William Bumpus, Gayle King’s ex-husband, apologized again for an extramarital affair, renewing his regrets in a lengthy statement after King revisited the moment on her podcast. The apology names King, their children and grandchildren, and comes as King descri
When Gayle King returned home early from a trip and realized her husband was cheating, she didn’t just lose trust—she upended her marriage in an instant. Nearly 40 years later, William Bumpus is still carrying the weight of that day.
In a renewed apology published Wednesday, May 28, Bumpus said he had regrets he believes he must name plainly. “My deepest apologies to Gayle. to our daughter Kirby and her husband. Virgil. to our son William and his wife. Elise. and to our three grandchildren. for the pain I caused decades ago. ” he said in a statement shared with TMZ.
Bumpus, who was married to King from 1982 to 1993, acknowledged that the actions were his. “Those actions were mine. I have long owned them – including publicly in my own words in 2016. which still stand.” He also addressed King’s renewed decision to recount the story. saying he has stepped back from any effort to dispute it.
King, 71, discussed the breakup of her first marriage on the “Call Her Daddy” podcast, released Wednesday. She told host Alex Cooper that her ex-husband had an extramarital affair with her friend, which she said she discovered after returning home early.
In King’s retelling. she said Bumpus was caught off guard when she arrived. and moments later she found her friend wearing her towel. King said that even though Bumpus urged her not to. she tried to call her friend’s husband to alert him. But, King said, the friend reached him first—so the husband didn’t believe her.
Bumpus’s comments in his renewed statement reflect that same rupture, even as he focuses on remorse rather than argument. He said King has “every right to share what was a painful chapter that changed the trajectory of our marriage and our family nearly forty years ago.” “I respect her right to tell her story. and that’s where I’ll leave it. ” he added.
In her podcast interview, King also described what she said Bumpus told her after the confrontation. She said he told her the situation was being misunderstood: “She told me you would be calling. ” King recalled him saying. “She said that you came home early, unexpected, and you drew the wrong conclusion. And she told me you would call and say that you thought they were having an affair.”.
King said Bumpus also told her she was “delusional and out of touch with reality.”
After the affair came to light, the couple divorced and later briefly reconciled, King said—but she realized, as she put it, “he hadn’t really changed.”
Bumpus, in the updated statement, said he continues to work toward who he wants to be now. “Now decades later, I continue to work at being the best version of myself,” he said. He added that the former couple “remain in a good place.”
He also described pride and gratitude for King’s path. “I am proud to have had a front-row seat to Gayle’s remarkable success, and I remain a genuine admirer and fan,” he said. In that same statement, Bumpus said King gave him “two of the greatest gifts of my life,” referring to their children.
King and Bumpus share two children: daughter Kirby and son William Bumpus Jr. Bumpus’s apology extends beyond them, naming Kirby’s husband, Virgil, and their son’s wife, Elise, along with “three grandchildren.”
The through-line in both accounts is stark: a painful chapter described in public again. and an apology that—according to Bumpus—has been carried for decades even after he previously addressed it in 2016. His statement puts the emphasis on ownership and distance—he says he leaves the telling to King. while reaffirming that the damage was his to acknowledge.
Gayle King William Bumpus apology affair Call Her Daddy TMZ CBS Mornings Alex Cooper Kirby Bumpus Virgil Elise