Gayle King on R Kelly interview: 'I was not scared. I was worried he would lash out and leave'

CBS host Gayle King said at no point did she feel scared that musician R Kelly would assault her during the interview she had with him this week. 

Kelly was speaking out for the first time since his arrest about sexual assault charges against him. During the interview, the musician got upset and lost his temper as he denied all the allegations against him, and accused the alleged victims of "messing up his life".

Kelly broke down in tears as he got off his chair and started pointing aggressively at King, a behaviour which got many worried about whether King was feeling threatened.

Speaking to Essence, King explained that she was more worried about Kelly walking out of the interview. She did not think that he would hit her.

"What I was thinking 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 would have been an invitation to say 'This is over', so I didn't interrupt his anger and let him have that."