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‘I Just Don’t Want Someone I Could Have Given Birth To’: Gayle King Looking for Younger Man After Years of Being In Oprah’s Shadow

Posted byBy Angelina Velasquez | Published on: CommentsComments (0)

Gayle King still believes in love. The “CBS Mornings” host got candid about her personal life at the May 28 launch party for friend Hoda Kotb’s Joy 101, a wellness app described as “a retreat in your pocket.” 

King, 70, was chatting with “Entertainment Tonight” reporter Rachel Smith about the upcoming nuptials for Lauren Sánchez and Jeff Bezos when the conversation became centered on the veteran journalist’s dating life.

gayle king eats half eaten pie
Gayle King defends why she ate a half-eaten pie she ordered from a restaurant. (Photo by Marla Aufmuth/Getty Images for Massachusetts Conference for Women)

“You got somebody for me?” Asked King after sharing that he has not given up hope on her own happily ever after. “I am alert and available!” she cheekily added. Smith recalled her industry peer’s past remarks about seeking someone a bit younger too. King confirmed that her dating requirement remains the same. 

“I’ve always said that. I just don’t want someone young enough I could’ve given birth to,” the Daytime Emmy winner said. “But I’m not mad at younger. I’m not a cougar, but yeah, yeah. I just say, you stay open to all possibilities.”

King and her ex-husband, William Bumpus, are parents to daughter Kirby, 39, and son William Bumpus Jr., 37. The exes were married for 11 years when they divorced in 1993. As the clip circulated online, social media users could not resist adding their own perspectives to the conversation.

An Instagram user wrote, “Alert and available Aunt Gale on go… What happened on that spaceship?” In April, King, Sánchez, Katy Perry, Aisha Bowe, Amanda Nguyen, and Kerianne Flynn boarded Bezos’ Blue Origin rocket for the controversial space flight. 

A second person stated, “Gayle aint bagging nothing under 55 chile please.” On YouTube, a viewer remarked, “Probably to make herself feel younger again.”

In May 2024, the TV host told Tamron Hall she “would like it [her mate’s age] to start with a 5, and I don’t wanna be a nurse or a purse. I don’t want that… They have all of their teeth. That would be nice. Because it’s not really about money…it’s about somebody who has their own business, their own thing.”

Aside from rumors that she dated New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker in 2006 — he was mayor of Newark at that time — King has managed to keep the identities of her former beaus under wraps. Admittedly, she has publicly stated that finding Mr. Right has been challenging.

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