he did," she said. "You almost felt privileged to be in that moment, because it was so private, to be let into that."

(© 2006 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)