Gayle King shows off her revenge body on the cover Sports Illustrated Swimsuit — and wants to make sure her ex-husband sees her moment in the spotlight.
During the interview with Party tonight on Thursday, May 16 CBS Morning co-host, 69, opened up about her new cover shoot for the magazine to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the issue, which hits newsstands on May 17.
Speaking to the outlet at the Hard Rock Cafe in New York City, King shared that both of her children complimented her on the cover of the magazine – and joked that she was going to send ex-husband Bill Bumpus a copy.
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Gayle King poses for ‘Sports Illustrated Swimsuit’.
Yu Tsai /SPORTS ILLUSTRATED
“They both told me separately, ‘Mom, this is really cool. We’re very proud of you,'” King said. “I wonder what my ex-husband is saying. I’ll send him a copy!”
King and Bumpus, a lawyer, married in 1982 and have two children: daughter Kirby, 38, and son William, 37. The couple later split in 1993.
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The talk show host is one of 52 people featured in the magazine’s anniversary issue, including Brooklyn Decker, Christie Brinkley, Kate Love, Leyna Bloom, Lily Aldridge, Martha Stewart, Maya Musk, Molly Sims, Paulina Porizkova, Tyra Banks and Winnie Harlow. She’s also just one of several solo models for the special edition covers, alongside Hunter McGrady, Chrissy Teigen and Kate Upton.
“It’s sunk in, but it’s still amazing to me, honestly,” King said ET taking photos. “I used to look at it all the time, personally … I never in a million years thought I’d be that person.”
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But what I found most interesting was the number of women who stopped me saying, ‘You have no idea what an inspiration this is,'” King added.
The host previously spoke with PEOPLE about how she prepared to pose for the magazine — including how she learned from her fellow models and the entire SI Swimsuit team, including editor-in-chief MJ Day, ahead of her big photo shoot.
“You realize that when you’re around models who know what the hell they’re doing, it really takes a different skill set — you can tell the difference between their poses and mine,” she told PEOPLE. “Theirs are so natural. Tyra was showing me how to pose, by the way. I loved having a personal lesson from Tyra Banks.”
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Speaking to PEOPLE, King also joked that she would have to “start starving herself” before filming — but Day immediately contradicted that.
“‘Absolutely don’t do that. We don’t want you to change anything you’re doing,'” King Day recalled telling her. “I said, ‘Really? I don’t have to starve myself?’ and she said, ‘Please, we want you to do exactly what you’re doing’. I said, ‘Well, is cottage cheese good for your thighs?’ She says, ‘Yes, Gayle, it is’, because I was very worried about it.”
King described the shoot as a “great experience” at the end and joked that the crew “accomplished” her request for “delicious cleavage”.
“There were a few swimsuits that they pulled out. I said, ‘I’m not going to wear that. I’m not going to wear that,'” she recalled. “I’ve always been okay with a delicious cleavage, I call it… I wanted a delicious cleavage, and they delivered.”
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