Larry King Wife: What Most People Get Wrong About His 8 Marriages

Larry King was the king of the "interruption-free" interview, but his personal life was anything but quiet. If you look at the numbers, they're staggering. Eight marriages. Seven different women. A total of 22 years spent with just one of them, while others barely made it past the one-year mark.

People love to joke about it. "Larry King loved a wedding more than a marriage," they say. But when you actually look at the women who were called Larry King wife, the story is a lot more human—and a lot more complicated—than just a punchline about a guy who couldn't stay single.

It’s easy to get lost in the list of names, but each relationship represented a different era of his massive career. From high school sweethearts to Playboy bunnies and singers, the women in his life witnessed his rise from a local Miami radio host to a global icon in suspenders.

The Longest Run: Shawn Southwick King

Most people who search for Larry King wife are actually looking for Shawn Southwick King. She was his seventh wife (and eighth marriage), and honestly, she’s the one who stuck around the longest by a landslide. They were married in 1997. They stayed together for 22 years.

That’s a lifetime in Hollywood years.

They married in a hospital room, of all places, just three days before Larry underwent heart surgery. It sounds like something out of a movie, right? But the ending wasn't exactly a fairytale. By the time Larry passed away in early 2021, they were in the middle of a messy, public divorce that never actually got finalized.

Why did it fall apart after two decades? Larry was pretty blunt about it later on. He pointed to a 26-year age gap and major religious differences. She was a devout Mormon; he was a staunch agnostic atheist. "It eventually takes its toll," he told People magazine. You can only "agree to disagree" for so many decades before the friction wears everything down.

The Estate Drama You Didn't Hear About

When Larry died, the legal battle didn't stop. It actually got weirder. Larry had written a "holographic will"—which is basically just a fancy legal term for a handwritten note—back in 2019. In that note, he left his estate to his children, completely leaving Shawn out.

Naturally, she contested it. She argued he might not have been in the right headspace when he wrote it. It’s a classic "he said, she said" that proves even after 22 years of marriage, things can end in a courtroom rather than a sunset.

The One He Married Twice: Alene Akins

If you want to understand the chaotic energy of Larry’s love life, you have to look at Alene Akins. She’s the only woman who holds the distinction of being a Larry King wife twice.

Alene was a Playboy Bunny at the Miami studio, and they first tied the knot in 1961. It lasted two years. They divorced, Larry moved on, and then—boom—they got remarried in 1967.

• First Marriage: 1961–1963
• Second Marriage: 1968–1971

It’s sorta fascinating because it shows Larry was a guy who followed his heart (or his impulses) even when he knew how the story ended. They had a daughter together, Chaia, and Larry adopted Alene's son, Andy. Sadly, both Andy and Chaia passed away within weeks of each other in 2020, just months before Larry himself died.

The Rest of the Roster

To get the full picture, you have to look at the early years. It was a whirlwind.

1. Freda Miller (1952-1953): His high school sweetheart. They were 18. Their parents supposedly had the marriage annulled because they didn't approve.
2. Annette Kaye (1961): This one was blink-and-you-miss-it. It lasted less than a year, but she gave birth to his first son, Larry Jr. Larry didn't even meet his son until the kid was in his 30s.
3. Mickey Sutphin (1964-1967): She was his fourth wife. They had a daughter named Kelly.
4. Sharon Lepore (1976-1983): A production assistant. This was one of his more "stable" mid-career marriages, lasting seven years.
5. Julie Alexander (1989-1992): He reportedly proposed to her on their very first date. If that doesn't tell you everything you need to know about Larry's approach to romance, nothing will.

Why He Couldn't Stay Single

Larry once said, "In my head, I'm not a marrying guy." Which is hilarious coming from a man who had eight weddings.

But he explained it by saying he grew up in an era where you didn't "live together." If you fell in love, you got married. He was a romantic who moved fast. He didn't like the "in-between" stage of a relationship. He wanted the commitment, even if he wasn't always great at the maintenance part of it.

He also admitted his career always came first. CNN, the interviews, the fame—that was his primary relationship. The Larry King wife of the moment often had to compete with a 24-hour news cycle, and usually, the news won.

What We Can Learn From the Chaos

Looking back at the life of Larry King and his many partners, there are a few real-world takeaways that aren't just tabloid gossip:

• Update Your Will: If you’re in a "blended family" or have multiple exes, a handwritten note isn't going to cut it. Larry’s $2 million estate (which was actually much smaller than people expected) got tied up in probate because his paperwork was a mess.
• Age and Values Matter: Even a 22-year marriage like the one he had with Shawn can buckle under the weight of different worldviews. Religion and age gaps might not matter in the "honeymoon phase," but they matter a lot at year twenty.
• The "First Date" Trap: Proposing on a first date (like he did with Julie) is a great story, but it rarely leads to a silver anniversary.

Larry King’s legacy will always be his 50,000+ interviews. But his marriages remind us that even the best communicators in the world can struggle to communicate behind closed doors.

If you're dealing with a complex family structure or thinking about estate planning, don't follow Larry's lead. Get a formal, witnessed will and keep it updated every time your relationship status changes. It saves the people you love a lot of headache down the road.