Gayle King shouldn’t be surprised if she catches her ex-husband, William Bumpus, batting an eye in her direction the next time they see each other.
The 69-year-old journalist turned heads and dropped jaws when she was unveiled as a Sports Illustrated covergirl this month for the publication’s annual swimsuit edition.
In a twist of events, Bumpus said that getting an eyeful of his ex, the “CBS Mornings” co-host, and her curves made one of his long, unrequited dreams come true.
“Well, I can mark off one more item on my highly unlikely to ever happen bucket list! My teenage fantasy of hooking up with a Sports Illustrated model has finally come true,” he told Page Six. “WOW! Bravo to you Gayle … You Look Fantastic! Bravo to Sports Illustrated for selecting YOU” he further exclaimed.
King and the retired attorney were married in 1982 and divorced in 1993. They are parents to daughter Kirby and son William Bumpus Jr., as well as grandparents to their daughter’s two children. The veteran journalist has long claimed that she caught him in bed with a woman she considered to be a friend.
In a 2016 Vanity Fair interview, she was asked what living person she most despised. She said, “Despise is a strong word. I’m not a huge fan of the woman I caught naked with my now ex-husband on June 24, 1990, at 9:16 p.m. — but I don’t remember the details.”
Gayle King on the cover issue of Sports illustrated pic.twitter.com/922vPmEoVm
— 2Cool2Blog (@2Cool2Blog) May 14, 2024
Also in 2016, Bumpus publicly spoke about the infidelity. “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 told Page Six.
Present day, having witnessed all that he has missed out on since their separation, he told the outlet that his ex has always “been beautiful inside and out” and that he appreciates her “more and more as time goes on, as a trailblazer, and also when I see our phenomenal kids and grandkids! I am proud of you and continue to wish you nothing but happiness. Enjoy!”
But not everyone is interested in what he has to say. “He needs to shut his cheating ass mouth,” tweeted one person. “This is just straight up embarrassing,” wrote another X user about Bumpus’ commentary.
Oprah Winfrey’s bestie may have had an inkling that her ex-husband would ogle at her legs and cleavage that were put on full display in the gold, green, orange, black, and printed bathing suits.
Speaking of her children’s reactions to her provocative side being spotlighted, she shared that “both of them said to me separately, ‘Mom, this is really cool. We’re very proud of you.’ I wonder what my ex-husband is saying. I’m gonna send him a copy!”
Ex-husband aside, King has managed to keep her love life under wraps, only recently revealing that she likes a man with a touch of filthy mouth. Bumpus has since welcomed a third child, a 12-year-old daughter with his second wife, but keeps his otherwise personal affairs out of the public eye.
