Gayle King recalls harrowing moment she caught her husband cheating with one of her best friends

Gayle King has recounted the moment she caught her husband cheating on her in their marital home with a woman whom she had considered a family friend.

The CBS Mornings co-host, now 71, was married to William Bumpus from 1982 to 1993, but towards the end of their marriage, they were rocked by his devastating affair.

The infidelity was exposed when King returned home unannounced from Washington, DC, with their two young children.

Speaking to Alex Cooper, 31, on the Call Her Daddy podcast, King revealed she walked in on the pair, who were both naked underneath bath robes. 

As she tried to enter the house, however, her husband desperately tried to keep her from coming in.

‘He comes flying out of the room and he’s got a towel on, and he goes, “You can’t come in,”‘ she recalled, adding that he warned her that someone was in the house.

At first, King said she was so ‘oblivious’ that she didn’t believe anyone else was in their home.

But upon facing more resistance from William, she started searching the house until she ultimately found the woman ‘cowering behind the door’ in her towel.

King claimed that she confronted the woman, who was also married with two young children.

Addressing her, she said: ‘I can’t believe you are here and that you are doing this.’

Meanwhile, King’s children William Jr and Kirby, who were just toddlers at the time, were outside with their nanny.

King had suspicions that her husband might be having an affair before she caught him in the act.

On one occasion, she had heard the friend compliment her husband on his tennis abilities, which caused the hairs on the back of her neck to stand up.

King said she quizzed her husband after this interaction but that he immediately ‘gaslit’ her when he responded by saying: ‘What are you talking about?’

Despite this encounter, King didn’t think an affair was happening until she came home to see it with her own eyes.

Bumpus has previously responded to his ex’s admission about his affair.

In 2016, he told Page Six: ‘I have been haunted with this life-altering choice. Though I have dealt with this privately… I publicly apologize for the major transgression that dramatically changed all of our lives.’

He also said of King: ‘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,’ he added.

‘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.’