# Gayle King

Gayle King (born December 28, 1954) is an American television personality, author, and broadcast journalist for CBS News, co-hosting its flagship morning program, CBS Mornings, and before that its predecessor CBS This Morning. She is also an editor-at-large for O, The Oprah Magazine. King was named one of Time magazine's "100 Most Influential People of 2019".
On February 27, 2025, it was announced that King would be part of the crew for Blue Origin's eleventh flight to space under the New Shepard program, along with Katy Perry, Amanda Nguyen, Aisha Bowe, Kerianne Flynn and fellow journalist Lauren Sánchez. The launch is expected to take place in spring 2025. This launch would make both King and Sánchez the first journalists to ever fly to space.

## Early life

Gayle King's parents are Peggy Tucker and Emmett Scott King. King was born in Chevy Chase, Maryland, 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 in 1966, where her father worked as an electrical engineer. King graduated from the University of Maryland, College Park, with a degree in psychology.

## Career
### 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. After working at WJZ, she moved to Kansas City, Missouri, where she was a weekend anchor and general-assignment reporter at WDAF-TV. In 1981, she was hired as a news anchor for WFSB in Hartford, Connecticut, where she worked for 18 years. Part of that time, she lived in Glastonbury, Connecticut.

### 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. In 1997, she was offered her own syndicated talk show, The Gayle King Show, which was canceled after one season due to low ratings. 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. 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 and a series of third co-anchors including for a time Norah O'Donnell. The show succeeded in the ratings. King and Rose were noted as having good on-air chemistry. The two became friends as well, and remained friends even after Rose exited from CBS due to the sexual misconduct allegations against him.

### Print journalism

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

### Network news

Before joining CBS News, King worked as a special correspondent for Good Morning America. On November 10, 2011, King secured a deal with CBS to co-anchor CBS This Morning, beginning on January 9, 2012. 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. 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.
In 2018, King was inducted into the Broadcasting & Cable Hall of Fame. She was also chosen as one of Time magazine's 100 most influential people of 2019.
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. Rapper Snoop Dogg was among those who criticized King, though he later apologized. She received support, particularly from long-time friend Oprah Winfrey. 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.
In January 2022, King had extended her contract with CBS News to continue as co-anchor of CBS Mornings.
On April 22, 2023, CNN announced that King will co-host with Charles Barkley on their weekly primetime show King Charles which debuted that fall. King will continue her role as co-anchor of CBS Mornings.

## Personal life

King has been a close friend of Oprah Winfrey since 1976. 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".
From 1982 to 1993, King was married to William Bumpus, an attorney and an assistant attorney general in Connecticut. They share a daughter, Kirby, and a son, William Bumpus Jr.
In 2023, King appeared on Celebrity Family Feud. Competing against Sophia Bush, King's team lost.

## 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 |
| 2024 | The Trainer | | |