Gayle King
King in 2023
Born (1954-12-28) December 28, 1954 (age 69)
Chevy Chase, Maryland, U.S.
EducationUniversity of Maryland, College Park
Occupations
  • Broadcast journalist
  • Magazine editor
Years active1981–present
Title
Spouse
William G. Bumpus
​
​
(m. 1982; div. 1993)​
Children2

Gayle King (born December 28, 1954)[1] is an American television personality, author, and broadcast journalist for CBS News, co-hosting its flagship morning program, CBS Mornings,[2] and before that its predecessor CBS This Morning. She is also an editor-at-large for O, The Oprah Magazine.[3]

King was named one of Time magazine's "100 Most Influential People of 2019".[4]

Early life

Gayle King's parents are Peggy Tucker and Emmett Scott King. King was born in Chevy Chase, Maryland,[5] and from age six to eleven she lived in Ankara, Turkey, where her father was deployed. She returned with her family to the United States[6] in 1966, where her father worked as an electrical engineer. King graduated from the University of Maryland, College Park, with a degree in psychology.[6]

Career

King in 2009

Television broadcast news

King began her career as a production assistant at WJZ-TV in Baltimore, where she met Oprah Winfrey, an anchor for the station at the time. King later trained as a reporter at WUSA-TV in Washington, D.C.[7][8] After working at WJZ, she moved to Kansas City, Missouri, where she was a weekend anchor and general-assignment reporter at WDAF-TV.[9] In 1981, she was hired as a news anchor for WFSB in Hartford, Connecticut, where she worked for 18 years.[8] Part of that time, she lived in Glastonbury, Connecticut.[7]

Talk shows and morning news co-anchor

King worked as a special correspondent for The Oprah Winfrey Show. In 1991, King briefly co-hosted an NBC daytime talk show with Robin Wagner called Cover to Cover, which was canceled after 13 weeks.[7] In 1997, she was offered her own syndicated talk show, The Gayle King Show, which was canceled after one season due to low ratings.[10][11] In September 2006, King began to host The Gayle King Show on XM Satellite Radio.

On January 3, 2011, King began hosting a new show, also called The Gayle King Show, on OWN.[12] The Gayle King Show ended on November 17, 2011, as a result of King going to CBS to co-anchor CBS This Morning alongside Charlie Rose[13] and a series of third co-anchors including for a time Norah O'Donnell.[14] The show succeeded in the ratings. King and Rose were noted as having good on-air chemistry.[15][16] The two became friends as well, and remained friends even after Rose exited from CBS due to the sexual misconduct allegations against him.[17][18][14]

Print journalism

King joined O, The Oprah Magazine as an editor in 1999.[19]

Network news

King interviews Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on CBS This Morning in 2019.

Before joining CBS News, King worked as a special correspondent for Good Morning America.[19] On November 10, 2011, King secured a deal with CBS to co-anchor CBS This Morning, beginning on January 9, 2012.[13] She publicly called for CBS to have full transparency when it was learned CBS planned on keeping the findings of sexual abuse and harassment at the network private.[20][21] She received recognition for remaining stoic during an interview with R. Kelly, who rose from his chair and began to scream and beat his chest in an interview discussing the sexual abuse allegations made against him.[22][23][24]

In 2018, King was inducted into the Broadcasting & Cable Hall of Fame.[25] She was also chosen as one of Time magazine's 100 most influential people of 2019.[26]

In 2020, shortly after the death of Kobe Bryant, King received social media criticism for a CBS This Morning interview with former WNBA player Lisa Leslie, in which King brought up Bryant's sexual assault allegations from 2003.[27] Rapper Snoop Dogg was among those who criticized King, though he later apologized.[27] She received support, particularly from long-time friend Oprah Winfrey.[27] King said CBS had used an out-of-context excerpt from the interview. The network said in a statement that the excerpt was not reflective of the "thoughtful, wide-ranging interview" King had conducted with Leslie.[28]

In January 2022, King had extended her contract with CBS News to continue as co-anchor of CBS Mornings.[29]

On April 22, 2023, CNN announced that King will co-host with Charles Barkley on their weekly primetime show King Charles which will debut this fall. King will continue her role as co-anchor of CBS Mornings.[30]

Personal life

King has been a close friend of Oprah Winfrey since 1976.[31] In a 2010 interview with Barbara Walters, Winfrey said of King, "She is the mother I never had; she is the sister everybody would want; she is the friend everybody deserves; I don't know a better person".[32]

From 1982 to 1993, King was married to Bill Bumpus, an attorney and an assistant attorney general in Connecticut.[3][33] They share a daughter, Kirby, and a son, William Bumpus Jr.[34][33]

In 2023, King appeared on Celebrity Family Feud. Competing against Sophia Bush and her team, King's team lost.[35]

Filmography

Year Title Role Ref.
1985 The Color Purple Church-goer uncredited
2004 The Manchurian Candidate Media Icon
2012 30 Rock Herself Episode: My Whole Life is Thunder
2015 Being Mary Jane Herself Episode: No Eggspectations
2015 Saturday Night Live Herself Episode: Tina Fey & Amy Poehler/Bruce Springsteen
2016 The Boss Herself
2017, 2021 Queen Sugar Herself Episodes: "Yet I Do Marvel" & "To A Different Day"
2019 Queen and Slim Herself
2021 The Game Herself Episode: Snips, Clips, and Chair Sits
2022 Billions Herself Episode: The Big Ugly

See also

References

  1. ^ "UPI Almanac for Monday, Dec. 28, 2020". United Press International. December 28, 2020. Archived from the original on December 28, 2020. Retrieved January 5, 2021. TV personality Gayle King in 1954 (age 66)
  2. ^ "CBS Mornings - Daily news and features with hosts Gayle King, Tony Dokoupil and Nate Burleson". CBS News.
  3. ^ a b King in Bonawitz, Amy (July 16, 2007). "Gayle Opens Up About Ex husband cheating". CBS News. Retrieved January 9, 2019. I have been divorced since 1993
  4. ^ "Gayle King: The 100 Most Influential People of 2019". Time. Retrieved September 22, 2020.
  5. ^ "Gayle King Biography". TV Guide. Archived from the original on February 6, 2020. Retrieved February 6, 2020.
  6. ^ a b "Gayle King". CBS This Morning. CBS. Archived from the original on July 10, 2019. Retrieved February 6, 2020.
  7. ^ a b c Hawkins, Carol Hooks (2009). American Women Leaders: 1,560 Current Biographies. McFarland. p. 204. ISBN 978-0786452750.
  8. ^ a b Cole, Maxine (December 1, 2017). "I Took My Former Boss, Gayle King, To Lunch & We Talked Breakups, Career Goals, & Yes, Oprah 2020". refinery29.com. Refinery29, Inc. Retrieved January 9, 2019.
  9. ^ Cole, Maxine (March 8, 1998). "Talk Show Host Gayle King Focusing on Family Life Issues". newsok.com. Retrieved January 9, 2019.
  10. ^ Littleton, Cynthia (April 16, 1998). "CBS Eyemark won't renew rookie yakker". Variety. Variety Media, LLC. Retrieved January 9, 2019.
  11. ^ "Gayle King's Talk Show Cancelled for Fall". Jet. Vol. 60, no. 93. Johnson Publishing. May 4, 1998. p. 60.
  12. ^ "Revamped CBS Morning Show With Charlie Rose & Gayle King To Premiere January 9". Deadline Hollywood.com. November 15, 2011. Retrieved May 6, 2020.
  13. ^ a b "Charlie Rose and Gayle King to Join Revamped Early Show Next Year". TV Guide. November 10, 2011. Archived from the original on September 30, 2019. Retrieved January 8, 2019.
  14. ^ a b du Lac, J. Freedom; Amy B Wang, Marwa Eltagouri (November 21, 2017). "'I am not okay': The remarkable response to the Charlie Rose allegations, from his CBS colleagues". Washington Post. Retrieved September 24, 2021.
  15. ^ "Broadcast Morning Shows Boast Final Ratings As 2016 Wraps". Deadline Hollywood. December 28, 2016. Retrieved May 6, 2020.
  16. ^ Givhan, Robin (June 11, 2019). "Our culture needed an adult. Gayle King rose to the challenge". The Washington Post. Retrieved May 6, 2020.
  17. ^ Schaffstal, Katherine (November 1, 2018). "Gayle King Explains Why She's Still Friends With Charlie Rose". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved May 6, 2020.
  18. ^ Chozick, Amy (October 31, 2018). "Gayle King Has the Spotlight All to Herself". The New York Times. Retrieved September 24, 2021.
  19. ^ a b Alexandra, Steigrad (February 23, 2017). "Gayle King On Magazines, Morning Shows and Megyn Kelly". WWD. Penske Media Corporation. Archived from the original on September 14, 2019. Retrieved January 8, 2019.
  20. ^ Baldoni, John (September 12, 2018). "Gayle King calls for CBS to release results of Leslie Moonves investigation". Variety. Retrieved January 9, 2019. 'I'm sick and sick of the story and sickened ... by everything that we keep hearing,' King said. Regarding the plan to keep the report private, she said: 'How can we have this investigation and not know how it comes out? Les Moonves has been on the record, he says, listen, he didn't do these things, that it was consensual, that he hasn't hurt anybody's career. I would think it would be in his best interests for us to hear what the report finds out.' King said noted, as have many others, that the women who have come forward with claims about Moonves have little motivation to fabricate or exaggerate past incidents with Moonves. 'You have women who are coming forward, very credibly talking about something that's so painful and so humiliating. It's been my experience that women don't come out and speak this way for no reason. They just don't,' King said. 'And so I don't know how we move forward if we don't — we at CBS – don't have full transparency about what we find. ... In our own house we must have transparency.'
  21. ^ Saad, Nardine (September 11, 2018). "Gayle King says CBS 'must have transparency' after Moonves' departure". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved January 9, 2019.
  22. ^ "Gayle King praised for composure in R. Kelly interview: I thought 'let it play itself out'". USA Today. March 6, 2019.
  23. ^ McNamara, Mary (March 11, 2019). "In her R. Kelly interview, Gayle King proves she's got nothing to prove". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved March 12, 2019.
  24. ^ "R. Kelly screams and shouts in explosive CBS interview with Gayle King". Film Industry Network. March 6, 2019.
  25. ^ Edelstein, Robert (April 30, 2018). "B&C Announces Hall of Fame Class of 2018". Broadcasting & Cable. Future Publishing Limited Quay House. Retrieved January 9, 2019.
  26. ^ DuVernay, Ava (April 2019). "Gayle King Is on the 2019 Time 100 List". Time.
  27. ^ a b c "Oprah Winfrey says Gayle King is receiving 'death threats' over interview clip about Kobe Bryant rape case". The Independent. February 7, 2020.
  28. ^ Owoseje, Toyin (February 6, 2020). "Gayle King criticizes employer CBS for sharing 'salacious' clip of Lisa Leslie defending Kobe Bryant". CNN. Retrieved February 7, 2020.
  29. ^ Johnson, Ted (January 28, 2022). "'CBS Mornings' Co-Anchor Gayle King Signs New Deal With CBS News". Deadline Hollywood.
  30. ^ "Seeking a rebound, CNN turns to Charles Barkley, Gayle King". AP NEWS. April 22, 2023. Retrieved April 23, 2023.
  31. ^ "Oprah Winfrey and Gail [sic] King". Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on October 3, 2016. Oprah Winfrey and Gayle King have been friends since 1976, when they met working at a Baltimore TV station.
  32. ^ Walters, Barbara (December 10, 2010). "Oprah on Oprah: Talk show host sits down with Barbara Walters for a soul-searching interview". ABC News. Archived from the original on December 21, 2021 – via YouTube.
  33. ^ a b Willis, Jackie (July 7, 2016). "Gayle King's Ex-Husband, William Bumpus, Apologizes for Cheating on Her 26 Years Ago". Archived from the original on March 8, 2019. Retrieved February 10, 2020. King and Bumpus were married for 11 years, and share a daughter and a son together, Kirby and William Bumpus Jr. King's daughter, Kirby Bumpus, is engaged to Virgil Miller, the Chief of Staff of Cedric Richmond.
  34. ^ Trepany, Charles. "Gayle King reveals daughter got married with 'super small' reception at Oprah's house". USA TODAY. Retrieved February 18, 2021.
  35. ^ "Don't Miss Gayle King Playing Sophia Bush Hughes on Celebrity Family Feud". Oprah Daily. July 7, 2023. Retrieved July 13, 2023.

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