American television personality Gayle King’s marriage to William Bumpus ended after she found him in bed with another woman. Find out about the devastating incident and its effects on her.
Gayle King is famous worldwide thanks to her job as a television personality and broadcast journalist for CBS News. She is also an author and co-hosts CBS This Morning.
Besides her impressive career, King is also known for being the best friend of media mogul Oprah Winfrey and is the editor-at-large for O and The Oprah Magazine.
While King’s career exploits and friendship with Winfrey are without question, she has not had it so easy in marriage. The journalist has been married twice, but it ended in divorce after her husband cheated on her. Find out how it all happened.
KING’S MARRIAGE TO WILLIAM BUMPUS
King was married to William Bumpus from 1982 to 1993. William, a UK-born lawyer, moved to the United States and eventually became Connecticut’s attorney general.
During their marriage, the couple shared two children, daughter Kirby and son William Bumpus Jr. Their marriage ended after she discovered he was cheating on her.
King first opened up about the shocking moment she found out William was a cheat during a 2016 interview with Vanity Fair in which she completed the magazine’s Proust Questionnaire. When asked which living person she despised the most, King responded:
“Despise is a strong word. I’m not a huge fan of the woman I caught naked with my now ex-husband on June 24, 1990, at 9:16 P.M.—but I don’t remember the details.”
Afterward, William responded to his ex-wife’s revelation by revealing his life-altering choice had haunted him.
He said he had dealt with the issue privately but publicly apologized for the major transgression that dramatically changed all of their lives.
William also described King as an excellent wife and mother who he had the utmost respect for. He lauded her for handling herself with grace and keeping their kids and his relationship and involvement with them a clear priority.
WILLIAMS CHEATED ON KING WITH HER FRIEND
King shed more light on who her husband cheated on her with during an intimate chat with her BFF Winfrey as part of their “The OG Chronicles” video series.
During the series, Winfrey admitted that the devastating experience scarred King. While discussing King’s hesitance to open up to new friends, Oprah said:
“Remember you had that friend who slept with your husband, and when you found her, you said, ‘I thought you were my friend!'”
King further revealed that her so-called friend who slept with her husband was not remorseful for her actions then. Instead, the friend told King:
“I never liked you.”
HOW KING HANDLED HER DIVORCE
During the last stop of Winfrey’s 2020 Vision Tour, she and King recalled the cheating scandal and how the latter handled her divorce from William.
King revealed she lied to her kids, who were four and five at the time, about the divorce by telling them William had gone to another house to catch a burglar.
During the chat, Winfrey said what she admires and respects about King the most was how she handled her divorce aside from the lie she told her kids.
King also recalled how she confided in Winfrey after catching William and the woman in their home and helped her through the ordeal.
WINFREY’S SKEPTICISM ABOUT KING’S MARRIAGE
Despite always standing by her friend and helping her through difficult times, Winfrey was a little sad when King married William in 1982.
In a 2006 interview, Winfrey revealed she was not too happy on King’s wedding day because she did not think the marriage would work out.
When King expressed disbelief at her friend’s revelation, Winfrey explained that the wedding did not feel joyful but kind of pitiful. She added that she did not tell King because it was not in her place to say that.
Also, Winfrey admitted that she was a little jealous of King and William’s union despite her skepticism because she felt their friendship would change.
While Winfrey’s about King and William not working out came to pass, her fears that it would change her and her best friend’s friendship did not.
The duo has remained great friends and continues to be there for each other through thick and thin.