Larry King Mourned the Loss of Alene Akins in 2017, the 'Grand Lady' He Married Twice

One of CNN's most prolific hosts, Larry King, mourned the loss of his ex-wife Alene Akins. She was his former wife and the only woman he was married to twice. Take a look inside King's numerous marriages.

Larry King was a gifted speaker, he also had the power to captivate the attention of his viewers, which made him an excellent TV personality. He was in showbiz for a long time and gained a lot of admiration from colleagues, viewers, and the industry in general.

However, King did not put the same energy into his romantic relationships. Although he was an excellent parent, it took him long and several attempts before he finally found his true love. The former CNN worker was married eight times, to seven women, and was only in love with three of them during his lifetime.

While he enjoyed fame and rubbing shoulders with the high and mighty in the entertainment industry, he found it difficult keeping the same woman around for long.

King confessed that he did not pay close attention to the women he pledged to spend eternity with, but maintained that love was not the unifying factor for him to walk down the aisle with the former wives.

It has been quite some time since his passing, but his numerous marriages, and the way he handled tragedies before his death, piques interest in the mind of his ardent fans.

KING MOURNED AN EX-WIFE

In 2017, King shared a heart-melting message after breaking the news of one of his ex-wives' death. The woman, Alene Akins, passed away with their two children, daughter, Chaia, and son, Andy, by her side.

King revealed that he was saddened with grief, and described her as a "grand lady." He maintained silence on the cause of the demises.

Akins was a playboy model who exchanged vows with the veteran newsman two times. They were married from 1961-1963, divorced, and later remarried in 1967, this time it lasted for five years.

A few years after her death, the kids followed. Andy passed away after suffering a heart attack, and his sister passed away after an unvictorious battle with lung cancer.

This devastating tragedy gripped King who expressed his grief online, stating that his heart was broken while extending a heart of gratitude towards well-wishers and fans that reached out to the family.

In the same post, he requested privacy and time to grieve. Sadly, a few months later, he too departed from the world.

LARRY KING'S MARRIAGES

While King had the gift to command respect due to his eloquence on screen, the celebrity TV personality was not skilled at making his marriages work, until the last one.

He was married eight times to seven women and had five children. During an interview, he confessed that he did not feel any affection in some of his marriages, and only exchanged vows because it was the expected thing to do.

King explained that he has only loved three women, all of whom he married at different times in his life. For the former CNN journalist, there was once a time in his life when he thought that work was more important than having a successful marriage.

The first time he experience marital bliss was in 1952 when he was still a young adult. The then-18-year-old married his high-school lover, Freda Miller, but it did not last as his parents dissolved the union.

In 1961, the much older King married Annette Kaye who gave birth to Larry Jr., the same year they exchanged marital vows. The marriage lasted for a few months before it crashed.

Wife number three was Alene Akins but he left her after three years for Mickey Stuphin, whom King divorced and ended up remarrying Akins.

When he was with Akins, he shared a child, Chaia, with her; he also adopted Andy, her son from a previous relationship. After his marriage to Akins hit the rocks, he moved on to Sharon Lepore in 1976, she was a production assistant and a former maths teacher.

The happy-ever-after ended in 1983. This time, King waited for six years before proposing to another woman named Julie Alexander. His sixth wife left in 1992, but the couple separated for two years before the divorce was finalized.

Shawn King was the only woman who stayed the longest with King, she was more than ten years younger, and they were married in 1997. She gave birth to two sons: Chance and Cannon.

Everything seemed fine with these two throughout their marriage until rumors of infidelity on Shawn's part surfaced. Her husband accused her of engaging in an affair with one of their children's baseball coaches, Hector Penate.

King filed for divorce in 2010, and Penate confirmed that the news was true. Still, they stuck together, but sources claimed that since 2010, the veteran TV host was continuously embarrassed by his wife's ongoing affairs.

This led him to file for another divorce in 2019, citing irreconcilable differences. Shawn's husband admitted that they never had a lot of things in common, starting from their religion — he was an agnostic atheist, while she was a very religious Mormon.

He added that they walked through a lot of challenges together, but their differences finally caved in, and could not be reconciled.

While the world thought that King was done with his marriage and wife number seven, the couple shocked everyone by remaining married. It was not until January 2021 that he left his family forever when he passed away at age 87.

Towards the end of his life, King was over 80, but he was still vibrant as ever. Sadly, after the youthful veteran entertainer contracted the coronavirus from a health care visitor in his home, he was hospitalized and did not make it past the first month of the new year.

FATHERHOOD

King may not have had his love life in check and had to explore before finally settling down with Shawn, but when it comes to his kids, he knew how to act right.

While speaking in an interview, he mentioned that he tried to be the best father possible and made conscious efforts to top his fatherhood game.