Gayle King Is The Next Barbara Walters
Gayle King has been through a lot in the last few years, following the exit of Charlie Rose, Les Moonves, and her now-infamous R. Kelly interview.
At the time of the R. Kelly interview, her two-year deal with the network was set to end soon after. But when CBS president Susan Zirinsky took over, all that changed.
“It’s not like I planned it — like, ‘I’m in contract negotiations, I need to try to do something here,'” she told The Hollywood Reporter in a new profile. “It didn’t work like that. But I am not naive. It couldn’t have come at a better time for me. It’s just one of those things. Thank you, Jesus, whoever that is.”
The interview was followed by a new deal worth $11 million per year, doubling her previous pay.
The anchor has already compiled a long list of folks she’d like to book, including Felicity Huffman, North Korea’s Kim Jong-un, Beyoncé and Jay-Z together, Trayvon Martin’s mother, Richard Reid (aka “The Shoe Bomber”), and kidnap victim Jayme Closs.
Still, as THR points out, if Susan didn’t take over the role of CBS president after Les Moonves’s disgraceful exit, Gayle says she wouldn’t still be at the anchor seat.
“I had other things that were interesting to me, and I was giving them serious consideration,” she said. “But I believe in [Susan] and I think she believes in me. Let’s just start with that.”
Read the rest of Gayle King’s incredible profile at The Hollywood Reporter, where she talks about her life, career, and future.