Losing a family member is never easy — but when it's your children, there's an extra layer of grief. It seems unfair to have welcomed them into the world only to have to eventually say goodbye. Even though Larry King's children were adults, he's still grieving the fact that he has now outlived them. And even worse, their deaths were so close together, making it harder to process.
Both deaths happened this summer. His son Andy died on July 28 at the age of 65. His daughter Chaia was only 51 when she died days ago on August 20.
Larry addressed both deaths in a heartbreaking Facebook post. "It is with sadness and a father's broken heart that I confirm the recent loss of two of my children, Andy King, and Chaia King," he wrote. "Both of them were good and kind souls and they will be greatly missed."
"Andy passed away unexpectedly of a heart attack on July 28th, and Chaia passed on August 20th, only a short time after having been diagnosed with lung cancer," Larry continued. "Losing them feels so out of order. No parent should have to bury a child."
Larry is currently 86 years old. Counting Andy and Chaia, he has five children.
Larry's children who remain are Larry Jr., 58, whom he shares with Annette Kaye. He's also the father of sons Chance, 21, and Cannon, 20, whom he had with actress Shawn King. Shawn and Larry were together for over two decades before filing for divorce. Larry has been married eight times, to seven different women.
His divorce from Shawn was extremely difficult. "I'll always care for my wife," he said, per People magazine. "But it just hit a point where we didn't get along." He's admitted that he's been married a lot but seems to have a good point of view on marriage and relationships. "I got married a lot," he said. "But in my head, I'm not a marrying guy."
And his age may have something to do with those views. "When I grew up, nobody lived together," he explained. "If you fell in love, you got married. And so I married the ones that I loved. But what I loved at 20 is not what I loved at 30 and what I loved at 30 is not what I loved at 40."
However, Larry also admitted that his job often came before his relationships, which may have led to some marital tension in his life. "My career always came first," he said. "I used to say if CNN called with an emergency and my wife called with an emergency, I'd call CNN back first."
Larry's history with Chaia and Andy is quite interesting. He had Chaia with his ex-wife Alene Akins. The two were married in 1961, and that's when Larry officially adopted Andy, who was Alene's son from a prior relationship. It's sweet to know that Larry always considered him to be a King.
Larry's health is also on the decline, which has been scary for his family. In May, he suffered from a stroke that could have been fatal, had luck not been on his side. It was soon after that he filed for divorce from his wife. So he's had a lot of changes and periods of grief this year.
Larry's marriage to Alene was one of his most interesting. He actually married her twice. The couple divorced and got back together in 1967, but they ended up splitting again in 1971. Luckily, Andy and Chaia seemed to manage the separation as best as they could at the time.
According to CNN, the split actually inspired Larry and Chaia to cowrite a book together, titled Daddy Day, Daughter Day. It came out in 1997. "It starts off with a brief intro by Larry, just brief, followed by nine lovely chapters about all of the good times Larry and Chaia have together," writes an Amazon reviewer.
News of Larry's last divorce apparently didn't hit children Cannon and Chance too hard. Rumor has it that they were both pushing for their parents to separate. While Larry and Shawn were together for 22 years, it became apparent to many that Shawn may have been after Larry's fortune. While he was in the hospital, she was reportedly pushing for him to update his will. However, there are many sides to this story.
"Sources connected to Larry say Shawn's endgame was to get more for herself and screw the kids out of their inheritance," reports TMZ. "Sources on Shawn's side call BS, saying the estate planning lawyer told Larry and Shawn to update the docs and when she was told he had days to live she was merely following through, but in no way tried to screw over her kids."
Even back in 2016, rumors came out that Shawn was openly cheating on Larry. Page Six reveals that Shawn had a yearlong affair with public speaking expert Richard Greene. Supposedly, Shawn was introduced to Richard after interviewing him for the podcast Back and Forth With Shawn and Larry, meaning Larry was familiar with him as well.
The whole thing must have been devastating for Larry. A source told Page Six that he was heartbroken over the news of the affair. "He's embarrassed and furious," the source said. No matter what, it must be devastating after dedicating over 20 years of your life to someone.
No matter what, Larry is likely spending his time surrounded by family and loved ones. Even if he's newly single, he still has plenty of support in his life — especially during a time like this. It's possible that the deaths of Andy and Chaia also reminded him of the death of Alene, who passed away back in 2017.
It was obvious that Larry cared very much about her, especially giving their marriage two chances. "So very saddened over the passing of Alene Akins, who died peacefully with our children Chaia and Andy by her side," he said after the news went public. "She was a grand lady." Hopefully, Larry can recover from the hurt and tragedy of 2020.
