Larry King, 87, ‘is in Los Angeles hospital with COVID-19’

Larry King, the 87-year-old broadcasting legend best known for his long-running guest interview show on CNN, has been diagnosed with COVID-19, it has been reported.

The former Larry King Live host has been hospitalized in Los Angeles, according to Roger Friedman’s Showbiz 411.

DailyMail.com has sought comment from King’s publicist. 

Southern California has been the site of one of the country’s worst coronavirus case surges.

His wife of 23 years, Shawn King, and their two sons, Chance (left) and Cannon (right), cannot see him

King is best known to international audiences as the host of CNN’s Larry King Live, which ran on the all-news network from 1985 until 2010

King is seen right with his son, Chance, 21, in this undated file photo

King’s advanced age and poor health are a cause for concern and place him at elevated risk.

King has had numerous health issues, including a heart attack, prostate and lung cancer, and type two diabetes. 

Aside from his poor health, King must also deal with the fact that his loved ones cannot visit him in the hospital, according to Friedman.

His wife of 23 years, Shawn King, 61, and their two sons, Chance and Cannon, cannot see him.

King filed for divorce from his wife of 22 years Shawn, 61, in August 2019, five months after suffering a stroke. He is said to be on good terms with his estranged wife, who is communicating with King while he is hospitalized

But doctors and nurses at the hospital are facilitating communication between King and his loved ones.

King and his wife are still legally married and said to be on good terms despite the fact that they were in the process of divorcing.

In August 2019, Larry filed for divorce from Shawn just five months after suffering a stroke. 

Last month it was learned that King agreed to pay his estranged wife Shawn $20,000 in a lump sum, plus $33,000 a month in spousal support.

The monthly payment – revealed in new court documents obtained by DailyMail.com – will last at least until the couple’s next Los Angeles Superior Court hearing, scheduled for April 29 next year.

While $33,000 per month may seem like a large sum, it only covers about a third of Shawn’s monthly expenses, which she has listed in court papers as just under $90,000.

That includes $25,000 per month for rent on her luxury home, $12,000 on clothes, $3,500 on groceries, $4,500 for ‘hair, nails, pet care and gym’, plus $6,300 a month for her vacation home in Provo, Utah.

But then, Shawn does confess that she has more than $7 million in assets, including property and savings. 

This has been a tragic year for the veteran television personality. 

Last summer, two of Larry King’s children died within the span of a month, his granddaughter told DailyMail.com. King’s son Andy, 65, died suddenly on July 28 from what his family believe to be a heart attack. He was followed by his sister, King’s daughter Chaia, 52, who died on August 19 following a battle with lung cancer. Pictured l-r: King on Father’s Day in June with his son Larry Jr, Cannon, Chance, Andy and daughter Chaia 

In August, his granddaughter told DailyMail.com that two of his five children passed away within the span of a month. 

King’s son Andy, 65, died suddenly on July 28 from what his family believed to be a heart attack. 

He was followed by his sister, King’s daughter Chaia, 52, who died on August 19 following a battle with lung cancer. 

King’s granddaughter Jillian, 31, said at the time that the 87-year-old TV show host was still recovering from his stroke and unable to travel from Los Angeles due to coronavirus, and so he had to watch his Florida-based son be buried on video.

‘Everyone’s feeling pretty bad and broken. Larry is really hurt and upset,’ Jillian told DailyMail.com in an exclusive interview in August.

‘He was very sick last year. His kids were all taking very close care of him. He’s upset that he’s lost them now.’

King has three other children; Larry Jr, 58, from his brief marriage to Annette Kaye, and sons Chance, 21, and Cannon, 20, from his marriage to Shawn. 

Bereaved Jillian described her shock when she heard the news of her father Andy’s sudden passing – even while she was dealing with yet another death, of her father-in-law in Kentucky earlier in July. 

In November 2019, Larry King told news site Extra he was recovering and spending two weeks in a coma after suffering a stroke the previous March.

‘I had a stroke. Everything got better except [for] my left foot, and I have been rehabbing that every day, and they tell me I’ll be walking by Christmas,’ he said.

‘I’ve been walking with a walker. It’s been a rough year, I don’t remember anything since March.

‘I haven’t driven a car, but I’m back at work and that makes me feel great.’

In the interview Larry reassured fans that his doctors were impressed with his positive attitude: ‘My head doctor said I have an incomparable spirit.’

Shawn, who mothered Larry’s two youngest sons, Chance, 21, and Cannon, 20, has previously joked she is ‘the only [wife] to have lasted into the two digits’. The couple filed for divorce in 2010 but later tore up the papers – only to file again for divorce in August 2019 after 22 years of marriage

The Larry King Show star has had a complex and storied love life, with eight marriages to seven women and has fathered five children.

He married Alene Akins twice, adopting her late son Andy during their first marriage and fathering his late daughter Chaia in their second.

After divorcing Alene in 1972, he went on to marry Freda Miller, Annette Kaye, Mickey Sutphin, Sharon Lepore, Julie Alexander and most recently Shawn Southwick in 1997.

Shawn, who mothered Larry’s two youngest sons, Chance, 21, and Cannon, 20, has previously joked she is ‘the only [wife] to have lasted into the two digits’.

The couple filed for divorce in 2010 but later tore up the papers – only to file again for divorce in August 2019 after 22 years of marriage.

In 2009 Larry revealed he had another son named after him, who he had not acknowledged for 33 years.

Larry King Jr, born from his brief marriage with Annette Kaye, appeared for the first time in public with his father on ‘Larry King Live’ 11 years ago.

The TV host said at the time he first met his estranged son, 58, in 1994.

Larry Jr. is reportedly married with three children of his own and has worked as the head of King’s heart disease foundation in California.