Journalists
- Gayle King
November 2023
Gayle King is co-host of CBS MORNINGS. An accomplished journalist, King interviews top newsmakers and delivers original reporting to CBS MORNINGS and all CBS News broadcasts and platforms. She is also editor-at-large of Oprah Daily; hosts “Gayle King in the House,” a live, weekly radio show on SiriusXM; and co-anchors “King Charles” with Charles Barkley, a weekly, one-hour primetime program on CNN.
Since joining CBS News in 2011, King has conducted revealing and news-making interviews with world leaders, political figures and celebrities, including former President Barack Obama; Secretary of State Mike Pompeo; Bruce Springsteen; Dave Chappelle; Barbara Streisand; Bradley Cooper and Carey Mulligan; Alexis Ohanian; Ed Sheeran; Angela Bassett; Cherelle Griner; Dylan Farrow; Chris Rock; Elon Musk; Billie Eilish; R. Kelly; and Michelle Obama and her mother, Marian Robinson, in their first TV interview together. She also conducted the final interviews with Representative John Lewis and Cicely Tyson before their passing.
In October 2023, King spoke exclusively with music, business and cultural icon Shawn “JAY-Z” Carter for a rare and wide-ranging interview in conjunction with the Book of HOV exhibit at the Brooklyn Public Library. In a CBS MORNINGS exclusive, King spent time with Tiffany Chen and Robert De Niro’s baby, Gia Virginia Chen-De Niro, as Chen opened up about her struggle with Bell’s palsy after she gave birth. In April 2022, King spoke exclusively with music megastar Megan Thee Stallion for her first TV interview addressing the 2020 shooting allegedly involving rapper Tory Lanez. In an exclusive interview in October 2022, King sat down with Brittney Griner’s wife, Cherelle, for her first interview since the WNBA star was sentenced to nine months in a Russian prison. In October 2020, King spoke exclusively with Breonna Taylor’s boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, about the night Taylor was fatally shot by police in her own home.
King’s 2019 interview with embattled singer R. Kelly made international headlines when Kelly exploded during their extended sit-down. The interview aired on all broadcasts and was featured in a primetime special. King followed the Kelly interview with exclusive interviews with Azriel Clary and Joycelyn Savage, two young women who lived with Kelly in Chicago at the time and were at the center of the controversy surrounding the singer.
She has also handled a number of high-profile assignments, including leading CBS News’ on-the-ground coverage from the Texas border to report on the Trump administration’s “zero-tolerance” immigration policy. She reported from Newtown, Conn., in the aftermath of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. She co-anchored CBS News’ special coverage of several breaking news stories, including the Paris terrorist attacks, the San Bernardino shootings, the Supreme Court’s landmark decision to legalize same-sex marriage and the mass shooting at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando. She co-anchored live broadcasts from Cleveland and Philadelphia for the 2016 Republican and Democratic Conventions, from the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C., prior to the museum’s opening, as well as moderating CBS News’ 2020 Democratic Presidential Debate in Charleston and co-anchoring CBS News’ election night 2020 coverage. She also co-anchored CBS News coverage of the royal wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.
King has anchored multiple primetime specials, including THE GAYLE KING GRAMMY SPECIAL, which included a slate of interviews with nominees such as Lizzo, Billie Eilish, Jonas Brothers, Blake Shelton, Gwen Stefani and Lil Nas X; BET NEWS AND FACEBOOK PRESENT: COVID-19: BLACK AMERICA’S FIGHT; CBS News’ special on racism and police brutality, JUSTICE FOR ALL; JOHN LEWIS: CELEBRATING A HERO; BET’s SAY HER NAME: THE UNTOLD STORY OF BREONNA TAYLOR; the BET primetime exclusive special CICELY TYSON: IN HER OWN WORDS, honoring the life and legacy of the iconic actress; MEGHAN AND HARRY PLUS ONE; THE QUEEN CARRIES ON: A GAYLE KING SPECIAL; THE CHAUVIN VERDICT; and TULSA 1921: AN AMERICAN TRAGEDY.
King previously hosted “The Gayle King Show,” a live, weekday television interview program on OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network. The program, which featured a discussion of a broad variety of topics that included politics and cultural developments, was also broadcast on XM Satellite Radio, where it premiered in 2006.
Before that, King worked for 18 years as a television news anchor for CBS affiliate WFSB-TV in Hartford, Conn., during which she also hosted her own syndicated daytime program. Prior to joining WFSB, King worked at several other television stations, including WDAF-TV in Kansas City, Mo., WJZ-TV in Baltimore, Md., and WTOP-TV in Washington, D.C.
King has received numerous awards for her extensive work as a journalist, including three Emmys. Most recently, she was honored with the 39th Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism presented by Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication. In 2018 she was inducted into the Broadcasting & Cable Hall of Fame and in 2019 she was selected for the TIME 100, Time magazine’s annual list of the hundred most influential people in the world.
She is mother to favorite daughter, Kirby, and favorite son, Will, and she currently resides in New York City.