Source : PERTHNOW NEWS
Gayle King has recalled the shocking moment she caught her ex-husband cheating with a friend.
The CBS Mornings anchor found former attorney William G. Bumpus and the woman when she returned home after a flight was cancelled.
On the latest episode of 31-year-old Alex Cooper’s Call Her Daddy podcast, Gayle, 71, remembered the moment in 1990 when she got home from the airport with her then-tots, Kirby and William Jr., to discover that William had unusually set the property’s alarm on with him inside the house.
She added: “Next thing I know, he comes flying out of the room, and he’s got a towel on, he goes, ‘You can’t come in.’
“‘What do you mean I can’t come in? What are you talking about?’ He goes, ‘You can’t come in. Someone’s here.'”
Gayle searched the house because she “didn’t believe” what William had told her.
The broadcast journalist said: “I get down, and there they are – or there she is cowering behind the door in my towel. It was a nice bath sheet.
“I said, ‘I can’t believe that you are here, and that you are doing this. I thought we were friends,’ it sounded so pitiful.”
Kirby and William Jr. were outside with their nanny at the time, and Gayle asked for them to get away from the house so they did not see their dad and the woman, whom her children knew and referred to as “aunt”.
Police rushed to Gayle and William’s property in response to the house alarm being triggered.
The author recalled: “The police came, and they said, ‘Hey, oh my God, it’s Gayle King! Are you OK?’ I was a local news anchor, so I was well-known in the local community.’
“I go, ‘Yeah, I was coming in, I didn’t set off the alarm in time. I’m so sorry.'”
Gayle noted that amid the chaos, the cops then asked her for an autograph, adding: “I wanted to say, ‘Could you take out the trash?’ But I didn’t.”
The star not telling anyone about William’s affair kept her “composed” during that moment.
Gayle said: “I was thinking, ‘The kids are here. I don’t want anybody to know.’ That would not happen to me today. But I kept thinking, ‘I don’t want it to be a scene because they’re little, they know this person.'”
Her first phone call was to her 72-year-old best pal, media mogul Oprah Winfrey, who told Gayle: “Oh, girl, you don’t even know how bad this is.”
William begged Gayle not to call the woman’s husband – whom she called “Richard” for the sake of the story – because they “have a good marriage”.
But Oprah convinced Gayle to phone the man.
Gayle remembered: “So I call him, and he said, ‘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.’ Masterful, isn’t that masterful?’
“He said to me, ‘You are delusional and out of touch with reality, and I suggest you get some help.'”
She noted that the pair were psychologists and attempted to play a mind game with her.
Gayle went on: “I said, ‘OK, you think I should get some help? Does your wife have a pink satin pyjama top? Does she have some green mint panties that go with that? And oh, by the way, Richard, there are semen stains in my bed. So am I delusional and out of touch with reality? Go f*** yourself.’
“And I hung up the telephone.”
Gayle said if it were not for having two children, it would have been “game over” for her and William.
But the pair “went to counselling, tried to work it out” before they “divorced and got back together”.
Gayle added: “And then I realised he hadn’t really changed, but I was turning into such a shrew.
“I would be out in the garage feeling the hood of the car to see if it was warm. I was going through his phone. And I thought, ‘I don’t want to live like this,’ only to find out he was cheating again.”
She and William divorced in 1993 because Gayle “didn’t like who I was. Who wants to live like that? I didn’t want to be that person”.
The TV personality recently saw William at their grandchild’s christening, and she noted that he “ain’t looking so good” and that her former lover has a “new girlfriend”, who “seems very nice and lovely”.
In 2016, William apologised for being unfaithful to Gail.
He said in a statement : “I have been haunted with this life-altering choice. Though I have dealt with this privately, I publicly apologise for the major transgression that dramatically changed all of our lives.
“I have nothing but the utmost respect for Gayle and how she handled herself with grace. Despite the situation, she kept our children, as well as my relationship and involvement with them, as a clear priority.
“Gayle was a great wife, an excellent mother and a fantastic co-parent. I am eternally grateful for all that she has done and continues to do to enrich my life and the lives of our incredible adult children.
“I continue to be a work in progress and have spent the last 26 years striving to be a better man and father. I applaud Gayle’s continued phenomenal success and friendship!”
