Rumours fly thick and fast as 76-year-old talk show host, seventh wife file for divorce
Rumours fly thick and fast as 76-year-old talk show host, seventh wife file for divorce Aging talk-show legend Larry King is in the doghouse after explosive allegations surfaced that he bedded the beautiful younger sister of his wife of 13 years.
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| In happier times: King was married to singer, model and TV host Shawn Southwick for 13 years. File pic |
King (76), filed for divorce from his seventh wife, Shawn Southwick (50), in a Los Angeles court yesterday in the wake of the eye-popping allegations. It's the suspenders-wearing chatmeister's eighth trip to splitsville, as he divorced one of his wives twice.
Southwick filed for a split the same day. Both cited "irreconcilable differences."
Lavish gifts
Sources said the pair fought bitterly for years over her belief that King was sleeping with Shawn's younger sister, Shannon Engemann, (46). King spent $1 million (Rs 4.5 crore) on Engemann and lavished her with gifts, including a $160,000 (Rs 71 lakh) car, sparking Southwick's ire.
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| King of hearts |
| To add to King's multiple awards are his multiple ex-wives; his list of former wives includes Frada Miller, who he married after high school; Alene Akins, a former Playboy bunny with whom King had an on-again, off-again marriage in the '60s, and mother of King's children Chaia and Andy.
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From 1976-1983 he was married to Mickey Sutphin, mother of daughter Kelly and then he tied the knot with Sharon Lepore, a production assistant and former math teacher. Julia Alexander and King married in 1989 and divorced in 1992.
There were more fianc es as well, with Rama Fox and former actress Deanna Lund, andu00a0 most notably a five-year relationship with Angie Dickinson. |
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But Engemann, a model and voiceover actress, denied any romance. "It's just ludicrous, really," she said. "Larry's been a good friend; he's been like a father to me."
She said "there's a lot of other things wrong" in her sister's marriage, "and all of a sudden, it's my fault . Now this is just crazy."
It has been earlier reported that Southwick has carried on a torrid yearlong affair with her kids' baseball coach. However, she has denied it.
Slap fest
The constant warring between Larry and Southwick got so intense, it erupted into a slap fest outside a Beverly Hills restaurant on February 7.
But as accusations over philandering grew more heated, King signed over real estate -- including a Beverly Hills mansion -- to Southwick to show his commitment to the marriage.
"We're not commenting on that," Howard Rubenstein, a spokesman for King, said of the cheating allegations.
King and Southwick got hitched in a hospital room in 1997 before he went under the knife to clear a clogged blood vessel.
The talk titan and Brooklyn native wants joint custody of their sons, 11 and 9.
"His major concern is the welfare of his children," said Rubenstein.
