Oprah_ A Biography - Kitty Kelley [144]
Gayle, on the other hand, grew up with all the comforts of an upper-middle-class family, including a maid and a swimming pool. The eldest of four daughters, she lived with her parents in California before moving to Chevy Chase, Maryland. She had met Oprah in Baltimore, after graduating from the University of Maryland. Pursuing her television career, Gayle moved to Kansas City, Missouri, where she became the local anchor. There she met William G. Bumpus, a policeman. They moved to Hartford, Connecticut, and married in 1982. Oprah was the reluctant maid of honor.
She admitted years later that she was sad at her best friend’s wedding. “I just didn’t think it was going to work out,” she told Gayle in a joint interview in 2006. “You know how you go to weddings and they’re full of joy.… I didn’t feel that at yours.… It just felt it was kind of pitiful. I never told you because it wasn’t my place to say that.… Maybe I couldn’t feel the joy because I was feeling like our friendship was going to change. But it didn’t.”
That was unfortunate for Gayle’s husband. “I knew them well in the early days [1985–1990],” said Oprah’s good friend Nancy Stoddart. “Nile and I took ski weekends with Oprah and Stedman, and spent country weekends with Gayle and Billy. He was a cop then … and there was no way he could [provide for Gayle the way Oprah could]. He was pretty resentful of the effect that Oprah’s fame was having on their relationship.… Billy later went to Yale Law School, became a lawyer, and is now assistant attorney general for the state of Connecticut.… He’s done great stuff for himself.… At the time, he wanted to provide his family with a new house, but Oprah came in and bought Gayle a one-million-dollar home, which in those days was huge—just huge.”
Gayle divorced Bumpus in 1992 because, as she said, “he cheated,” and Oprah encouraged her to leave him rather than forgive his extramarital affair. “I’ve been to five therapists,” Gayle said, “and nobody’s been better than Oprah in terms of [my] marriage/life counseling.” Bill Bumpus told a reporter in 1992 that he blamed Oprah for the breakup. “She didn’t mean to hurt us, it wasn’t malicious, but she ruined our marriage with her generosity and her insistence on taking up so much of Gayle’s time. There probably are lots of husbands who complain about their wives watching Oprah, but at least they can turn off the television set. They don’t have Oprah calling at all hours of the day and night. They don’t have her buying their wives expensive presents. They don’t have her giving their families things they can’t afford.…” In the divorce, Bumpus paid one dollar and signed over to Gayle ownership of the million-dollar house Oprah had purchased.
By the time of Oprah’s fortieth birthday, Gayle had been divorced two years. She continued to live and work as an anchorwoman in Connecticut, in order to share with her ex-husband custody of their two children. Oprah flew her back and forth to Chicago so they could spend more time together. Gayle described those trips as episodes from Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous. “The limo picks you up and everything is taken care of. You can literally go [to see Oprah] with five dollars in your pockets and return with $4.99—because you spent a penny for some gum.”
For the celebration of her fortieth, Oprah had emailed her staff, which always fêted her birthdays, that no gifts were expected and none would be accepted. But for the special party in California, “40 for Oprah’s 40th,” as the engraved invitations read, she relented and said guests could bring a copy of their favorite book for her library.
“All year Oprah’s been looking forward to turning forty,” said Debra DiMaio. “For her it is part of a very positive milestone.”
At a cost of $130,000, she flew everyone, including Stedman, Gayle, Maya Angelou, select members of her staff, her private photographer, and her five bodyguards, to Los Angeles on a private jet and gave them all $1,000-a-night suites at the Hotel Bel-Air. The celebration began with a dinner