Gayle King Says She Was ‘Never Scared’ During R. Kelly Interview But Admits “I Did Worry At Some Points He Might Accidentally Hit Me”

Gayle King & R.Kelly

Gayle King Says She Was ‘Never Scared’ During R. Kelly Interview But Admits “I Did Worry At Some Points He Might Accidentally Hit Me”

Many are still trying to process the explosive R. Kelly interview conducted by Gayle King, which saw the music legend incredibly emotional and even brought to tears. The full interview has yet to air, but King is speaking out about the experience interviewing someone who is such a hot topic at the moment.

Gayle King has opened up for the first time about interviewing R. Kelly and naturally, she’s speaking to her BFF Oprah Winfrey about what she was feeling during such a (at times) volatile interview.

She specifically addressed how she was feeling as Kelly got up out of his chair during an emotional outburst:

“I was not scared. I never thought he was going to hit me. After, my kids called me to ask if I was okay because it looked scary. But I was never worried he was going to hurt me. I was more worried that he was going to get up and leave.

So what I was really thinking to myself was: I’m not done with this interview, so I’m going to let him have his moment. If I stood up even to comfort him, that could have been his invitation to say ‘This is over.’ So I didn’t interrupt his anger and let him have that.”

King continued, adding:

“I just knew that I was never in danger. I did worry at some points that he might accidentally hit me, because he was so angry that he was flailing. But I knew that I wasn’t in any real danger. I just kept thinking ‘Okay, Robert, go ahead’ and that’s what I said. What I was really thinking to myself was: “I’m not done, so I’m going to let him have his moment.”

When asked how the interview came about so soon after the Surviving R. Kelly documentary, King explained:

“His team reached out and said he was interested in talking, and he was interested in talking to me. I had some reservations because I was thinking ‘What are we gonna get? He’s just going to deny it!’ But I did it because I at least thought there would be some…if not contrition, then at least acknowledgement that ‘This is a bad situation, and I have made some mistakes.’ But instead, he seems to believe everyone is out to get him…that everyone is after money or book deals or TV deals, and that even the parents of these women are lying. As you saw, he says he’s only guilty of one thing: Having a big heart.”

The second part of Gayle King’s interview with R. Kelly, airs March 7^th on CBS This Morning, followed by an hour-long primetime special on March 8^th at 8PM.

You can check out the tweets of support from Winfrey and King’s response, BELOW:

What do you think of Gayle King’s comments? Will you be watching the rest of the interview? Let us know in the comments