Halle Berry is hopeful that Gayle King's on-air admissions about her ex-husband's infidelity will encourage other women to come forward about their own experiences with unfaithful partners. "I think we should talk about it, absolutely," the X-Men actor said in an appearance on NBC's Today with Jenna & Sheinelle that aired Thursday. "I'm proud of [King] for, you know, saying that and sharing this ... because it has happened to many of us."
King got surprisingly candid about the demise of her marriage to William Bumpus this week while appearing on the Call Her Daddy podcast. The CBS journalist recalled returning home from a trip to find Bumpus, a lawyer who previously served as Connecticut's assistant attorney general, "buck naked" with one of her female friends, who was also married. "You know how they say the wife always knows? I swear to God, I did not," King told host Alex Cooper. "I did not. And people say, 'But of course you knew.' No, I really didn't. Now it's not like we hadn't had arguments or anything, but I didn't think it was in such disrepair that he was boinking around ... I did not think that." Bumpus and King, who share two children, split in 1993 after about 11 years of marriage.
As for Berry, the Oscar winner has personal reasons to find King's story relatable. She and her second husband, musician Eric Benét, divorced in 2005 after about four years of marriage. Around the time of the split, Benét checked himself into a rehab program for sex addiction, and later admitted to being unfaithful. Appearing on Dax Shepard's Armchair Expert podcast in 2024, Berry cast doubt on Benét's addiction claims, noting: "I had one husband who said he was a sex addict, but I don't fucking believe that shit." Berry notably didn't mention Benét by name in her NBC chat, acknowledging she "didn't go on a public rampage" as reports of her ex's cheating emerged. Still, she said, "You remember every detail of the whole situation, and it stays with you forever."
"When you can share it, somehow that's therapeutic," she continued. "It's a catharsis when you can really share it and someone else can say what their experience has been. So I appreciate [King]." These days, Berry is in a relationship with musician Van Hunt. Earlier this year, she told The Times magazine that she'd been "solo and celibate" before she and Hunt began dating in 2020. "I had to really sit myself down and be alone and grow and reflect and realize my value," she said at the time. "I had decided if the right person doesn't come, I will be alone. And that's OK."
Though King is currently single, her Call Her Daddy interview drew a lengthy and refreshingly thoughtful apology from Bumpus, who described himself as "a private person by nature." "Gayle has every right to share what was a painful chapter that changed the trajectory of our marriage and our family nearly 40 years ago," he explained in a statement to TMZ and the New York Post's Page Six, among other outlets. "I respect her right to tell her story, and that's where I'll leave it." Bumpus went on to note that he and his ex "remain in a good place" some 33 years after their split, and thanked her for her "friendship, encouragement, and support."
