Gayle KingEx-husband William Bumpus he publicly apologized for cheating on her some 40 years ago.
“I am very sorry to Gayle, to our daughter Kirby with her husband, Virgilto our son William and his wife, Eliseand to our three grandchildren, because of the pain I caused in the past decades. Those actions were mine,” Bumpus, 70, told TMZ in a statement released Thursday, May 27. [my actions] – including publicly in my words in 2016, still. “
Bumpus spoke after King, 71, opened up Alex Cooper on Wednesday’s “Call Her Daddy” podcast episode about catching an ex-boyfriend cheating with one of his best friends in 1990.
“Gayle has every right to share the painful chapter that changed the course of our marriage and our family nearly 40 years ago,” he added. “I respect his right to tell his story, and that’s where I’ll leave it.”
The lawyer emphasized that he is “unendingly grateful” to the Lord, for their marriage and their reproductive relationship. (King and Bumpus divorced in 1993.)
“She gave me two of the greatest gifts in my life – our daughter Kirby and our son William. It was Gayle who encouraged and supported me in getting my Yale Law degree,” Bumpus recalled. “And it was Gayle who chose, and I, to co-parent effectively from the beginning—a testament to our shared commitment to our children above all else, and now our grandchildren.
He celebrated his “commitment” to working with the King “almost four decades later,” adding that they are in a ‘good place’ today.
“As a private person by nature, I will admit that during our marriage I did not enjoy Gayle’s public life – I wanted ours to be private, and that was something I struggled with, and not think about her real talent and skills,” he said. “I’m proud to have had a front seat to Gayle’s incredible success, and I remain a true fan and fan.”
His statement concluded, “I continue to work on being the best person I can be, supported by Gayle’s friendship, encouragement, and support over the years, the love of our grown children and grandchildren, and the daily privilege of raising a poet as a single father. That’s where my focus is—on my family, my clients, and the work that lies ahead of me.”
William Bumpus Sr.
Courtesy Instagram / William BumpusIn her “Call Her Daddy” interview, King revealed that she returned home in June 1990 after her flight was canceled, but her then-husband tried to prevent her from entering the residence. King admitted he was so “oblivious” that he began “searching the house” to find out what Bumpus meant.
“I didn’t believe him,” he recalled. “I went downstairs and there he was – even here he was barking at the back of the door for my towel. It was a nice bath sheet.”
King explained to Cooper, 31, that she was stable when she argued with her husband and wife to protect her young children from harm.
“I was thinking, ‘The kids are here, I don’t want anyone to know,'” she recalled. “That was my main thought, ‘I don’t want anyone to know.’ That wouldn’t happen to me today.”
He went on to say, “I kept thinking, ‘I don’t want it to be an incident,’ because they are young, they know this person.”
Gayle King is staying on at CBS Mornings despite speculation that she plans to exit later this year. “The rumors of my death were false and greatly exaggerated,” King, 71, said in a statement to Variety on Wednesday, March 4. “CBS News is my longtime home, and I am committed to our work.” He added: “I’m happy to continue […]
The couple tried to repair their marriage after Bumpus’ cheating, though they ended up divorcing three years later.
“I was happy,” Nkosi admitted. “You know how they say the wife always knows? I swear to God I didn’t. I didn’t. . . .
As he said in a statement to TMZ, Bumpus previously publicly apologized in 2016 for telling Page Six that he remained “angry about this life-changing decision.”
“Although I have dealt with this privately … I am publicly apologizing for a major mistake that has changed all of our lives,” he said at the time.
Apart from his two children with Nkosi, Bumpus is the father of a daughter poet, 16, from another relationship.
