Oprah Winfrey may be a billionaire media mogul, but best friend and broadcaster Gayle King thinks she could have been a successful therapist.
King talked about how Winfrey supported her when she divorced her ex-husband, William Bumpus, on Tuesday’s episode of Brooke Shields’ podcast, Now What? With Brooke Shields.”
“She’s one of the best therapists ever,” King said of her longtime friend. “If she had a second career, it would be — honest to God, she’s one of the best therapists ever.”
King spoke publicly about the time he caught Bumpus in bed with another woman in 1990. The couple divorced in 1993 and have two sons, Kirby Bumpus and William Bumpus Jr.
The “CBS This Morning” co-anchor told Shields that she initially only told Winfrey and her mother about her ex-husband’s infidelity.
“I knew I could trust them,” she said.
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King recalled the night he caught Bumpus cheating during a 2016 interview with Vanity Fair.
Asked if there was a living person she despised the most, the TV presenter mentioned the woman her husband was having an affair with.
“‘Contempt’ is a strong word,” he said. “I’m not a big fan of the woman I caught naked with my ex-husband on June 24, 1990 at 9:16 p.m., but I don’t remember the details.”
In 2010, Winfrey described her close connection and friendship with King during an interview with Barbara Walters.
“She is…the mother I never had. She is … the sister everyone wants,” she said. “She’s the friend everyone deserves. I don’t know a better person. I don’t know a better person.”