Gayle King is a devoted mom of two, welcoming son William and daughter Kirby in the 1980s, and during a recent discussion on CBS Mornings, around the importance of names, she revealed the inspiration behind her own children’s names.
Gayle welcomed her daughter Kirby in 1986, four years after marrying her husband William Bumpus, and their son arrived the following year.
On CBS Mornings on July 14, Gayle took part in a discussion with her co-stars Vladimir Duthiers and Jo Ling Kent about the most judged names in the US, with a new survey revealing that 18% of Americans assess someone on their first name, and that ‘Karen’ and ‘Chad’ are the most judged.
“When I was growing up, I said to my mom, ‘Gayle, where did that come from?’ and no one had an answer,” Gayle laughed, before sharing that her son, William Jr, was named after his father, leading Vladimir to ask: “But what about Kirby?”
“Falcon Crest,” Gayle declared, leading to laughter from the panel. “There was a Kirby on there, and also what goes with Bumpus? That was hard. But it was Falcon Crest – we’re very high-brow!”
Falcon Crest was a prime-time television soap opera that ran between 1981 and 1990 on CBS, following two feuding families, the Giobertis and the Channings, who built empires in the California wine industry. It was set in the fictitious Tuscany Valley, modeled after the real Napa Valley.
However, there does not appear to be a character from the show called Kirby; Kirby was a character in the ABC soap opera Dynasty. Portrayed by Kathleen Beller from 1982 to 1984, Kirby was written out after the fourth season finale.
HELLO! has contacted reps for Gayle for comment.
© ABC via Getty ImagesGayle’s daughter Kirby, 40, works in the public health and non-profit sectors, and is mom to two children, a son named Luca and daughter Grayson, with husband Virgil Miller, whom she married in December 2020 in a socially distant ceremony at the Santa Barbara home of her godmother, Oprah Winfrey.
Her brother, William Jr, officiated the wedding.
In February 2024, William announced his engagement to Elise Smith, and the pair also married at Oprah’s house in June 2024.
“They both wrote their own vows, and at one point, Will said, ‘I know the man I am, but with you, I know the man I want to be,'” Gayle shared on CBS Mornings after the ceremony, sharing that her son’s vows gave her “goosebumps.” They have since welcomed a little girl.
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