Gayle King Height, Weight, Age, Body Statistics

Gayle King is an African-American television anchor on CBS This Morning. She is more famously known as Oprah Winfrey’s closest friend and has been since they first worked together in 1976. She was born on December 28, 1954, in Chevy Chase, Maryland, the US to Scott King, an electrical engineer and, Peggy King, a homemaker. Gayle grew up for a while in Turkey when her father’s job took the family to Ankara.

She graduated with a double degree in Psychology and Sociology from the University of Maryland and met Oprah at WJZ-TV in Baltimore when she was employed as a production assistant. Oprah is godmother to her daughter Kirby. Gayle has a son William also with her ex-husband William Bumpus.

She has worked in many various media organizations, to name a few; with WDAF-TV in Kansas City as a weekend anchor and general assignment reporter, and with WFSB in Hartford, Connecticut, as a news anchor for 18 years. She has worked with the Oprah Winfrey show as a special correspondent and has also hosted a show on XM Satellite Radio.

Born Name

Gayle King

Nick Name

Gayle

Sun Sign

Capricorn

Born Place

Chevy Chase, Maryland, United States

Residence

New York City, United States

Nationality

Education

Gayle King attended the University of Maryland, College Park.

Occupation

Television Presenter, Broadcast Journalist, Magazine Editor, Author

Family

• Father – Scott King (Electrical Engineer)
• Mother – Peggy King (Homemaker)

Build

Average

Height

5 ft 10 in or 178 cm

Weight

78 kg or 172 lbs

Boyfriend / Spouse

Gayle King has dated –

1. William G. Bumpus (1982-1993) – Gayle King was married to William Bumpus, an attorney and assistant attorney general in Connecticut for 11 years from 1982 to 1993. They have 2 children together, a son and daughter, Kirby Lynette Bumpus and William Bumpus.
2. Cory Booker (2006) – Gayle King has dated Cory Anthony Booker, a politician, and public servant, in 2006.

Race / Ethnicity

Black

She has African-American ancestry.

Hair Color

Dark Brown

Eye Color

Dark Brown

Sexual Orientation

Straight

Distinctive Features

Size 10 feet

Best Known For

• Being a magazine editor for “O, The Oprah Magazine”
• Appearing on TV as the morning news co-anchor on CBS
• Working as a special correspondent for the Oprah Winfrey Show
• Appearing in The movie Manchurian Candidate in 2004, the TV series Being Mary Jane in 2013 and, The Boss in 2016

First Film

Gayle King made her theatrical film debut in the 1985 film The Color Purple. But, the role was uncredited.

Her first credited film appearance occurred in 2000 in the rom-com film A Little Bit of Lipstick in the role of an entertainment reporter.

First TV Show

She made her TV show debut at The Gayle King Show as herself in 1997.

Gayle King Favorite Things

• Film – Bohemian Rhapsody
• TV Series – House of Cards
• Shoe – True Gault
• Book – Shade: A Tale of Two Presidents

Source – Oprah Mag, Wikipedia, IMDb

Gayle King Facts

1. She grew up in Ankara, Turkey, from 1960 to 1966 due to her father’s job. She also visited Paris and Greece during this period.
2. Her father, Scott King worked as an electronic engineer for the government.
3. She’s famous for being Oprah Winfrey’s closest friend.
4. Howard Stern is her good friend and he and Oprah have a history of exchanging criticisms of each other.
5. She tends to poke fun at herself, with regards to her size 10 feet.
6. Her shoe size is the same size as Oprah Winfrey’s.
7. Kirby Lynette King Bumpus, Gayle’s daughter graduated with a double major in Human Biology and Psychology.
8. Oprah Winfrey was the commencement speaker at Kirby’s graduation at Stanford. She is Kirby’s godmother.
9. She met Oprah in Baltimore when they both worked for WJZ-TV. King was a production assistant and Oprah was an anchor.
10. She trained in Washington, D. C, as a reporter at WTOP-TV.
11. Gayle King was a news anchor for WFSB Eyewitness News out of Hartford, Connecticut for 18 years.
12. When she moved to Kansas City, Missouri, she worked as a weekend anchor and general assignment reporter at WDAF-TV.
13. She has an audiobook project that she worked on with several other famous people who provided chapter narration, such as, Maya Angelou, Jimmy Carter, Jane Fonda, Oprah Winfrey, Joe Biden, and Chelsea Handler.
14. Gayle collected and introduced the sections to the audiobook “Note to Self – Inspiring Words from Inspiring People” in 2018 published by Simon & Schuster, New York.
15. She was on the magazine cover of the January 1, 2012 issue of Parade (US).
16. Gayle King was twice nominated for an Emmy Award, under the “News and Documentary Awards”, in 2018 and 2017. The nominations are shared with the CBS news reporting team.
17. The 2017 nomination was for “Outstanding Coverage of a Breaking News Story in a Newscast” on the CBS Evening News with Scott Pelley.
18. The 2018 Emmy nomination was also for “Outstanding Coverage of a Breaking News Story in a Newscast.”
19. She hosted a TV talk show for only 1 season, The Gayle King Show (1997) that was canceled because of low ratings.
20. She hosted The Gayle King Show on XM Satellite Radio, in 2006.
21. In January 2011, Gayle hosted yet another new show on OWN, also called The Gayle King Show, that was canceled in November of the same year, because she had landed the position of co-anchor on CBS This Morning.
22. Gayle has worked as a special correspondent for Good Morning America.
23. When the scandals of s*xual assault in the entertainment industry broke out in 2017/2018, she was furious that CBS refused to make public their findings of their investigations about the company. Les Moonves the CBS Chief, and former co-anchor, Charlie Rose left CBS following multiple allegations of s*xual misconduct against them.
24. She conducted herself with admirable composure and stoicism in an interview with R. Kelly about s*xual abuse allegations made against him while he lost his cool, shouted, thumped his chest and stood up aggressively from his chair.
25. The Broadcasting & Cable Hall of Fame inducted her in 2018.
26. She has lived in Turkey, Kansas City, Missouri, Hartford, Connecticut and Glastonbury, Connecticut.
27. She was to replace Star Jones and Rosie O’Donnell in 2006 and 2007 in the TV show The View.
28. One of the hardest interviews she ever did was with Frank Zappa who told her that her question was stupid when she asked about his name.
29. In October 2020, Gayle shared her weight gain photos on Instagram as she had gained weight during the COVID-19 lockdown. It had shot up from 167.6 lbs (and her recent lowest at 159.2 lbs) previously to 172.2 lbs.

Featured Image by David Shankbone / Wikimedia / CC BY 3.0