Gayle King has revealed she is often disappointed when it comes to dating.
The “CBS This Morning” host, who is also best friends with Oprah Winfrey recently sat down for an interview with The Pivot Podcast and discussed her dating life with hosts Ryan Clark, Channing Crowder, and Fred Taylor.
The 69-year-old, has not been in a significant public relationship since her divorce in 1993 from Bill Bumpus, a Connecticut assistant attorney general. She revealed that her level of success and fame have often hurt her chances of finding a suitable match.
“What’s difficult is that people say, ‘Oh, you’re so intimidating,’” she shared. “Somebody said to me once, ‘Gayle, look at your shoes … look at your bag, look at your coat. You’re friends with Oprah [Winfrey].’ A guy looks at that and says, ‘I can’t compete with that.’ But my thing is, it’s not a matter of competing. I’m not looking for someone to compete.”
“You want somebody who has a sense of humor, who’s very secure,” she added. “Who’s not intimidated by whatever all of this is that just sees you for you.”
King, who shares two children with her ex, a daughter, Kirby, and a son, William Jr., is still searching and shared what caused her to kick her last boyfriend away.
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“I went on a date. I was really excited, very excited about it,” she said. “We’d gone out maybe two months and then he said he really needed to talk to me. He wanted to have a private conversation…[he said,] ‘Do you think you could lend me $4,000?’ I’m like, oh God.”
When Oprah Winfrey, 70, learned of the request, her response to her best friend was quite epic.
“You know what Oprah said, ‘God, I would have felt better if he had said $40,000,” King explained. “I was so crushed because he was somebody who was making, you know, six figures, successful. And when I said, you know, could I ask what it’s for? He said, Yeah, it was for a child support issue and to pay a payment on some furniture. [And I said to myself] ‘Oh God, this is just getting worse.’”
While King did loan the guy the money, she lost the thrill afterwards and the relationship didn’t last much longer because she “didn’t feel the same” anymore.
“So in answer to your question, is it difficult to date?” the “Note to Self: Inspiring Words From Inspiring People” author said. “Yes, I think so.”
King still has hope that she’ll find her soul mate one day and shared her dating preferences on “The Pivot.”
“I really am attracted to men of color. I just am. I love how a Black man says motherf—er [and] baby. […] There’s something about the way a Black man says it, I’m just attracted to that. They gotta have something else too, though,” she shared. “What really is most attractive to me is a sense of humor. Kindness, you always get me with kindness.”
“I like to see how they interact with other people,” she added. “Somebody you can take to the White House and the backyard barbecue who fits in with both and is comfortable in their own skin. Intelligence really matters to me. Proper grammar really matters to me and somebody who can make you laugh.”
King also explained that while her ex-husband did have many of the qualities she was looking for, he was sadly a cheater.
“He was a great husband,” she told “The Pivot” panel. “He had a problem with monogamy [which is] never good in a marriage, infidelity, just throwing it out there. Never good, cheater, cheater pumpkin eaters [are] never good.”
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