Life and career

King was born in Chevy Chase, Maryland. Her father was an electrical engineer and her mother was a homemaker. As a result of her father's work, King spent several years of her childhood in Turkey, where she attended an American school. The family later returned to Maryland. She graduated from the University of Maryland in 1976 with a double degree in psychology and sociology. King then moved to Kansas City, Missouri where she was a reporter and weekend anchor at WDAF-TV. In 1981, she was hired as a news anchor for WFSB in Hartford, Connecticut, where she worked for 18 years. Part of that time, she lived in Glastonbury, CT. In 1991, King briefly cohosted an NBC daytime talk show with Robin Wagner called Cover to Cover which was cancelled after 13 weeks. In 1997 she was offered her own syndicated talk show, The Gayle King Show, which was cancelled after one season due to low ratings.

King joined O, The Oprah Magazine as an editor in 1999. She has also worked as a special correspondent for The Oprah Winfrey Show and Good Morning America. In September 2006, King began to host The Gayle King Show on XM Satellite Radio.

King was rumored to be considered as a replacement for both Star Jones (in 2006) and Rosie O'Donnell (in 2007) as a host on The View, but neither of these came to fruition. King was also rumored to have been a potential replacement if co-host Elisabeth Hasselbeck had left The View in May 2009.

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

On November 10, 2011, King secured a deal with CBS to co-anchor CBS This Morning, beginning on January 9, 2012. As a result, The Gayle King Show ended on November 17, 2011.

Personal life

King is known for her friendship with Oprah Winfrey, which dates back to 1976. King is also friends with Howard Stern, despite Stern's and Winfrey's criticisms of each other.

She was married to Bill Bumpus, an attorney and an assistant attorney general in Connecticut, from 1982 to 1993. She has a son and a daughter.