Gayle King: Oprah Never Sent Letter to Wendy Williams
Oprah Winfrey's letter to talk show host Wendy Williams last week, which squashed rumors that she and best friend Gayle King were ending their friendship, may have been a sham.
In an interview last Friday on the Tom Joyner radio show, King said Oprah never sent a letter.
"The letter that I heard Wendy read - I didn’t see it - I know Oprah never wrote a letter to Wendy," King told Joyner, according to the Electronic Urban Report. "I said, ‘I’m getting all these messages that you wrote a letter to Wendy,’ and she goes, ‘Gayle, you know more than anybody knows that that’s not true,’ number one."
Get Our Latest News for FREE
Rumors were sparked that the lifelong friends were embroiled in a feud when King announced that she was leaving Winfrey's television network, OWN, to take an anchor position on CBS' The Early Show two weeks ago. King decided to leave her former radio and television show on Winfrey's network, The Gayle King Show, in order to focus on her new gig.
Williams perpetuated the rumors on her talk show, The Wendy Williams Show, shortly after the news was announced.
"Gayle, is it the beginning of the end with you and Oprah?" she asked. "Please say it ain't so!"
However, Williams told viewers on her show last Wednesday that Oprah's staff sent her a letter to clear up any misunderstandings, which she read aloud.
"I know there's speculation that Gayle and Oprah had a falling out because Gayle will be hosting the new morning show on CBS," she read. "I wanted to make sure everyone knows that there is only happiness for Gayle and this wonderful opportunity."
"Love, Oprah," she added.
Williams fired back at King on Monday, calling in to the Tom Joyner radio show to say she was telling the truth about the letter.
"I get to work, and I'm told by my staff that an email came from Oprah's staff," said Williams. "Now, the person's name who sent the email is Chelsea Hettrick, just so everyone knows ... H-E-T-T-R-I-C-K. Chelsea Hettrick sends a letter to the show not once, but twice. She sent it the first day, and then she sent another one with different writing the second day. I have no reason to lie about this."
"I read the ... initial letter," she continued. "By the time I got to the second one, I was just like 'This is so ridiculous.' I read the first letter on (air), and the only thing I changed was I put 'Love, Oprah' at the end."
Though King said there wasn't a letter, she reaffirmed that she and Oprah are indeed still friends.
King said that when Oprah heard the news about her new position offered from CBS, she said, "'are you kidding? This is so what you do, the news is what you love… you would be crazy to pass it up!’"
