Gayle King is revisiting a painful memory from her marriage to ex-husband William Bumpus.
According to People, during a May 22 segment tied to the “Life is Better with Dogs” series on CBS Mornings, King shared that she once gave away her dog because Bumpus disliked animals. “My ex-husband didn’t like dogs,” King said during the conversation. “As a matter of fact, I had to get rid of my dog — which should have been a clue.”
She then added with a laugh, “I’m still a little bitter.”
King has long been outspoken about her love for dogs. While discussing the emotional comfort pets provide, the longtime CBS personality said dogs offer “unconditional” love and joked that in another life she would happily return as one of Oprah Winfrey’s famously pampered pets. “Cashmere, private planes — sign me up!” King said.
King was married to Bumpus from 1982 until 1993. Their marriage ended after King discovered he had been unfaithful several years earlier. In 2016, Bumpus publicly apologized after comments about the affair resurfaced, saying he had been “haunted” by the decision and praising King as “a great wife, an excellent mother, and a fantastic co-parent.”
The comments also arrive shortly after Meagan Good made headlines for telling a nearly parallel story involving her cat, Bam Bam. Speaking on Jonica Booth’s Picture This podcast, Good explained that Bam Bam struggled to coexist with the Belgian Malinois dogs she and Majors now own together.
“The pups came with Jonathan,” Good said, explaining that tensions escalated after the couple added more dogs to the household.
Good admitted she initially resisted giving the cat away because she was deeply attached to him. But after Bam Bam began acting out, the couple decided to rehome him. When Booth joked that Good had chosen the dogs over her pet, the actress replied, laughing, “I chose the man.”
Bam Bam has since been rehomed with Quincy Brown, the son of Al B. Sure! and the late Kim Porter, and the stepson of Sean “Diddy” Combs.
