After 33 Years, William Bumpus Breaks Silence on the Affair That Ended His Marriage to Gayle King

Sometimes healing takes decades. Gayle King found that out the hard way when she discovered her then-husband William Bumpus cheating with one of her best friends in 1990—a moment she recently recounted in vivid, unflinching detail on Alex Cooper’s“Call Her Daddy”podcast. What made the story resonate wasn’t just the infidelity itself, but King’s raw honesty about coming home after a canceled flight and finding her friend“cowering behind the door in my towel.”

What happened next, though, might surprise you. Instead of the typical celebrity scandal playbook—denial, legal threats, silence—Bumpus stepped forward with something genuinely rare: a public apology. Speaking to TMZ on Thursday, May 28, he addressed not just King, but their adult children Kirby and William, and even their three grandchildren, acknowledging the pain his actions caused nearly four decades ago.“Those actions were mine,”he said.“I have long owned [my actions]—including publicly in my own words in 2016, which still stand.”

King’s reaction tells you everything about where both of them stand today.“I was surprised, but I can also say I appreciated what he had to say,”the 71-year-old broadcaster told TMZ. The pain was real—she emphasized that to anyone who hasn’t lived through infidelity—but so was her ability to move forward. She and Bumpus, now 70, divorced in 1993 after attempting to salvage the marriage, but they’ve clearly arrived at a place of genuine resolution.“The reason why I can talk about it so candidly is because of the time that has passed,”King explained.“And I’m in a really great place, and so is he.”

What’s striking here isn’t the scandal itself—celebrity affairs are tabloid fodder. It’s the model of accountability and healing on display. King didn’t need Bumpus’s apology to move on; she did that years ago. But his willingness to own his mistake publicly, and her openness about the chapter it opened, suggests something older generations understood: sometimes the work of forgiveness—of both others and ourselves—is what actually sets us free.