King has Type 2 diabetes. In 2019, he suffered from a stroke that put him in a coma.
Legendary talk show host Larry King has tested positive for COVID-19. According to a close family source, King was moved from ICU on Sunday, January 3, at a Los Angeles hospital where he was being treated for the virus which he believes he contracted from a health care worker who visited his home. One of his sons too contracted the virus.
The source also revealed that King has been hospitalized for almost 10 days. As per People, the 87-year-old has been kept in isolation. He cannot be visited by his ex-wife Shawn King or his three sons, Cannon, Chance, and Larry King Jr. "Larry has fought so many health issues in the last few years and he is fighting this one hard too, he's a champ," a source close to the King family told ABC News, as cited by People.
The Larry King Live show host faced a number of health issues in the past that includes several attacks and quintuple bypass surgery in 1987, as reported by CNN. In 2017, he revealed that he was diagnosed with lung cancer for which he successfully underwent surgery. Later in 2019, he told in an interview with Extra that he suffered a stroke that put him in a coma for a few weeks.
Ora TV reported him saying, "It's been a rough year. I don't remember anything since March," he said. "I had the stroke in March." King's medical issues made him start the Larry King Cardiac Foundation, a non-profit aimed at helping those without health insurance afford medical care, according to NBC News. In a sad turn of events, the talk show host lost his two children just 23 days apart from each other in 2020. While his adopted son Andy King passed away of a heart attack at 65, and his daughter Chaia King, 51, succumbed to lung cancer.
After the passing of Andy and Chaia, King wrote on Facebook, "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. Both of them were good and kind souls and they will be greatly missed."
"Losing them feels so out of order. No parent should have to bury a child. My family and I thank you for your outpouring of kind sentiments and well wishes. In this moment, we need a little time and privacy to heal. I thank you for respecting that."
In February 2020, King told People that he has "less of a fear of dying" as he has endured a fair share of health threats. "I’m 86 and it is what it is. I just want to keep working until the end. I’d like to die at work — I’ll retire right there!" he said. "I’m very proud of what I do and I’m a good father — nothing beats parenthood. There’s an element of pinching myself every day. Look at what I’ve come through. All in all, if you look at it, I’ve had a blessed life."
In August of last year, King helped launch an online education platform for American senior citizens. Named the Royal Age, the website was launched ahead of schedule to inform people above 60 about the pandemic, according to a statement. "From my own personal quarantine, I understand how big the need of senior citizens in America is to have their own reliable and safe online platform," King said. In the 2019 Extra interview, dubbing himself a survivor, King said, "My head doctor said I have an incomparable spirit."
We hope King will surprise us once again by bouncing back to health.
References:
https://people.com/tv/larry-king-hospitalized-with-coronavirus/
https://edition.cnn.com/2021/01/02/media/larry-king-covid-19/index.html
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/larry-king-hospitalized-covid-19-n1252671
