NEWS'Oblivious' Gayle King Recalls Walking in on Husband and Her Friend Having an Affair: 'She Was Cowering Behind the Door in My Towel'
Gayle King is currently single.
May 27 2026, Updated 12:50 p.m. ET
Gayle King got vulnerable when she sat down with Alex Cooper for the Wednesday, May 27, episode of the "Call Her Daddy" podcast.
In their chat, the TV star recalled finding out her then-husband William Bumpus was having an affair with one of her friends, as King caught them red-handed when she returned home with their children unexpectedly after a flight was canceled.
'I Thought We Were Friends!'
Gayle King caught former husband William Bumpus cheating on her with a friend.
When she walked through the door, her husband came out in a towel and told her she needed to leave. Feeling "oblivious" at the time, a confused King searched the house and found her pal "cowering behind the door in my towel."
The CBS star, 71, admitted she felt "pitiful" in the moment when she told the woman, "I can’t believe that you are here and that you are doing this. I even said, 'I thought we were friends!'"
The Couple's Kids Were Home During the Drama
The TV star found her pal 'cowering' in her home wrapped in one of her towels.
Since King and Bumpus' two children were with her, she instructed the nanny to take them to a back room in the home.
Cooper asked how King managed to keep her composure in the moment, to which she explained, "Well, because I was thinking, 'The kids are here. I don't want anybody to know.' That was my main thought. I don't want anybody to know."
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The mom-of-two kept her composure during the incident because their two kids were home.
King noted her reaction today would have been different, quipping, "It would be like, 'Get this da da da da and take her da da da da.'"
"But you know, I kept thinking, I don't want it to be a scene because they're little, they know this person," she said, referring to how their kids called the woman their aunt. "And you just, my main thing was... how do I handle this situation in this moment?"
Gayle King and William Bumpus were married from 1982 to 1993.
At the time, the other woman was also married, so King told her spouse she was calling her husband, something Bumpus objected to.
"He goes, 'Don't call because they have a good marriage,'" Bumpus told her, to which she responded, "They have a good marriage? The girl's pajama bottoms are in my bed."
Gayle King Told the Woman's Husband About the Affair
At the time, Oprah Winfrey was the only other person who knew about the scandal.
In a state of disbelief, King phoned up best friend Oprah Winfrey to spill the tea, admitting the philanthropist is the only person she told about the infidelity.
"She said, 'Well, f--- him. Call her husband,'" King continued.
When the journalist finally decided to ring up the woman's spouse, he responded by telling King, "She told me you would be calling. She said that you came home early, unexpected. And you drew the wrong conclusion. And she told me you would call and say that you thought they were having an affair."
The man continued to dismiss her allegations, calling her "delusional" despite King giving him evidence like describing her pal's pajamas.
Recalled King, "And then I said, 'Go f--- yourself.' And I hung up the telephone."
