Gayle King (born December 28, 1954) is an American television personality, author and broadcast journalist for

CBS News CBS News is the news division of the American television and radio service CBS. CBS News television programs include the '' CBS Evening News'', '' CBS Mornings'', news magazine programs '' CBS News Sunday Morning'', '' 60 Minutes'', and '' 4 ...

, co-hosting its flagship morning program, '' CBS Mornings'', and before that its predecessor ''

CBS This Morning ''CBS This Morning'' (''CTM'') is an American morning television program that aired on CBS from November 30, 1987, to October 29, 1999, and again from January 9, 2012, to September 6, 2021. The program was aired from Monday through Saturday. ...

''. She is also an editor-at-large for ''

O, The Oprah Magazine ''O, The Oprah Magazine'', also known simply as ''O'', is an American monthly magazine founded by talk show host Oprah Winfrey and Hearst Communications. Overview It was first published on April 19, 2000. , its average paid circulation was ...

''.King in King was named one of ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and event (philosophy), events that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various me ...

'' magazine's " 100 Most Influential People of 2019".

Early life

Gayle King's parents are Peggy and Scott King. King was born in

Chevy Chase, Maryland Chevy Chase () is the name of both a town and an unincorporated census-designated place (Chevy Chase (CDP), Maryland) that straddle the northwest border of Washington, D.C. and Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. Several settlements in t ...

, and from age six to eleven she lived in Ankara, Turkey, where her father was deployed. Eventually returning with her family to the United States in 1966, where her father worked as an electrical engineer. She graduated from the

University of Maryland, College Park The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of ...

, with a degree in psychology.

Career

Television broadcast news

King's career began as a production assistant at

WJZ-TV WJZ-TV (channel 13) is a television station in Baltimore, Baltimore, Maryland, United States, airing programming from the CBS network. It is Owned-and-operated station, owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division, and ma ...

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic, and the 30th most populous city in the United States with a population of 585,708 in 2020. Baltimore was ...

, where she met

Oprah Winfrey Oprah Gail Winfrey (; born Orpah Gail Winfrey; January 29, 1954), or simply Oprah, is an American talk show host, television producer, actress, author, and philanthropist. She is best known for her talk show, ''The Oprah Winfrey Show'', b ...

, 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 Kansas City (abbreviated KC or KCMO) is the largest city in Missouri by population and area. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a population of 508,090 in 2020, making it the List of United States cities by populat ...

, where she was a weekend anchor and general-assignment reporter at

WDAF-TV WDAF-TV (channel 4) is a television station in Kansas City, Missouri, United States, affiliated with the Fox network. The station is owned by Nexstar Media Group, and maintains studios and transmitter facilities on Summit Street in the Signal H ...

. In 1981, she was hired as a news anchor for WFSB in

Hartford, Connecticut Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since t ...

, where she worked for 18 years. Part of that time, she lived in

Glastonbury, Connecticut Glastonbury ( ) is a town in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States, formally founded in 1693 and first settled in 1636. It was named after Glastonbury in Somerset, England. Glastonbury is on the banks of the Connecticut River, southeast ...

Talk shows and morning news co-anchor

King worked as a special correspondent for ''

The Oprah Winfrey Show ''The Oprah Winfrey Show'', often referred to as ''The Oprah Show'' or simply ''Oprah'', is an American daytime syndicated talk show that aired nationally for 25 seasons from September 8, 1986, to May 25, 2011, in Chicago, Illinois. Produced ...

''. In 1991, King briefly co-hosted an

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

daytime

talk show A talk show (or chat show in British English) is a television programming or radio programming genre structured around the act of spontaneous conversation.Bernard M. Timberg, Robert J. Erler'' (2010Television Talk: A History of the TV Talk Sh ...

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 XM Satellite Radio (XM) was one of the three satellite radio (SDARS) and online radio services in the United States and Canada, operated by Sirius XM, Sirius XM Holdings. It provided pay-for-service radio, analogous to subscription cable televisi ...

. On January 3, 2011, King began hosting a new show, also called '' The Gayle King Show'', on

OWN Ownership is the state or fact of legal possession and control over property, which may be any asset, tangible or intangible. Ownership can involve multiple rights, collectively referred to as title, which may be separated and held by different ...

. ''The Gayle King Show'' ended on November 17, 2011, as a result of King going to CBS to co-anchor ''

'' alongside

Charlie Rose Charles Peete Rose Jr. (born January 5, 1942) is an American former television journalist and talk show host. From 1991 to 2017, he was the host and executive producer of the talk show '' Charlie Rose'' on PBS and Bloomberg LP. Rose also co- ...

and a series of third co-anchors including for a time

Norah O'Donnell Norah Morahan O'Donnell (born January 23, 1974) is an American television journalist who is currently anchor of the ''CBS Evening News'' and a correspondent for ''60 Minutes''. She has worked with several mainstream media outlets throughout her ...

. 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 ''

'' as an editor in 1999.

Network news

Before joining

, King worked as a special correspondent for ''

Good Morning America ''Good Morning America'' (often abbreviated as ''GMA'') is an American morning television program that is broadcast on ABC. It debuted on November 3, 1975, and first expanded to weekends with the debut of a Sunday edition on January 3, 1993. ...

''. 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 Sexual abuse or sex abuse, also referred to as molestation, is abusive sexual behavior by one person upon another. It is often perpetrated using force or by taking advantage of another. Molestation often refers to an instance of sexual assa ...

and

harassment Harassment covers a wide range of behaviors of offensive nature. It is commonly understood as behavior that demeans, humiliates or embarrasses a person, and it is characteristically identified by its unlikelihood in terms of social and moral ...

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 ''

'' magazine's

100 most influential people ''Time'' 100 (often stylized as ''TIME'' 100) is an annual listicle of the 100 most influential people in the world, assembled by the American news magazine '' Time''. First published in 1999 as the result of a debate among American academics, ...

of 2019. In 2020, shortly after the

death Death is the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain an organism. For organisms with a brain, death can also be defined as the irreversible cessation of functioning of the whole brain, including brainstem, and brain ...

Kobe Bryant Kobe Bean Bryant ( ; August 23, 1978 – January 26, 2020) was an American professional basketball player. A shooting guard, he spent his entire 20-year career with the Los Angeles Lakers in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Widely r ...

, King received social media criticism for a ''

'' interview with former WNBA player

Lisa Leslie Lisa Deshaun Leslie (born July 7, 1972) is an American former professional basketball player. She is currently the head coach for Triplets in the BIG3 professional basketball league, as well as a studio analyst for Orlando Magic broadcasts on ...

, in which King brought up Bryant's sexual assault allegations from 2003. Rapper

Snoop Dogg Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr. (born October 20, 1971), known professionally as Snoop Dogg (previously Snoop Doggy Dogg and briefly Snoop Lion), is an American rapper. His fame dates back to 1992 when he featured on Dr. Dre's debut solo single, " ...

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 keep as co-anchor of '' CBS Mornings''.

Personal life

King has been a close friend of

since 1976. In a 2010 interview with

Barbara Walters Barbara Jill Walters (born September 25, 1929) is an American broadcast journalist and television personality. Known for her interviewing ability and popularity with viewers, Walters appeared as a host of numerous television programs, including ...

, 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 Bill Bumpus, an attorney and an assistant attorney general in Connecticut. They share a daughter, Kirby, and a son, William Bumpus Jr.

Filmography

References

External links

*
Oprah and Friends
at

* {{DEFAULTSORT:King, Gayle 1954 births Living people American magazine editors American television hosts American radio personalities American women radio presenters African-American radio personalities African-American television hosts African-American television personalities American women television journalists CBS News people People from Chevy Chase, Maryland University of Maryland, College Park alumni 20th-century American journalists 21st-century American journalists Women magazine editors American women television presenters 20th-century African-American women 20th-century African-American people 21st-century American women 21st-century African-American women 21st-century African-American people