Page 53 - People (February 2020)

King moved from his palatial Beverly Hills estate,
the divorce: “I had no idea that this was coming.”)
After having heart surgery to place a stent in
April 2019 (he’d had a heart attack in 1987 that
required a quintuple bypass) and his stroke the
following month, King felt it was time to make a
serious change. “I thought about what I wanted
the rest of my life to be,” says the host, who filed for
divorce from Southwick last August. “When you’re
40 and there are moments of unhappiness in a
marriage, you can overcome that. But it’s hard at
my age. There is nothing worse than arguing. And I
wanted to be happy.” Despite reports of acrimony,
King insists, “I wish Shawn nothing but the best.
We love each other. And I’ll always care for her.”
In September, shortly after he filed for divorce,
Oprah Winfrey Awkwafina
“I always respect the opportunity,” “I love the fact that I’m still curious,”
says King of interviewing his subjects, says King, who talked to the actress
including the TV legend, in 2007. on Larry King Now in 2018.
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JOAN ADLEN/GETTY IMAGES; AFP/GETTY IMAGES; TANNEN MAURY/AFP/GETTY IMAGES; MICHAEL CAULFIELD/WIREIMAGE
which sold last month for $15.5 million, into the
three-bedroom apartment. Adjusting to his new
life has been “a big change” for King, who admits
he also struggles with needing to rely on others for
help, especially after falling in December. “I have
caretakers, and it’s wonderful, but it’s also terri-
ble,” says King, who goes to rehab to strengthen
his “drop foot,” a side effect of the stroke, three or
four times a week. “It’s wonderful to have some-
one to take care of all your needs, but it’s terrible
to need someone. I get mad on some days. When I
have to be helped into a chair—come on! But I try
to rely on my sense of humor. The longer you live,
the more you can laugh.”
King still recalls little about the day he suffered
the near-fatal stroke. “I was driving to the doc-
tor’s office [after suffering shortness of breath],
and I don’t remember anything after that,” he
says. “I woke up in intensive care. I have no pain
or memory—I was out the whole time. People tell
me how bad I looked. And they told my family I was
going to die.” King admits he struggled to come to
terms with the situation at first. “I had an instant
thought of ‘I want to die,’ ” he says. “But that was a
passing thing, and I never had that thought again
or before.”
Family Bond
“I’m a good
father,” says
King, with his King says that when it comes to facing his own
son Chance. mortality, he’s more at ease than he once was. “In
“Whatever
my 70s I had a real fear of dying,” King admits, jok-
is second to
parenthood ing that he’s experienced “every known malady in
is a distant the world” at this point, from prostate cancer (now
second.”
in remission) to chronic leukemia, as well as his
heart attack and stroke. “But I don’t fear it any-
more. I’m 86, and it is what it is. The hardest part is
losing friends you’ve had for a long time. Two of my
closest friends and my younger brother died. That
part of my life is missing, and I can’t get it back.”
Instead, King has found a renewed focus in his
work. Larry King Now is in its eighth season, and
the veteran host continues to amass accolades for
his direct and captivating interview style. “I love
sitting and learning from people,” says King. “I’ve
had a lot of really bad things happen, but nothing
has happened to my voice or my intellect.” Retire-
ment is out of the question. “I want to keep work-
ing until the end,” he says. “I don’t want to end up
lying in a hospital bed. I’d like to die at work. I’ll
just retire right there!”
There’s plenty to savor away from the TV cam-
eras too. “I find joy with my friends, and with mov-
ies that I love,” says King. “I’ve got great children.
All in all, if you look at it, I’ve led a pretty blessed
life. And I feel grateful to be alive.” •
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