Larry King’s wife confirms cause of death was not COVID-19

“It was an infection,” she told American outlet Entertainment Tonight, specifying that sepsis was the official cause of death for King who passed away on the previous Saturday at age 87.

She said that due to King’s long history with health problems, the family was afraid when they were told he had contracted the novel coronavirus. “But he beat it,” she said, however, “It did take its toll”. Finally, the unrelated blood borne infection, sepsis, caused multi-organ failure and tissue damage. “But boy, he was not gonna go down easily,” she said of her husband who over the years had fought multiple medical battles.

In 1987 Larry King had suffered a heart attack which required quintuple by-pass surgery. He later battled lung cancer, prostate cancer and diabetes. In 2017, King was in a coma for weeks following a stroke.

“His mind wasn’t right and his body was going so that was hard to witness,” Shawn King said in the interview, adding that her husband was finally “ready to go”.

King’s seventh wife, with whom was estranged, said that they had a final conversation over FaceTime in which he was not able to talk properly. However, she said, he did tell her he loved her and to take care of his two sons with her. King had five children in total, two of whom, Andy king, 65, and Chaia King, 51, passed away last year.