My guess is that most of the youths don’t know Larry King at all. He used to be on CNN, and his interview and call-in show used to be quite popular and quite a cultural touchstone. Larry King is honestly a legit broadcasting legend. And he’s always been known for his, uh, colorful personal life. Dude has been married to seven different women. And he just filed for divorce from his seventh wife, Shawn King, after 22 years of marriage. Larry King is 85.
Larry King has filed for divorce from his seventh wife, Shawn Southwick King, after nearly 22 years of marriage, his lawyer confirms to PEOPLE. Larry, 85, and Shawn, 59, wed on Sept. 5, 1997. They share two sons: Chance, 20, and Cannon, 19.
According to court documents obtained by The Blast, which first reported news of the divorce, Larry filed on Tuesday in Los Angeles Superior Court. He cited irreconcilable differences, and the date of separation is listed as June 6, 2019.
The Kings’ marriage was a rocky one: Sources confirmed to PEOPLE in 2016 that the broadcast icon was distraught about an alleged yearlong affair his wife had been having. “It’s true, and Larry is completely embarrassed and anguished by all of this,” one source close to the situation told PEOPLE of the alleged infidelity. “He doesn’t know what to do.”
Shawn and Larry have been on the outs for years. They both cheated on each other and Larry first filed for divorce from Shawn in 2010 but they reconciled. Unsurprisingly, People Magazine had another story about how this divorce filing isn’t some huge surprise:
Larry King‘s decision to file for divorce from Shawn Southwick King did not come as a shock to those who knew the couple well. Though Larry and his seventh wife were married for 22 years, a source close to the television personality tells PEOPLE that their divorce was “a long time coming,” especially after Larry’s recent health scare and Shawn’s alleged affair in 2016.
“Larry was close to dying and it really shook him,” the source says. “He realized that he hadn’t been happy for a long time.” In April, Larry suffered angina and he underwent angioplasty. At the time, the CNN host, 85, also had stents inserted to reopen the previous bypass from a heart attack he suffered in 1987.
“They fought and argued all the time,” the source continues. “But also it’s about protecting his kids. Shawn and Larry had essentially been separated for a decade. They sleep in separate bedrooms. Larry is no saint, but he was tired of all the drama,” the source adds, confirming that previous reports of Shawn’s alleged affair were true. “This was a long time coming. The marriage has been over.”
My guess is that they got their sons – Chance and Cannon – out of the house and off to college or wherever, and that was the goal. To just give their sons as much of a happy family environment as they grew up, and then as soon as the boys were off to college, the marriage was dead. But still… 85 years old and unhappy with his seventh wife. Messy.
Photos courtesy of Getty, WENN and Avalon Red.
She looks great for 59! I would peg her at least a decade younger! That’s all I got. 22 years of marriage is nothing to scoff at, especially in Hollywood.
Considering he had an affair with her sister…!!! I’m surprised they got back together after the last time.
He comes into this breakfast place I take my dad to all the time. A few times a week, he meets up with a group of men and sits with them (never saw him actually eat anything). Sadly, the man looks like a walking cadaver. He really doesn’t look very healthy. Could be issues, and he doesn’t want any of his estate to go to her as a surviving spouse.
Larry King had an affair with her sister???
Yeah, I thought she was 45 and assumed she was divorcing him because she realized she still has some youth left….whoops.
Huh? And at 60 she hasn’t some “youth” left? She should just stay with him and knit or bake or something?
It was a joke about how young she looks and how OLD he actually IS. I have no idea why she or he are leaving the other, and I really don’t care. I mean, it’s Larry King — it never made sense to me why anyone would want to be with him in the first place, especially if you’re the seventh wife and he’s ancient compared to you even at 59. Continue to be offended and confused if that pleases you and makes your day. My goodness.
Yeah, I think the lede got buried here. It didn’t compute that she was 59 in the context of looking like she was in her 40s. I was too busy looking at it in the context of the age of her husband, lol.
Common denominator here……
the best advice i ever got was “if every woman he’s been with is crazy – remember the one thing they all have in common”
Yes! There comes a time in one’s life, regardless of area (work, love, family, etc) that some introspection is needed and logic to realize if you are the common denominator. I’ve done it. But it’s way too late for Larry at this point.
+1
Really…
I mean, you have to be happy in life…and he doesn’t have a whole life-time left.
My parents did the same thing, waiting until my sister and I both graduated high school and then separated, they are both MUCH happier now.
I forgot he was still alive.
🤣
Same here…lol
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 poor Larry!!
I’m not sure that he is.%
FYI: When Larry King retired from CNN, Piers Morgan got his job then…….Piers got fired By CNN supposedly for harassing guest with his harassing interview style.
He’s a disaster. Although some reports are that the sons were telling dad to split from mom as she was actively trying to cheat them out of their inheritance. Particularly when he had that surgery this spring. So she’s not much better.
When your own adult children are actively telling dad to divorce that’s going to be a mess.
sounds like everyone was just trying to get a piece of the pie. maybe if you raise sons that pit their parents against each other like that over money – you’re all garbage.
Yes,that’s not good.Although Larry has filed several bankruptcies in the past,so who knows what financial drama has been going on,and maybe his kids were legitimately concerned?
What I know about her is she’s Marie Osmond’s best friend. She talks about her a lot in her bio. I think she was also a victim of the fake plastic surgery caper (the guy injecting motor oil into rich Hollywood wives – Priscilla Presley and Lionel Richies #2 wife were the main victims).
Its kind of life-affirming to me. The man is 85 and he’s like “this is not the life I want! I must make a change!”
Like dude how many years do you think you have left? He must think he has enough life left, and he must value the life he has left enough, to not just sit there and settle in an unhappy situation, and I love that!! It’s so easy to settle, to accept being uncomfortable, to be afraid of change. Something about this really makes me happy for him. I know, it’s a weird reaction, but there you go.
I know what you mean. My initial thought was: “man, this dinosaur still has balls”. I mean the willingness to be alone rather than unhappy at that age is congratulatory, it’s like: no good for me even if it means the chances of dying alone.”. Other than that, he is on his seventh wife? He must be a mess.
I can’t help but wonder if there will be a wife number 8…
+1
Fair point. If she makes him miserable, why stay? Just enjoy the rest of your life, he has probably done whatever he wanted and whoever he wanted. It’s time to chill.
I didn’t know he had 7 wives though. Maybe J Lo and Leo DiCaprio aren’t doing too badly! Haha
He’s gutsy, and it’s good for him to change his situation, but he’s got a lot of privilege and a lot of money, and he’s following his usual pattern. Good for him, but doing whatever you feel like doing is a hell of a lot easier with money, power, and white male privilege. He will have a young honey on his arm soon enough, I imagine. But how deep can these relationships possibly be if they are based on money and power? Just about every wife he’s had is youthful and vibrant and beautiful. He’s smart and witty, but not a hunk. Unless she is voluntarily celibate, she’s going to want to be sexually active, and he has heart problems. He had to know that this was in the cards and that the marriage had an expiration date, and that she wouldn’t leave because money and power.
Shame those kids couldn’t work it out.
But ladies!!!, Larry is back on the market! LOLOLOL
If he’s held onto enough of his $$, number 8 will probably be a 20 something 😎
@bored
Hey there long time no see!!
Ha! This made me laugh!
@LUA
thanks!
He looks like he has bad breath.
I’m sorry. I don’t know why I felt the need to say that, but I did.
The only Larry King I know is the English hairstylist, whose eponymous range makes a great volumizing spray. Never heard of this person and the fact that he called one of his sons Cannon (?????) is enough for me.
Don’t forget the other one
Chance oy!
I want to know why Larry King still has a show on The Russia Today (RT) television network?? RT was pulled from YouTube and outed as a propaganda arm of Russian government that helped Trump unfairly win the presidential election.
It’s a licensing agreement, they have no control over the show, they just pay his production company to let them broadcast it.
I didn’t know this, thanks.
I think Larry gets dating and marriage mixed up.
Not just his 7th wife, this is actually his 8th marriage and divorce, since he twice married, and twice divorced, the same woman early on.
I can’t believe anyone would get married more than three times…let alone seven. Jesus Christ on a cracker. It seems so exhausting.
I have enough trouble with 2 marriages.
Um, edited to add: not at the same time.
He certainly has a lot of faith in the institution of marriage.
It’s sad when long marriages end, especially later in life. Sounds like they had a messy one.
Larry King is an absolute legend.
I used to love watching his nightly CNN show, he is the best interviewer around.
If you’ve never seen him in action, he’s still doing interviews here:
https://www.ora.tv/larrykingnow
Larry lets the star shine – he asks the questions and gets out of the way. The complete opposite of Oprah, who IMHO tends to make it all about herself.
I wish him health and happiness on his new path! Age is a number and he’s still alive, so he has a reason to be here.
Why does she have that joker look when she opens her mouth? Please explain. (She looks fantastic for 59…until she opens her mouth!)
Reminds me of the book The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo…a great read about a 50s starlet and her relationships through the years. It’s got a few twists. Maybe Larry’s bio will reveal some secrets about 7 wives…